24 Years Ago Today Nas Dropped One Of The Greatest Sophomore Albums Of All Time - It Was Written

And one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time for that matter.

It Was Written was a statement maker: the youngster from Queens Bridge was no fluke. Coming on the hells of one of the greatest albums ever, Illmatic, with It Was Written Nasty Nasir Jones was planting his flag atop of the hip hop mountain. He was there to stay.

Looking back, it's kind of scary to think this album came out 24 years ago.

It's also crazy how far hip hop has fallen from a lyricist standpoint. 

Look at some of these songs-

The Message
Suspect
Affirmative Action
I Gave You Power
Silent Murder
Take It In Blood
Shootouts
The Setup
If I Ruled The World

Heaters.

Rapping from the first person perspective of a gun. 

A track so well put together that it sounds like it's straight off of a mafia movie soundtrack.

The production lineup is staggering-  DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Trackmasters, Havoc of Mobb Deep, L.E.S., Live Squad.

It was also, surprisingly, Nas' most commercially successful album. 

If you need a refresher do yourself a favor and let this one play through.