page_title: It Was Written
section_title: Hip hop artists
hierarchical_section_title: It Was Written / Controversy and influence / Hip hop artists
caption_attribution_description: Lupe Fiasco at Northwestern University in May 2007.
context_page_description: It Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, released July 2, 1996 on Columbia Records in the United States. Following the moderate sales success of his acclaimed debut album, Illmatic, Nas chose to focus his efforts in a more mainstream direction. Primarily produced by Trackmasters, it is a departure for him from the raw, underground tone of his debut album towards a more polished, mainstream sound. The album features mafioso and gangsta themes, and marks the first appearance of Nas's short-lived supergroup The Firm, which included rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega.
  The album proved to be Nas’ most commercially successful release, debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. It also heralded Nas’s mainstream popularity and followed the success of other mafioso rap albums such as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… and Reasonable Doubt. However, his stylistic changes and increased mainstream success fostered accusations of selling out within the hip hop community. It remains one of Nas best-selling release, with over two million copies in the United States alone.
context_section_description: It Was Written has been credited, along with Raekwon's Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995), with helping usher in the era of the mafioso rap. According to writer Sam Chennault, while the hip hop subgenre would "run out of steam quickly, this release is a gem." Chennault also discussed the significance of It Was Written during the period of its release, stating "after mastering stark street corner realism on Illmatic, Nas delivered a loose concept album that was, at the time, groundbreaking in its scope, approach and execution." According to rapper Young Noble, a close friend of Tupac Shakur, the song "I Gave You Power" served as the main inspiration for Shakur's "Me and My Girlfriend" (1996). American hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco has cited It Was Written as his favorite album and his primary source of inspiration. Fiasco has stated that he based his debut album Food & Liquor (2006) on the conceptual style and "moods" of It Was Written. When asked of his musical influences in an interview with AllHipHop.com, Fiasco stated "You know I really tried to go back and recreate [Nas’] It Was Written, you know what I'm saying like that? [I would play] It Was Written and then I would play my album, and it was like, ‘Do we got [this] record, do we got that record?’" When asked in an interview with NobodySmiling.com about why he is comfortable admitting the album as a source of inspiration, Fiasco stated:
  Cause it’s a classic. Like, people study-you study the masters, you know what I’m saying? Everybody that’s rapping studied someone to learn how to rap. They had a rapper who was they favorite rapper that they wanted to be like and wanted to rap like, know what I’m saying? For me, I just look at it like I studied a master piece. I modeled my album after a master piece; and not song for song; not line for line; not beat for beat. It was more-for me it was like mood for mood. The way he set the mood on that album to me was just like incredible. And at the time in my life-like, I fell in love with ‘It Was Written’ when I was seventeen, eighteen-a very impressionable time-so I was like I love that album. That’s my favorite Hip Hop album, so it’s like why not base your album on ‘It Was Written’?
  — Lupe Fiasco
  American reggae and hip hop artist Matisyahu regards It Was Written as one of his influences as well. He cites the introduction of It Was Written, in which slaves rebel against their owner, as having a major influence on him. According to The Washington Post, "Matisyahu, too, felt enslaved. By what? He didn't know. Just felt the chains. The lyrics rocked him. The beat did, too." Matisyahu stated that after listening to It Was Written, "I connected with hip-hop, the hardness of it, the driving beat. It’s music with space, that has gaps in every little thing that happens."
caption: Rapper Lupe Fiasco has cited the album as his favorite hip hop album.
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