Product Description

The original street poet is back. The third chapter in Nas'book of scriptures comes at a time when hip-hop starves forwhat made the rapper famous: intelligent, realistic songs with a hardcore street edge. I AM combines the underground feel of ILLMATIC with the commercial appeal of IT WAS WRITTEN.Fortunately for Nas, the production matches up to his superior lyrical skills, making for yet another hip-hop classic.
Nas keeps the guest appearances to a memorable minimum (DMX, Scarface, etc.) allowing listeners to focus on his own unmatchable talent. And with producers like the critically acclaimed DJ Premier providing the background for the above average "Nas Is Like" and hitmaker Puff Daddy working the boards for the hype-igniting "Hate Me Now", Nas proves that his contribution to hip-hop far surpasses that of many MCs.

Track Listing

1. Hate Me Now
2. Afterlife
3. You Won't See Me Tonight
4. Undying Love
5. Nas Is Like
6. NY State Of Mind
7. Big Things
8. Money Is My Bitch
9. Favour For A Favour
10. Life Is What You Make It
11. Project Window
12. We Will Survive

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33778 in Music
• Released on: 2001-08-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Enhanced, Explicit Lyrics

Amazon.co.uk Review
On his third release, I Am, Nas bolsters his reputation as one of hip-hop's leading wordsmiths. His voice has grown so strong that none of the A-list guests (they include Puff Daddy, Aaliyah, Scarface, and DMX) can upstage the 25-year-old rapper. Nas has acted in a movie (Belly), but his real ambition is to write them; until that happens he'll be known for highly cinematic tales of the street. Nas is a lot like a prison-yard bard: he tells crime stories full of blood and guts, but he balances them with strong messages to stop the cycle of violence. His ghetto tales, such as "Small World" and "Favor for a Favor", stress desperation as the cause of crime rather than glorify the nihilistic criminality. Except for one track, "Dr. Knockboot", which casts him as a columnist to the hip-hop lovelorn and playa wannabes, Nas is unremittingly sober on I Am. His righteousness would seem nearly sanctimonious if not underpinned by superb production from the Trackmasters and DJ Premier. The production helps make this a consistent recording throughout, rather than a smattering of hits and misses. --Martin Johnson

Customer Reviews

soul doubt
if u liked illmatic and it was written , u wont dig this. why have puff or dmx in your album? most this cd is wack straight up, sad to see such a talented mc go this way

HIP HOPS FINEST
Nas never seems to fail to impress me, "I Am Nas" might not be his best album however it isnt the worst rap album you will hear, nas still amazes me as to how he rhymes so cooly but quickly. In my words nas is unrated like the RZA (Wu-Tang Clan) and many other true hip hop artists, when you have people like 50 cent or kanye west getting all the credit it seems wrong. (no disrespect they are ok)

However this is an amazing album, even the intro is worth a listen. "Hate Me Now" is the key track, it is a good message to his enemies plus the chorous puff delievers is amazing! pure brilliance, plus "life is what you make it" with dmx is also truely a legend hip hop track! nas is a great artist and unlike todays "so called" hip hop artists he can lay down one good album full of good songs which would take them 5 albums. Nas is up there with the 2Pac and Biggie etc. However i am nas is still worth a buy because it is truely a hip hop classic, stay away from the new stuff and get some Nas,2Pac,Biggie,WU-TANG Clan music because that is class!

I am
these days I feel sorry for artists these days, they spend twentyfourseven trying to please these greedy customers, anyway this is a very thoughful project, if you listen to Illmatic his delivery was very fast and I'm sure in many parts a lot of things were missed, why I think he more paced himself on this one so that everyone could understand what he was trying to convey, since its so educational I can understand why he slowed down a bit,a good album lost a star because of the tracks "money is my bitch," and "kissing",which you if you like Nas is ignorable, still a nice effort