the first of future’s legendary run of mixtapes in 2014/15, less cohesive than the two single-producer efforts that followed but probably the most important release of his career. halfway through ‘throw away’ the beat changes and future basically has a breakdown. it’s messy, it’s ugly, it’s brutally honest, it recontextualizes the earlier partying and bragging as a coping mechanism for the (self-inflicted) pain. it’s not even the best song on the tape.
the stellar ‘fuck up some commas’ got cut from the streaming version for some reason but even without it, this thing is packed with great songs. the soaring ‘my savages’ and the sinister title track are highlights but best of all is the hungover ‘codeine crazy.’ this is the tape in a nutshell, in between boasts of expensive watches and dalliances with girls whose names he’s forgotten, he grapples with addiction and flirts with suicide. future is kind of an asshole, always was, and started leaning into the side of his persona, reveling in it, more and more over the years. but it’s the moments of vulnerability amongst all the bluster that make this period of his career, and this tape in particular, so special.
all about the flow with juve, the way he rides mannie fresh’s bouncy beats, the way there’s melody to every bar. even when dealing with life and death subject matter, the pair manage to make it something you could dance to. (not me obviously, i’ll get my fat joe on and nothing more, but other less self conscious, more co-ordinated people could)
the two monster singles in ‘ha’ and ‘back that azz up’ are both great, ha in particular still sounds like something from the future thanks to the best beat of mannie’s career. other highlights are the latin tinged ‘follow me now’ and the rowdy ‘rich ******’
the only complaints are that a) it’s weirdly censored in places and b) as great as it is, we don’t really need 3 (THREE) versions of ha on the album. jay-z sounds a bit out of place on the one remix so skip that one.
this album has gotten better with time, for me anyway. very forward sounding. pretty awesome how early cash money had so many unique rap voices, juve, wayne, bg even mannies voice is different.
always kinda hard for me to pinpoint exactly what future does so well but when you dive in a bit the duality hits you in the face. like here hes just doing common slick talk about money and drugs but square in the middle the beat drops out and hes reeling… only to go right back to it. always masking the pain and never really confronting it, onto the next purchase. hes got 1000 clones trying to match this emotion, but hes still the king.
Couldn’t have put it any better. Remember not really knowing what to make of it at all when I first got it cos it was so different. Once it gets its hooks in though, oh boy…
Loads of those Cash Money albums from around that time still sound like the future today. Juve absolutely on fire all the way through too
capone is the straight man, noreaga is the charismatic and chaotic wild card, together they’re a formidable team. ably assisted by group mentor / unofficial third member tragedy khadafi, CNN deliver a grimy new york street rap classic. unfortunately capone caught a case during recording and is missing from half the songs. he makes his sporadic appearances count while nore (and khadafi) admirably hold the fort without him.
outside of the big singles T.O.N.Y. and LA, LA, the best tracks are the rugged ‘neva die alone’, the atmospheric ‘parole violators’, the arabic tinged ‘illegal life’ and the posse cut ‘iraq (see the world)’. big fan of ‘bloody money’ as well, essentially a nore solo track and probably his finest moment. he would have greater success later going solo and spitting his distinctive brand of nonsense over neptunes beats but he never sounded better than he did here, over crisp drums and a simple but cinematic piano line
Remember this was supposed to be on the War Report but got pulled cos of sample clearance issues
Nas’s verse is amazing. Think it was recorded before he did It Was Written, around the same time as his Verbal Intercourse and Eye For An Eye verses with Rae and Mobb Deep. Really makes you wish he’d put some sort of QB supergroup together rather than the Firm, cos he absolutely still had it
a QB supergroup would’ve been so great, especially with havoc producing. although tbf the firm should have been way better than it was. i like all those guys but man, very much less than the sum of its parts wasn’t it
Yeah this is it completely - also don’t mean to play into the whole ‘Nas fell off completely after the first album’ standard narrative about him either cos that’s not (completely) true. Just that Queensbridge had a real buzz in the mid 90s and Nas was dropping some absolute bombs on guest verses - just would have been great if they’d managed to pull it all together (but imagine that’s way harder to do in practice than I’m making it sound too). Basically I wanted Nas to do his second album with Havoc instead of Trackmasters
So good. Big favourite of mine. Is there a better rap name than Imam Thug?
This is another one you’ve mentioned that I revisited recently. Didn’t realise that the version on streaming has ‘Thug Paradise’ on there, which I think was only ever on the Tragedy ‘True Confessions’ 12".
Westwood played it at The Temple and it went offfff (and I slowly slid away from the dancefloor).
TV’s in the headrest, Sega entertainment Pushed the Lex Land on the way to my arraignment
Yeah totally - The Set Up too. An album full of these with Big Noyd, Cormega CNN, etc on every other track is what I’m after.
Dunno much about the making of It Was Written tbh. Wonder if he actually started out this way and change tack halfway through when he began to blow up. Like the contrast between it going from The Set Up straight in to Black Girl Lost is really jarring. Anyway, derailing Jamos’ thread again - More CNN chat everyone!
i went through a kweli phase, which is pretty common i guess. and like anyone who did so, it didn’t take too long to go off him pretty hard. this album is a good reminder of why you ever got into the guy in the first place. from the dilla-esque ‘the blast’ to the lush ‘memories live’ to the booming ‘move something’, hi-tek’s production is consistently excellent and kweli raises his game to meet that standard on the mic.
the only negative are the skits, which are in contention to be the worst ever put on record. i know that’s a crowded field but jesus, they really are bad.
so true. Though really not helped by the quality (heh) dropping massively from here on out. And the cringe factor got dialled up to unbearable levels. To the extent when I’m always surprised how good this album actually is and how enjoyable Kweli’s rapping is whenever I put it on.
Was alright wasn’t it? Haven’t listened to it in about two decades I don’t think, but have vague memories of it being ok. Pretty steep drop off after that though for sure
It’s not a bad album, but it’s less consistent and Kweli’s more peachy and cringeworthy. Was well received at the time, but I never really liked it as much as others, despite digging a few tracks. Yeah… it’s fine, but it’s a clear step towards the Kweli of there on out.
that’s what i was trying to get at really. the voice as well, the pain is right there
so true. Though really not helped by the quality (heh) dropping massively from here on out. And the cringe factor got dialled up to unbearable levels. To the extent when I’m always surprised how good this album actually is and how enjoyable Kweli’s rapping is whenever I put it on.