It Was Written

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! 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 (1994), Nas chose to focus his efforts in a more mainstream direction. Primarily produced by Trackmasters, it is a departure for Nas from the raw, underground tone of Illmatic towards a more polished, mainstream sound. The album contains a mafioso concept and lyrical themes, and it 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 s most commercially successful release, debuting at number 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and selling 3 million copies worldwide. It also heralded Nas s mainstream popularity, despite its appeal being hindered by the success of other mafiaso rap albums such as Only Built 4 Cuban Linx (1995) and Reasonable Doubt (1996). However, his stylistic changes and increased mainstream success fostered accusations of selling out within the hip hop community.