Album1996

It Was Written

Nas/Def Jam

A Def Jam Nas route connecting Queensbridge writing, major-label rap scale, producers, and 1990s New York hip-hop.

Label path

Def JamUniversal Music Group

DYGR rating

146.8K

Saves

Reviews

Your rating

5.0

Tracklist

01The MessageBrian Eno

02If I Ruled the WorldNigel Godrich

03Street DreamsBrian Eno

Short review

Keep it sharp. DYGR reviews are notes, not essays.

Similar releases

Same pressure, different door.

Untrue

Burial/Hyperdub

A landmark London bass album built from garage memory, night-bus atmosphere, and Hyperdub's early catalog gravity.

Album / 2007

Shades of Blue

Madlib/Blue Note

Madlib's Blue Note conversation: jazz catalog, beatmaking, samples, and label history folded into one record.

Album / 2003

Syro

Aphex Twin/Warp

A late-period Warp album where aliases, gear, design systems, and obsessive electronic detail become the map.

Album / 2014

Nas

Illmatic

Nas/Columbia

A Queensbridge landmark that turns producers, borough identity, Columbia, and 1990s New York into a clear trail.

Album / 1994

Def Jam

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Public Enemy/Def Jam

A Def Jam landmark connecting Public Enemy, production politics, sample density, and hip-hop's public voice.

Album / 1988

Similar labels

New rooms to enter.

Los Angeles / 2004

TDE

West Coast hip-hop and R&B with crew, producer, and city-lineage context.

466K followersHip-Hop / R&B

New York / 1953

Epic

Pop, hip-hop, and global catalog with high-visibility artist worlds.

548K followersHip-Hop / Pop

New York / 1947

Atlantic

R&B, soul, rock, and pop catalog with a deep producer and songwriter lineage.

738K followersR&B / Soul

Digging the next trail