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As some of you might know already, Nas originally planned to drop a double disk album entitled I Am... The Autobiography, which he intended as the middle ground between the extremes of Illmatic and It Was Written. The concept of the album was going to be autobiography of Nas with each track detailing a part of his life. However the recent introduction of MP3 bootlegging over the internet would soon crush Nas' original plans and creation as much of the LP was leaked into MP3 format onto the Internet. Rather than just releaseing the supposed double album as is, Nas scrapped the original tracklist and quickly recorded enough substitute material and salvaged what he could from the original recordings and dropped a single-disc release, removing the autobiographical aspect of the album. Then the label that Nas was signed to at the time (Columbia Records) had scheduled to release the pirated material from I Am… under the title "Nastradamus" during the latter half of 1999, but Nas had decided that he should record an entire new album for the release of "Nastradamus." His record label then bullied him into making an incredibly rushed Nastradamus album to meet a November release date, that was less than seven months after the release of I Am... which lead Nas to release two mediocre albums in the span of less than seven months. Although, it was really only Nastradamus that got poor reception and reviews; I Am... was a good album - it just wasn't at the same level as Illmatic and It Was Written.
Some of the tracks there were supposed to be on the original I Am.. that were taken off have resurfaced all over the place, either on The Lost Tapes that Nas released back in 2002 or random bootlegs floating around, and in my opinion they're some of the best songs Nas ever made: "The Rise and Fall", "Amongst Kings", Fetus (Belly Button Window). Unfortunately the original tracklisting is apparently completely lost. You'll find some bootleg tracklists floating around, but it's not the true original. This is the tracklist that always floats around these days.
Book 1
1. Fetus (Belly Button Window)
2. NY State Of Mind Pt. II
3. Life Is What You Make It
4. Small World
5. Hardest Thing To Do Is Stay Alive
6. Poppa Was a Playa
7. Nas Is Like
8. Blaze A 50
9. Favor For A Favor
10. We Will Survive
11. Some Of Us Have Angels
12. Project Windows
13. Day Dreaming, Stay Scheming
14. Sometimes I Wonder
15. Undying Love
Book 2
1. After Life (Intro)
2. Amongst Kings
3. Life We Chose
4. Drunk By Myself
5. Pray
6. God Love Us
7. Ghetto Prisoners
8. Last Words
9. Family
10. Come Get Me
11. Find Your Wealth
12. U Gotta Love It
13. Wanna Play Rough
14. The Rise And Fall
15. My Worst Enemy
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Nas' large catalog of unreleased material has some of the most interesting and voluminous recordings. After [MENTION=1348]Creation posted an Eminem unreleased song thread a few months ago, I have decided to gather some of Nas' rare/unreleased recordings and put up a thread for Nasir with his non-album tracks (unreleased songs, freestyles, guest appearances, original versions, mixtapes, B-sides etc.) as if you haven't noticed by the opening sentence, I think Nas has some of the most interesting unreleased recordings.
A few highlights from his unreleased catalog:
"Déjà vu" – One of Nas' best u̶n̶r̶e̶l̶e̶a̶s̶e̶d̶ tracks. On this song, Nas sums up the thug life and its perpetual cycle, creating vivid imagery through a slew of complex rhymes. Lyrical genius. The song is packed with alliteration and complex rhymes. You can discover this track on the "Pre Illmatic Demo", although according to Winston, this was song was really meant for It Was Written, but was pulled from the album as it didn't the fit the overall more mainstream and glossy sound of the album. His legendary first verse is instantly recognisable, as he "re-used" the verse for his guest spot on Raekwon’s "Verbal Intercourse."
"Good Morning" - 2Pac fans will instantly recognise the sample used on this song. Over the wonderful loop of the Isley Brothers’ "For The Love Of You" sample, - used also for 2Pac's "Bury Me a G" - Nas takes a laid back approach and describes a regular morning in the hood.
"Amongst Kings" – This song is actually meant to be a sequel to "Undying Love," In the first part Nas ends up killing himself in a murder-suicide so here it is supposed to be him waking up in the afterlife.
"The Rise and Fall" - An early victim of the leaks and another refugee from the original I Am... album. Nas is telling a story of his life by chronicling the events of his rap career, including the ups and downs, it also offers an insight into the creation of the controversial Escobar character, which was based on the deceased Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. The use of the Slick Rick sample for the hook puts the icing on the cake. One of my favorite Nas songs.
"Film" - Pretty cool story behind this song - the production is done by a guy named C-Sick, who was a 17 year old unknown producer at the time and had just won a Red Bull contest to produce a song for Nas. The song was recorded in 2008 (showing that age doesn't matter) and Nasir brings his typical rapid-fire delivery and vivid, descriptive lyrics backed by complex rhymes. He talks about the making of this song in this interview - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJWr1YinhIg
He has many more unreleased gems but I just don't have the time to write a description for each track (I might write some more up later), but for now I'll list some more tracks below without descriptions that I would recommend checking out.
The Scientist (snippet)
Foul Breeze
Anybody Test
Last Real Nigga Alive Pt. 2
The Foulness 1 & 2
Stay Schemin
One on One
Esco Let’s Go
Death Anniversary
Talk of New York
The Message (Original)
H to the OMO
Eye for an Eye (Freestyle)
Take It In Blood Pt. 2
Surviving the Times (Original)
Stay Schemin'
Don't Body Yaself
Gangsta Tears
Life Is Like A Dice Game
Download link:
https://mega.nz/#!C5YH2YSS!zr47pawtw...gyeEuiEMJw_LE8
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