Album Fixup: Nas - I Am...
While I will maintain that I Am... is one of the more underrated Nas albums, it is not without its flaws. While it is a decent album, it could have been a game-changing masterpiece reaching Illmatic heights if it had been released as originally intended. I Am...the Autobiography was to be a double-disc concept album detailing the entirety of Nas' life in musical form. Unfortunately, in December 1998, an advance copy of I Am... leaked onto the internet (one of the first albums to ever leak, in fact), causing Nas and Columbia Records to scrap many of the songs and scale I Am... down to a single disc. It was a baffling decision, considering that perhaps only a couple thousand people probably even downloaded the leaked songs in the first place. After the release of I Am... in early 1999, Columbia wanted to put out a followup containing the scrapped songs. However, Nas decided to record a new album instead, resulting in the rushed and half-assed Nastradamus. In 2002, Nas and Columbia released the excellent The Lost Tapes, which contained several of the unreleased songs. However, even this stellar compilation was only scratching the surface on what Nas had once planned. This tracklisting follows the original concept of I Am... as an autobiography. |
| 1 |  | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Fetus (Belly Button Window)" begins the first disc of the album with Nas' birth, where we hear his POV as a fetus watching his parents debate whether they should have him or not. |
| 2 |  | Nas
Nastradamus
"Project Windows ft. Ron Isley" is about Nas growing up as a child in the rough New York housing projects known as Queensbridge. |
| 3 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Poppa Was A Playa" is about Nas witnessing his father's infidelity to his mother. |
| 4 |  | Nas
I Am...
"N.Y. State of Mind Pt. II" is about Nas' dangerous teenage years in QB, which helps formulate the content on Illmatic. |
| 5 |  | Nas
QB's Finest
"Find Ya Wealth" is about Nas recording arguably the greatest hip-hop album of all time, Illmatic, being crowned rap's prodigal son and finding a new life beyond the streets of QB. |
| 6 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"U Gotta Love It" is about Nas celebrating his life after the critical success of Illmatic. |
| 7 | | Nas
I Am...
"Nas Is Like" is about Nas' amazing skills as an MC. |
| 8 | | Nas
I Am...
"You Won't See Me Tonight ft. Aaliyah" is about Nas toying with the emotions of a woman he has a sexual relationship with after his newfound success turns him into a player. |
| 9 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Daydreamin', Stay Schemin'" is about Nas finding himself in petty beefs with people he grew up with in QB due to his newfound rap career. |
| 10 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Sometimes I Wonder ft. Nature" is about Nas' incarcerated and deceased friends from QB, who rest heavily on his mind. |
| 11 | | Nas
I Am...
"Ghetto Prisoners" is Nas reflecting on the poverty and struggle of ghetto life in the wake of his success. |
| 12 | | Nas
I Am...
"Small World" is about Nas associating with shady individuals in the streets despite his burgeoning career, which foreshadows his troubles to come. |
| 13 | | Nas
I Am...
"Life Is What You Make It ft. DMX" begins the second disc and is about Nas having a flashy new "get money or die" outlook on life after going multi-platinum with his sophomore album It Was Written. |
| 14 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"The Hardest Thing to Do is Stay Alive" is about Nas believing he won't get caught up in the game like so many others before him. |
| 15 | | Nas
I Am...
"Money Is My Bitch" is about Nas analyzing the money that fame is bringing in and how it is affecting him. |
| 16 | | Nas
I Am...
"Favor For A Favor ft. Scarface" is about Nas branching out beyond his New York roots, making connections in different states and now adopting an arrogant mafioso persona. |
| 17 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Blaze A 50" is about Nas becoming involved in a bizarre, fantastical caper involving a married woman, which details his life becoming increasingly excessive and self-indulgent. |
| 18 | | Nas
I Am...
"Hate Me Now ft. Puff Daddy" is about Nas reaching a new height of egomania and viciously firing back at the critics who say he has sold out and changed. |
| 19 | | Nas
I Am...
"We Will Survive" is about Nas snapping back to reality after the murders of fellow rappers 2pac and The Notorious B.I.G., both of whom he pens a mournful tribute to. |
| 20 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"The Rise & Fall" is about Nas questioning his decisions in his career, wondering if he lost sight of what made him a great rapper in the first place and admitting his own personal flaws. |
| 21 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"My Worst Enemy" is about Nas withdrawing from the spotlight and finding his mind in a dark, isolated state. |
| 22 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Drunk By Myself" is about Nas resorting to self-pity and suicidal drunk driving, but ultimately seeing the many positives in his life, including the birth of his daughter. |
| 23 | | Nas
I Am...
"Undying Love" is about Nas' death, after he murders his wife (possibly the same woman from "You Won't See Me Tonight"), the man she is cheating on him with and then committing suicide. |
| 24 | | Nas
The Lost Tapes
"Amongst Kings" is about Nas pleading with God for a second chance in the afterlife. God grants his wish and sends a reborn Nas back to Earth as a prophet. |
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