These Are the Two Albums Nas Says He Would Change if Given the Chance
In a cover story for i-D, Nas goes on record about the albums he would change if he could. If you’re a Nas fan you probably already know what two albums he’s talking about.
Nas might have left the no-Grammy Award club, but he has regrets about two albums from his legendary catalog. A featured cover star on the “Out of the Blue” issue of i-D — alongside fellow rappers Lil Baby, A$AP Ferg and Young Thug — the Kings Disease II artist spoke with i-D about which albums he’d change.
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When asked if there was an album of his that he’d recreate, Nas confirmed that it would be a a couple of tracks from his two 1999 albums: I Am… and Nastradamus:
“No, but if I decided to challenge myself to do it, I would probably change some things on I Am…and I would change some things probably on Nastradamus. I don’t even know what’s on those albums. I could probably only remember two songs for each album.“
In February 1999, almost two full months ahead of the album’s original March release date, 13 unreleased tracks from I Am… were leaked online, prompting him to push the album back and reconfigure the track listing, cutting some classics and adding some new songs.
Over the years, I Am… has been embraced by fans, something Nas has recognized. In April he posted a tribute to the album on his Instagram.
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While Nastradamus is still largely derided. Released seven months after I Am… — which debuted at no. 1 on the Billboard charts — Nastradamus debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, selling over 232,000 copies in its first week, considerably weak sales for Nas in his prime. It was also ripped apart by critics.
Given a 2/5 star rating on Rolling Stone, Nas spoke with the publication in 2014 about being far-removed from the Nastradamus era:
“On that album, there’s a couple of songs that have a certain sound to it that doesn’t sound like anything else I’ve done. And it was a gray area in my life and that album represents that gray area. It was personal stuff that I’d rather not elaborate on. But I have nothing against that album.”
Nas is nominated for Best Rap Album for King’s Disease II at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, which will air Monday, January 31, 2022 on CBS.