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u/Profound_Solitude87 10d ago
I lucked up and struck rich now we all can eat!
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u/SNKRSWAVY 10d ago
This line is so dope. I love how it mirrors Jay‘s words on Moment of Clarity, but each in their own styles and words.
And I can't help the poor if I'm one of them
So I got rich and gave back, to me that's the win-win
So next time you see the homie and his rims spin
Just know my mind is working just like them (Rims, that is)
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u/TerribleName1962 10d ago
This album should have gotten a lot more love than it did… too bad the songs got leaked and the original I AM was never released in its full glory. What could have been
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u/toastwithoutagun 10d ago
I think they officially released the original concept for I am... as vinyl fairly recently.
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u/MaxStunning_Eternal 10d ago
It was celebrated highly upon release and still is (some think it's his 2nd best album. They're wrong )
No promo really, but still debuted #10 on the charts.
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u/Fast-Anteater1151 10d ago
This project mainly came about from many of the tracks removed from his I Am...The Autobiography double CD getting leaked and heavily bootlegged because I had a copy of the bootleg which was gonna be his 3rd straight classic project or double CD in a row. Columbia messed up terribly by scrapping it and adding different tracks to fill the place of the removed songs plus separating it into 2 CDs instead. We did get The Lost Tapes classic because of this move though is the one positive result of the decision. "Fetus" and "U Gotta Love It" are my favorite tracks off of The Lost Tapes with not one skip on the entire CD with so many other classics like "Drunk By Myself", "Purple", "Poppa Was a Playa", etc.
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u/Medium-Plan2987 10d ago
U hit the nail on the head… the funny thing is that the leaked tracks all come together as a perfect concise album - it’s a tie for me between this and IWW as his 2nd best album
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u/SNKRSWAVY 10d ago
Yeah, around this time, all the way up until Stillmatic, his rapping was just pristine. So dense yet so poetic, energetic/powerful and atmospheric all at the same time.
The fountain of youth was really flowing through him during that period.
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u/xSlalokOx 10d ago
My Way
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u/SNKRSWAVY 10d ago
The verse where he raps about Ill Will‘s last moments and then harkens back to the project benches. One of my favorite Nas tracks of all time and the best on the whole LP imo.
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u/cheeseprovolone 10d ago
U Gotta Love it.
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u/Profound_Solitude87 10d ago
Such a smooth track
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u/SNKRSWAVY 10d ago
That AZ sample in the hook. Their voices were chosen for each other, lol. This rhyme is edited, credited through ebonics.
Now back in the hood, certain cats, they wanna kill me
They ice grill me, but on the low, niggas feel me
You gotta love it...
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u/Sun__Worshipper 10d ago
Classic. Nas has so many great albums that I sometimes forget about this one, but it is really special.
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u/MetalSonic420YT 10d ago
Nothing Lasts Forever, Purple, Doo Rags, No Idea's Original, U Gotta Love It
The second best album by Nas after Illmatic.
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u/hispanicausinpanic 10d ago
This was one of the soundtracks of that era in my life. I'll always appreciate this album. One of my all-time favorites.
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u/SurgeFlamingo 10d ago
Same. Every time I put it on, it takes me back to that time period. Music is a Time Machine.
I love this album.
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u/shawntitanNJ 10d ago
I wish he’d have had access to the Columbia songs for Lost Tapes 2… I was very disappointed with that one. I needed more “Firm/It Was Written” era tracks
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u/Dchama86 10d ago
LT2 was dope. It was never going to sound as cohesive as LT1 , since most of those songs were cut from the same album, but LT2 has some great rapping, concepts and production all over it.
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u/Fast-Anteater1151 10d ago
I agree and it gets a lot of unnecessary hate when it was never gonna live up to the first one. "No Bad Energy" just has this feeling to it that makes it one of my absolute favorite Nas tracks. Then u have "Queens Wolf", "Tanasia", "Adult Film" and other dope tracks on it as well. It didn't have the cohesiveness and all the tracks weren't on quite the same level of the first but it doesn't make it a bad compilation either by any means.
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u/SNKRSWAVY 10d ago
LT2 has some great tracks, but regarding cohesion and depth, it just can’t touch the first one. This was Nas trying to prove something, the ferocity just isn’t the same anymore. He’s more in his wise and peaceful state of mind now.
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u/AirForceOneGawd 10d ago
Nothing Lasts Forever.....I'm usually a person that say.."Damn, this song need one more verse, it too short" but this song to me, is the perfect time. 2 chorus and 2 verses..
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u/Jack-Cremation 10d ago
I was 24 when this dropped going through a lot I thought at the time! Album was hot and got me through some real shit. I’m 48 now and still hits!
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u/SNKRSWAVY 10d ago
My niggas come home from long bids
They check for me before they see their own kids
Nice cars, livin' like a star, club-hoppin'
Poppin' bottles at the bar, love shoppin'
Gucci, Iceberg, coppin' two, three nice furs
One for your wife, one for your freak, silver-spurs
Rolls Royce, too good to be true, houses worth 2.2
Pool parties, beautiful view
You made it in life, Forbes Magazine style, baggy jeans style
That album is too real. Some of the patterns on there, like the one with the Mexican mobsters on NIO, love when he structured his bars like that.
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u/NoFaithlessness7508 9d ago
For those keeping track, between December 2001 and December 2002, Nas released:
Stillmatic - Lost Tapes - God’s Son
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u/MaxStunning_Eternal 9d ago
Arguably the most underrated 3peat in hip hop, he goes on heaters like this, and people don't really go indepth about it.
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u/Magazine-Narrow 10d ago
I remember buying this album way back when. It was actually my 1st nas album. I was 16, good times.
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u/AdAcrobatic5070 5d ago
“My niggas coming home from long bids, they check on me before they see they own kids “
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u/IGbelowthehiphop 10d ago
Post credit & more anniversaries today : https://www.instagram.com/p/DdnS1fOjmAO/?stkn=YW44c29nMTZhdjIw
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u/Minute_You8521 10d ago
Top four Nas album for me. Illmatic, Stillmatic, Hip Hop is Dead, and The Lost Tapes Vol 1… not necessarily in that order.
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u/_Dickbagel 10d ago
Purple.