It Was Written

Label: Columbia
Release date: 1 Jul 1996
Running length: 15 tracks
Running time: 61:35

Tracklist

	Track	Duration	Listeners
1	Album Intro	2:50	48,503
2	The Message	3:54	187,890
3	Street Dreams	4:40	93,530
4	I Gave You Power	3:53	59,587
5	Watch Dem Niggas	4:04	50,287
6	Take It in Blood	4:48	56,571
7	Nas Is Coming	5:41	43,379
8	Affirmative Action	3:29	63,330
9	The Set Up	4:02	30,900
10	Black Girl Lost	4:23	37,873
11	Suspect	4:12	40,273
12	Shootouts	3:46	45,834
13	Live Nigga Rap	3:44	30,768
14	If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)	4:45	171,285
15	Silent Murder	3:24	15,160

About this album

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 him from the raw, underground tone of his debut album towards a more polished, mainstream sound. The album features mafioso and gangsta themes, and marks the first appearance of Nas’s short-lived supergroup The Firm, which included rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega.