Nass I Am Isnt Quite; Rappers Third Effort Thoughtful but Uneven.

Following the commercial and critical success of 1996s It Was Written, Nas put to work on a double album that merged the styles of his first two albums and detailed entire aspects of his life.

Although he was able to use most songs, other songs that would have made I Am a double album leaked onto the internet in MP3 format, forcing him to record new material for two separate single-disc releases (hence, the release of Nastradamus in the same year).

The album debuted at number 1 on the Billboard 200, selling over 470,000 copies in its first week of sales.

I Am would later be certified double platinum in the United States, making it Nas second best-selling release behind It Was Written.

This album was originally to have been a double album titled I Am.The Autobiography, however most of the original sessions were bootlegged forcing Nas to discard many songs and adjust the release to one disc.

I Am. became one of the first major label releases to be widely leaked using MP3 technology.

Some of the leaked songs were later released on the compilation LP The Lost Tapes in 2002.

The concept of this album as can be seen by tracks such as Fetus from The Lost Tapes was to be an autobiography of sorts for Nas.

Although several bootleg versions have appeared on the internet over the years, an official version of the intended double album has never leaked and it remains unclear whether or not it was ever completed.

Hate Me Now features Puff Daddy and is produced by D-Moet, Pretty Boy and The Trackmasters.

It was a Billboard Hot 100 hit, and had a controversial music video directed by Hype Williams.

The song had a version of the O Fortuna from Carl Orffs Carmina Burana.

Nas Is Like is one of two tracks produced by DJ Premier who scratches vocal samples from Nas It Aint Hard To Tell into the chorus.

The Nas Is Like music video was directed by Nick Quested and is still very popular in underground circles and continued a long list of popular NasDJ Premier collaborations.

The album also contained the song We Will Survive, a tribute to Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.

The song criticized his peers, most notably Jay-Z, who claimed to be New Yorks king following B.I.G.s death, the record has been cited as potentially encouraging the Nas vs.

Jay-Z feud.

Famed photographer Danny Hastings has shot iconic cover images for Big Puns Capital Punishment and Raekwons Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, but his album art shoot for I Am.

In order to make the iconic mask featured on the cover, Hastings and his crew put a clay mold on his face and poked air holes so he could breathe, but he almost suffocated after clay got lodged in his nose.

The funny part was that the first attempt, Nas was getting asphyxiated.

We almost killed Nas, Hastings told MTV.com.

We cleaned him up, and he was like, Lets do it again Nas was a true sport.

We came with the concept of making a King Tut sarcophagus piece.

But Nas has now established a pattern of declining album quality, and that makes I Am.

I Am is a notable effort, adding that The finer moments lie in the rappers trademark ability to spin a compelling tale about ghetto life.

Kris Ex of Rolling Stone gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and stated, Nas is still a diamond in the rough perhaps the rawest lyrical talent of his day but lacking the guidance and vision to create a complete album.

In a retrospective review, AllMusic editor M.F.

DiBella gave the album three out of five stars and noted blandness in its production, writing that Musically, I Am is somewhat unimaginative by Nas stratospheric standards..

Nas. 3 However, DeBella added that Nas still shines as the old soul storyteller and crime rhyme chronicler on some tracks and cited Nas Is Like and N.Y.

State of Mind, Pt.

Illmatic perfection.

Steve Juon of RapReviews gave I Am.

The Autobiography Vol 1.

NME. IPC Media. March 6, 1999.

Retrieved 2011-08-04.

Nas Reviews. Yahoo Music.

Yahoo. Archived from the original on August 4, 2011.

Sharps flats. Salon.

Salon Media Group.

Nas Illmatic Mediafire