It Was Written better LYRICALLY then Illmatic??

#1
Well thats what alot of magazines (Vibe, Vanity Fair) and online sites say. The more I listen to this CD the lyrics are pretty f'n ill and although the content isn't as grimy and "hard" as Illmatic (as well as impact) the lyrics and flow is really ill.


The Message
Take it in Blood
I Gave You Power



just to name a few really are on a level that he didnt touch on Illmatic, just wanted to toss that out there keep in mind I'm saying lyrical pretty much everyone would say that Illmatic>It Was Written
 

jbrolax

Active Member
#2
its tough, id have to listen to both through and through...

but right now ill say illmatic


It aint hard to tell
I drank Moet with Medusa, give her shotguns in hell
From the spliff that I lift and inhale, it ain't hard to tell
 
#3
The Message

Red dot plots, murder schemes, thirty-two shotguns
Regulate wit my Dunn's, 17 rocks gleam from one ring
Yo let me let y'all niggaz know one thing
There's one life, one love, so there can only be one King

The highlights of livin, Vegas style roll dice in linen
Antera spinnin on Milleniums, twenty G bets I'm winnin them
Threats I'm sendin them, Lex with TV sets the minimum
Ill sex adrenaline
Party with villians, a case of Demi-Sec to chase the Henny
Wet any clique, with the semi-tech who want it
Diamonds I flaunt it, chickenheads flock I lace em
Fried broiled with basil, taste em, crack the legs
way out of formation
, it's horizontal how I have em



I Gave You Power(even the hook is crazy)

I seen some cold nights and bloody days
They grab and me bullets spray
They use me wrong so I sing this song 'til this day
My body is cold steel for real
I was made to kill, that's why they keep me concealed
Under car seats they sneak me in clubs
Been in the hands of mad thugs
They feed me when they load me with mad slugs
Seventeen precisely, one in my head
They call me Desert Eagle, semi-auto with lead
I'm seven inches four pounds, been through so many towns
Ohio to Little Rock to Canarsie, livin harshly
Beat up and battered, they pull me out
I watch as niggaz scattered, makin me kill
But what I feel it never mattered
When I'm empty I'm quiet, findin myself fiendin to be fired
A broken safety, niggaz place me in shelves
under beds, so I beg for my next owner to be a thoroughbred
Keep me full up with hollow heads

Chorus: Nas (repeat 2X)

How you like me now? I go blaow
It's that shit that moves crowds makin every ghetto foul
I might have took your first child
Scarred your life, crippled your style
I gave you power
I made you buck wild

[Nas]
Always I'm in some shit, my abdomen is the clip
The barrel is my dick, uncircumcised
Pull my skin back and cock me, I bust off when they unlock me
Results of what happens to niggaz shock me
I see niggaz bleedin runnin from me in fear, stunningly tears
fall down the eyes of these so-called tough guys, for years
I've been used in robberies, givin niggaz heart to follow me
Placin peoples in graves, funerals made cause I was sprayed
I was laid in a shelf, with a grenade
Met a wrecked-up tech with numbers on his chest that say
Five-two-oh-nine-three-eight-five and zero
Had a serial defaced, hopin one day, police would place
where he came from, a name or some sort of person to claim him
Tired of murderin, made him wanna be a plain gun
But yo I had some other plans, like the next time the beef is on
I make myself jam right in my owner's hand

Chorus

[Nas]
Yo, weeks went by and I'm surprised
Still stuck in the shelf with all the things that an outlaw hides
Besides me it's bullets, two vests and then a nine
There's a grenade in a box, and that tech that kept cryin
Cause he ain't been cleaned in a year, he's rusty as clear
He's bout to fall to pieces, cause of his murder career
Yo, I can hear somebody comin in, open the shelf
His eyes bubblin, he said, "It was on"
I felt his palm troubled him shakin
Somebody stomped him out, his dome was achin
He placed me on his waist, the moment I've been waitin
My creation was for blacks to kill blacks
It's gats like me that accidentally, go off, makin niggaz memories
But this time, it's done intentionally
He walked me outside, saw this cat
Cocked me back, said, "Remember me?"
He pulled the trigger but I held on, it felt wrong
Knowing niggaz is waiting in hell for 'im
He squeezed harder, I didn't budge, sick of the blood
Sick of the thugs, sick of wrath of the, next man's grudge
What the other kid did was pull out, no doubt
A newer me in better shape, before he lit out, he lead the chase
My owner fell to the floor, his wig split so fast
I didn't know he was hit, it's over with
Heard mad niggaz screamin, niggaz runnin, cops is comin
Now I'm happy, until I felt somebody else grab me
Damn!
 

Little Skittle

Well-Known Member
#9
rappers, i monkey flip em
with the funky rythm i be kickin
musician, inflictin compisition
of pain
im like scarface sniffin cocaine
hold a m-16
see with the pen im extreme
 

Duke

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#11
lamont said:
Lyrically every song on Illmatic is top notch.I cant say the same about It Was Written.
roaches said:
IWW's best isn't seeing "The World Is Yours", "NY State of Mind", or "One Love". Never.
Agreed.

Side note: This prompted me to listen some Illmatic and i daresay NY State of the Mind is the best flowing track (as a whole) ive ever heard. :)
 
#13
Every track on Illmatic has to be considered in atleast the top 100 Hip-Hop songs (lyrically) that can not be said for the tracks on It Was Written.

Illmatic LYRICALLY better than It Was Written.
 
#15
Im feeling Illmatic better... I hardly ever listen to It Was Writtin anymore.. It was still good though... "Affirmative Action", "I Gave You Power", and "Street Dreams" are all good... but in the end I gotta go with Illmatic...

Oh yea, about Nastradamus, am I one of the few people that actually like it? Every1 hates on it sayin its garbage etc., but I actually think its pretty good.. Better then "I Am" but not as good as his others... I think "I Am" was pretty bad except for 3-4 tracks.. wasnt really feelin it ...
 

linx

Well-Known Member
Staff member
#16
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the need to compare. I think Illmatic is the better album, but It Was Written is dope. They both have really dope songs. Why bother?
 

ARon

Well-Known Member
#17
Fataldawg said:
Oh yea, about Nastradamus, am I one of the few people that actually like it? Every1 hates on it sayin its garbage etc., but I actually think its pretty good.. Better then "I Am" but not as good as his others... I think "I Am" was pretty bad except for 3-4 tracks.. wasnt really feelin it ...
No you're not the only one. I like I Am more than Nastradamus but I don't think either of them are bad. They both have good songs and are overlooked. Ghetto Prisoners off of I Am is one of my favorite Nas' tracks.
 
#19
Im not a great judge of of lyrics, i just think "it was written" was better. I mean, what is the great content of illmatic?
You probably like It Was Written better because it is more mainstream appeal than Illmatic.
 
#20
always wondered, the end of one time 4 your mind has one of nas' boys (i think its large pro) telling him to drop another verse, is there an unreleased version with a 3rd verse?
 

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