1999 Rewind: Remembering Nas’ I Am

Are y’all ready to party like it’s 1999? We all love the 90s here at Soul In Stereo, so it’s only right to revisit albums that are marking 25 years in 2024. 1999 Rewind looks back at all your old faves and see how well they hold up.

Nas’ I Am… has quite an infamous reputation, so I had to bring in Nas superfan Justin Jones for an unbiased breakdown of Nas’ divisive third album. How has its legacy aged over the past 25 years? Let’s find out.

Let’s take it back to April 1999 – share your memories of I Am!

Justin: I was around 11 at the time and my older cousin had the album when it dropped, so whenever I was visiting he’d be blasting this album. He might’ve had the bootleg that leaked months prior too. “Nas Is Like”& “Life Is What You Make It” with DMX were blasting through the house speakers nonstop. I remember this album being a big deal in the neighborhood I grew up in because Nas hadn’t dropped a solo album in 3 years at that point.

Edd: Aight, let’s just set the ground rules on this one before we get started – I’ve had a reputations on these here Innanets as the world’s biggest apologist for this album. And you can’t tie my Undying Love (see what I did there) to merely nostalgia. I’ve listened to it countless times both as a fan and as your Friendly Neighborhood Unbiased Reviewer and my love remains the same. It’s the same love I had for it when I first copped it in the summer of 1999, a few months after release. It served as the soundtrack for the of most memorable summers of my life – working part time at the video game store, hanging with the homies and playing Playstation, getting my lil’ dates on. It was a very fun time and Nas was always down to ride.

Time to talk best song.

Justin: “Nas is Like”

“Nas Is Like” is the best song on I Am…till this day a top 10 (maybe top 5) Nas song. Preemo laced Nas with those classic drum breaks and Nas rhymed like Illmatic Nas. The perfect combo.

Edd: “Nas is Like”

No playa, it’s not a maybe. “Nas is Like” IS a top five Nas song. It’s everything that makes him great in one track – the simple, yet unforgettable concept, the endless quotables, the way his words paint pictures in your mind. It’s an all-timer. And it wasn’t even part of the original incarnation of this album! But more on that later.

“Nas is Like” vs “Hate Me Now” – which is the better video?

Justin: “Hate Me Now”

I know the streets were not ready for Nas wearing the red leather with the QB chain, and the Hype Williams explosions, Puff popping bottles and the crucifixion scene, BUT mainstream Esco was a part of my formative years. Hype Williams was making movies with Missy, Busta, etc., so it was only right that Nas got his own big budget treatment.

Edd: “Hate Me Now”

Another no-brainer. “Hate Me Now” has gone down as one of Nas’ most recognizable videos – maybe THE most recognizable, though “If I Ruled the World” is probably in the convo as well. It’s audacious, exorbitant and controversial – as 90s as you can get.  And of course, its infamous legacy has fueled its legend. A furious Puff barging into Steve Stoute’s office with his goons and beating him with a bottle because MTV aired the wrong cut doesn’t sound all that shocking today, considering what we know about Brother Love today.

Which songs should have been a single?

Justin: “You Won’t See Me Tonight”

To my knowledge this was actually going to be the third single. Radio was playing it in certain cities, but from what I understand either Columbia or Nas himself decided to move on and focus on Nastradamus which came out 7 months later. It’s a shame because I can see Hype Williams directing this video with Nas, Aaliyah, & Timbaland telling a hood love story.

Edd: “You Won’t See Me Tonight”

Justin is right, I remember Nas mentioning in a BET interview circa 2002 that the plan was for this to be the next single, and it’s got every making of a radio hit. Timbo and Aaliyah in their late 90s glory, an incredible beat that sounds downright cinematic, the love story element that’s perfect for the video treatment – yeah, this would have hit hard.

Which song features the best production?

Justin: “N.Y. State of Mind, Pt. 2”

Once again DJ Premier provides the soundscapes to gritty 90s NYC. This song is almost just as good as the original on Illmatic. The drums and piano loops match Nas’ raspy voice detailing Queensbridge, crime life, and a crew of eight friends going down different paths.

Edd: “Nas is Like”

I agree with Premier reigning as king of production on this project, but “Nas is Like” hits just a little harder for me. From the obscurest of samples (the 1966 song “What Child Is This?” is its origin), the random bird chirps and the impeccable scratches of Nas quotes, this is a masterclass in boom-bap production.

The original version of this album, called I Am … The Autobiography, was scrapped for the version we know today. How do you think the OG version would have been received?

Justin: It’s hard to say in hindsight. The original version was supposed to be a double album detailing his life (for example “Fetus” on Lost Tapes was supposed to be the Intro). It could’ve been looked at as in the same canon as All Eyez On Me or Life After Death because that’s what he was chasing at that time, but those same albums had massive singles that had major radio play, and I’m not sure even “Nas Is Like” or “Hate Me Now” was on the original double album.

Edd: This is a tough one. If you listen to hip-hop lore, the original I Am…The Autobiography, was a surefire five-star classic, the greatest double album in hip-hop history. Over the years, we’ve all heard the songs that SHOULD have made up the project before it was bootlegged to oblivion and revamped for retail. Most of the best stuff ended on The Lost Tapes and Nastradamus albums in the later years. I’m thinking we would have a gotten a good album but I’m not sure how well it would have fared commercially (as Justin said, none of the revamped I Am’s singles were even set for the OG version). One thing is likely – in this alternate timeline I doubt we would have gotten the Nastradamus album, which would have saved Nas from having that black eye on his resume.

Some say that this album was the start of Nas’ downturn. Do you agree?

Justin: To be quite honest, No. I never agreed with that sentiment when it came to I Am...It was really Nastradamus that came out months later that solidified what the critics were saying about a creative downturn. This album just gets lumped into that narrative by proximity. Now was it a classic like his debut…No. Is it looked at as a creative risk that paid off commercially like It Was Written?…No, but let’s be clear I Am… sold 470,000 the 1st week and still went 2x platinum with 2 hit singles. Even though this wasn’t a classic like his first 2 albums, it was still a good album with a few classic songs.

Edd: Some of y’all won’t believe me, but I’m old enough to remember when the streets thought It Was Written was the beginning of the downturn. I know it’s a Twitter favorite today, but that album’s radio-friendly singles – along with the fact that it was following the greatest rap album of all time, and NOTHING was topping that – meant that a lot of Day One Nas fans were skeptical about the path he was on. The grumbling of the 90s old heads continued into I Am, but it’s not like I Am was a failure. It’s still one of Nas’ most commercially successful projects. The seeds may have been laid here but the real genesis of anti-Nas sentiment were the lazy singles of Nastradamus and the wet fart that was the QB’s Finest project, culminating with Jay Z busting his chops in 2001.

Is I Am… overrated, underrated or properly rated?

Justin: It’s properly rated in hindsight. It’s a solid album with some classic hits on it, and like five or seix records that people mostly skip.  Songs like “Nas Is Like,” “Favor for a Favor,” and “Money Is My B****” still get played in the streets, but nobody is ever vouching for “Dr. Knockboot” or “Big Things.” Most of the second half of the album is shaky at best.

Edd: IT’S UNDERRATED AND I’LL STAND BY THAT. I told y’all I’m Mr. Apologist for this thing. There are absolutely some misses here (“Big Things” sounds like he knocked that song out in about 15 minutes, and that’s not a compliment) and some of the production is shaky but the best songs are outstanding and more than make up for the goofier stuff. I think it gets unfairly lumped into the abyss that is Nastradamus/QB’s Finest but it’s infinitely better than those and quietly one of the better albums of the late 90s, as rap began its transition into the commercial realm.

Where does I Am… rank in Nas’ discography?

Justin: Well it was one of Nas’ top 10 albums for years, but these 6 recent albums with Hit-Boy have changed the conversation. Out of the 17 albums in Nas’ discography, I Am… to me is his 11th or 12th best album. which speaks volumes about his catalogue.

Edd: No shock here but I’m gonna be a little bit kinder to this one than Justin. Even with the addition of the incredible Hit-Boy collaborations, I think I Am is still a top 10 Nas release. Most tend to focus only on the drama that surrounded it – from the bootlegging to Diddy being a psychopath to the looming war with Jay Z – but the best tracks are Nas at his finest, featuring the wordplay and storytelling that made him a living hip-hop legend. #JusticeForIAm, even though “Ghetto Prisoners” won’t be landing on any of my playlists anytime soon.

Who got it right, Justin or Edd? Let us know below.