The rapper Nas has constructed a storied profession for himself over the course of almost three many years. In 1994, he entered the East Coast hip-hop scene together with his debut album “Illmatic,” which stays a contender for the best rap album of all time. His followup challenge, “It Was Written,” launched him to business stardom two years later, after which he bested Jay-Z in a 2000s rap battle, etching his title into music historical past — “it was written” certainly. Nas has continued placing out robust lyrical albums into the current day, earning a Grammy Award for Finest Rap Album in 2020.
Nonetheless, it’s his ‘90s classics that stay on within the hearts and minds of old-school hip-hop fans. A reputation like “It Was Written” purposefully casts a prophetic shadow, evoking visuals of historical legends and long-gone empires — including to the mythos, Nas lyrically kinds himself the Pablo Escobar of Queens, drawing on the legacy of Colombia’s notorious drug lord. Regardless of being a collaborative observe between Nas and fellow NYC-born rappers, the track “Affirmative Motion” greatest embodies this imaginative ethos.
“Affirmative Motion” is a posse cut, which means it brings collectively 4 or extra rappers to duke it out for the most effective efficiency — on this case, Nas, AZ, Cormega and Cunning Brown, who was simply 16 on the time. Although the track seems on Nas’ “It Was Written,” it additionally served to debut the rappers’ eventual hip-hop supergroup, referred to as “The Agency.” AZ makes the primary look on the observe, however does so patiently, letting the instrumental set the temper.
The manufacturing is austere however efficient, guiding the listener via a shocking journey earlier than the beat even drops. The ping-ponging, plucked chord and cartoonish whistle sounds that open “Affirmative Motion” head faux in the direction of an air of levity. However the ensuing choir pattern, paying homage to Gregorian monk rituals, plunges the track right into a darker environment — a suspicion confirmed when AZ first speaks.
“N— do not perceive the 4 devils,” he laments over a creepy mandolin tune that one evaluate lauded as “sounding straight out of Goodfellas.” The listener expects a various array of offenses to comply with, maybe alongside the traces of the Bible’s seven cardinal sins. As an alternative, AZ explains the 4 devils as “lust, envy, hate, jealousy,” revealing a single-minded fixation on betrayal — the best way he says “jealousy” drips with particular revulsion.
Gentle wind, rustling leaves and hen chirps could be heard within the distance, putting the listener within the streets of New York and unmasking AZ’s goal as none aside from the town’s rival gangster rappers. AZ then unleashes an addictive cadence and rhyme scheme.
“Sneak assault, the brand new cats in rap value prime greenback / The truth is, contact mine’s and I am going to react like a Rottweiler,” he warns, satisfyingly timing the final phrase with the track’s first snare hit.
With a fab kick-snare pattern buoying him, AZ makes use of the remainder of his verse to painting himself as a ruthless however well-connected warlord. The following rapper, Cormega, bolts in a few minute and a half into the track. He largely matches AZ’s supply and themes, whereas injecting particular references to Desert Eagle firearms and Dominican cocaine cartels.
It isn’t till Nas’ verse that an actual stylistic change happens. Nas tasks a voice of calm, casually relating the perks of being an Escobar-tier drug kingpin, like Cuban cigars and money with which to bribe federal brokers. He raps, “I shine jewellery, sippin’ on crushed grapes, we lust papes” — whereas AZ and Cormega are portrayed working the streets, Nas is kicking again, sipping wine and taking inventory of his kingdom.
Lastly, it’s Cunning Brown’s activate the mic, wherein she vindicates a reviewer’s remark that if her male contemporaries typify New York Metropolis mobsters, “then Cunning represents the mob spouse that’s much more sinister.”
On “Affirmative Motion,” Cunning exudes a confident swagger, seemingly unintimidated by the pressures of a male-dominated industry. Her lyrics veer from the cryptic — together with the earworm “they reward Allah with visions of Gandhi” — to the scrupulous, at one level documenting the arithmetic of coke-dealing in mind-boggling element. The latter initiative polarized critics upon launch and stays hotly debated — Cunning’s numbers are laborious to comply with, to place it charitably — however her audacity makes the efficiency an in depth second to AZ’s.
Even because the 4 verses range in fashion, the musical basis underlying “Affirmative Motion” stays comparatively fixed, melding a simple bassline and drum sample with a signature melody that twangs all through. The intriguing instrumental works in tandem with The Agency’s storytelling to understand the track’s ambition as a legendary battle for dominance over New York’s streets — starting to finish, it performs like a riveting gangland thriller.
“It Was Written” has an everlasting presence in battle rap. The album’s title was invoked in an notorious lyric by Pusha-T — “it was written like Nas, nevertheless it got here from Quentin” — dissing Drake for allegedly utilizing a ghostwriter. The mandolin sequence on “Affirmative Motion” was in flip reimagined as a sinister guitar melody for Drake’s “Mob Ties,” tapping into the previous track’s mafioso themes.
Regardless of disbanding the group within the late ‘90s, the members of The Agency reunited on Nas’s 2020 album “King’s Illness” for the observe “Full Circle.” Aptly named, the track closes with a shout out to their formative endeavor and “It Was Written” gem: “Basic s—, that is affirmative.”
“The Butterfly Impact” is a column that explores the importance of chosen hip-hop releases from a cultural and musical lens.
