I am… este cel de-al 3-lea album solo al lui Nas și a fost lansat în data de 6 aprilie 1999, prin Columbia Records. Albumul a debutat pe locul 1 în topuri cu peste 470,000 unități vândute în prima săptămână.
Track listing
| No. | Title | Producer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Album Intro" | DJ Premier | 2:50 | |
| 2. | "N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II" | DJ Premier | 3:36 | |
| 3. | "Hate Me Now" (featuring Puff Daddy) | Pretty Boy, D. Moet, Poke & Tone | 4:44 | |
| 4. | "Small World" | Nashiem Myrick, Carlos Broady | 4:45 | |
| 5. | "Favor for a Favor" (featuring Scarface) | L.E.S. | 4:07 | |
| 6. | "We Will Survive" | Poke & Tone, Jamal Edgerten | 5:00 | |
| 7. | "Ghetto Prisoners" | Dame Grease | 4:00 | |
| 8. | "You Won't See Me Tonight" (featuring Aaliyah) | Timbaland | 4:22 | |
| 9. | "I Want to Talk to You" | L.E.S., Alvin West | 4:36 | |
| 10. | "Dr. Knockboot" | Poke & Tone | 2:25 | |
| 11. | "Life Is What You Make It" (featuring DMX) | L.E.S. | 4:04 | |
| 12. | "Big Things" | Alvin West | 3:39 | |
| 13. | "Nas Is Like" | DJ Premier | 3:57 | |
| 14. | "K-I-SS-I-N-G" | L.E.S., Alvin West | 4:15 | |
| 15. | "Money Is My Bitch" | Alvin West, Poke & Tone | 4:02 | |
| 16. | "Undying Love" | L.E.S. | 4:23 | |
Total length:
| 64:45 | |||
Samples
"Album Intro"
"Nas Is Like"
- "The Amityville Horror Main Title" by Lalo Schifrin
- "Live at the Barbeque" by Main Source
- "Halftime" by Nas
- "It Ain't Hard to Tell" by Nas
- "The World Is Yours" by Nas
- "One Love" by Nas
- "The Message" by Nas
- "Street Dreams" by Nas
- "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" by Nas
- "Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)" by Nas
- "N.Y. State of Mind" by Nas
- "Mahogany" by Eric B. & Rakim
- "O Fortuna" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana
- "Love to Last Forever" by Zulema
- "This Is It" by Kenny Loggins
- "Hang On" by Jerry Goldsmith
- "Chameleon" by Herbie Hancock
- "Say What" by Idris Muhammad
- "We Got It" by Cam'ron
- "Vitroni's Theme - King Is Dead" by Roy Ayers
"Nas Is Like"
- "What Child Is This?" by John V. Rydgren and Bob R. Way
- "Why" by Don Robertson
- "It Ain't Hard to Tell" by Nas
- "Street Dreams" by Nas
- "Nobody Beats the Biz" by Biz Markie
- "When a Woman's Fed Up" by R. Kelly
- "Milk and Honey" by Jackson C. Frank
Personnel
- Eddie Sancho – engineer
- Kevin Crouse – engineer
- Steve Souder – engineer
- Nas – performer
- Puff Daddy – performer
- Aaliyah – performer
- Scarface – performer
- DMX – performer
- DJ Premier – producer
- Pretty Boy – producer
- Nashiem Myrick – producer
- L.E.S. – producer
- Grease – producer
Nas - Hate Me Now ft. Puff Daddy
"Hate Me Now" is a 1999 hip hop single by rapper Nas featuring Puff Daddy. The backbeat is inspired by, and contains some samples from, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. It was ranked 119 on xxl's best songs of the 90's.The music video for the single, directed by Hype Williams and featuring Nas being crucified, was the subject of extreme controversy, as the original edit also featured Puff Daddy on the cross. A Catholic, Puffy had demanded that his crucifixion scene be excised from the broadcast edit of the video, but the wrong edit was incorrectly sent to MTV and TRL, and aired on April 15, 1999. Within minutes of the broadcast, Puffy had barged into the offices of Nas' manager Steve Stoute with several bodyguards, and struck Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. Stoute later sued Puffy, the suit was settled out of court.
In Pop culture
- The song was used as the entrance song for Nate Diaz at finale of the 5th season of The Ultimate Fighter
- The song was used as the entrance song for former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir at UFC 81 and UFC 92.
- The song was used as the entrance song for Marcus Aurelio at UFC 102.
- The song is the entrance music for Colorado Rockies pitcher Huston Street.
- Hate Me Now is also sampled by the mashup artist Girl Talk on his track "Hold Up" from his 2006 album Night Ripper.
- This song is also featured on the soundtrack of the video games Def Jam: Icon, Madden NFL 10, and NBA 2K14.
- Song was used as the opening intro music alongside an orchestra for the 2009-2010 Toronto Raptors home opener.
- Eminem freestyled to the song when on the Tim Westwood Show.
- The song was used during a promo package for professional wrestler The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII.[4]
- Ace Hood freestyled to the song on Hot 97's Funkmaster Flex Freestyle Pt. 2.
Nas - Nas Is Like
"Nas Is Like" is the first single from Nas' third album I Am.... The song is the sixth collaboration between Nas and producer DJ Premier. It was critically well received as it was a change from the more commercial and pop-oriented singles from It Was Written and Nas, Foxy Brown, AZ, and Nature Present The Firm: The Album. The song contains a combination of braggadocios and introspective lyrics over a choppy string sample.The lyrical presence of Nas was clearly evident from the first lines: "Freedom or jail, clips inserted,/ a baby's bein' born Same time my man is murdered,/ the beginning and end"
In the third verse of the song, Nas uses similes to describe his prowess. These include: "I'm like a whole lot of loot, I'm like crisp money / Corporate accounts from a rich company / I'm like ecstasy for ladies, I'm like all races / combined in one man; like the '99 summer jam."
The song is also notable for featuring one of the most sought-after samples by cratediggers. For almost a decade since the track's release, the main sample used by DJ Premier remained unknown. However, in April 2008, an unnamed MP3 file featuring the original sample used was uploaded to the Internet by Dusty Kid from Strictly Breaks. Right after, the sample was identified as "Cantata of New Life" by John Rydgren. However, it was later revealed that the track was actually John Rydgren and Bob R. Way's 1966 song "What Child Is This?",[2] from their record Thoughts on the Carols.
Other than this, the song also contains scratched vocal samples from Nas' previous songs "It Ain't Hard to Tell" from 1994 and "Street Dreams" from 1996. The song also samples bird chirps from Don Robertson's "Why" and a vocal sample from Biz Markie's "Nobody Beats the Biz".
"Nas Is Like" was positively received on a commercial and critical level. It reached number 86 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on the Canadian Singles Chart and peaked at number 3 on the Rap songs chart. M.F. DiBella of Allmusic justifies the success of "Nas Is Like" stating: "Superproducer Premier comes to save the day...["Nas Is Like" is] nothing short of Illmatic perfection. "Nas Is Like"'s symphonic composition is the perfect complement for an MC of Nas' supreme vocal quality and precise lyrics."[4]
The song's popularity caused various songs to borrow "Nas Is Like"'s beat, structure and lyrics:
- During his brief feud with Nas, Memphis Bleek recorded a song named "Memphis Bleek Is..." which stylistically mimicked "Nas Is Like".
- On Royce da 5'9"'s 2007 mixtape The Bar Exam, he freestyles over the "Nas Is Like" instrumental and forms a song with a similar structure.
- Lyrics from "Nas Is Like" were later sampled in Braille and Rob Swift's 2008 song "The IV".
- West Coast rapper Kendrick Lamar made a freestyle to this song in January 2013 on Hot97.
- J.Cole uses the first part of Nas Is Like for the intro of his song, Let Nas Down. Nas himself would later appear on a remix of the song.
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