Nas -1994-1996- From Nasty To Esco (Homemade Compilation)

• 1994-1996 : Soundtracks songs, B-Sides, leftover from Illmatic to It Was Written.
• The evolution from the young ghetto guide Nasty Nas to the infamous mafioso star Nas Escobar.
  

Nas by Danny Clinch, Illmatic photoshoot

### This compilation follows the tracklist of an old bootleg titled Nas Archives, today very difficult to find. We just replaced the album released songs by lost songs recorded from that period. ###

Tracklist :

1. Capital Rap Show Freestyle (1994)
2. One Love (One L Remix) feat. Sadat X (1994)
3. On The Real (Original) feat. KL (Screwball) & Cormega (1994)
4. One On One (1994)
5. Fast Life (Norfside Remix) feat. Kool G Rap (1996)
6. Understanding feat. Az & Biz Markie (1995)
7. Life Is Like A Dice Game (1995)
8. The World is Yours (Q Tip Mix) (1994)
9. Déjà Vu (1995)
10. Life's A Bitch (Arsenal Mix) feat. Az (1994)
11. Everything Is Real feat. Nashawn (??) & Shapelle (1995) - speed -7% *
12. Wake Up Show Anthem '94 feat. Organised Konfusion, Ras Kass, Dred Scott, Shyheim, Chino XL, Saafir & Lauryn Hill (1994)
    
13. Street Dreams (Unreleased 3rd Verse) (1996)
14. Street Dreams pt. 2 feat. R. Kelly (1996)
15. La Familia (Original) feat. Cormega, Foxy Brown & Az (1996)
16. Watch Dem Niggas (Unreleased 3rd Verse) (1996)
17. Analyze This feat. Lord Tariq & Jay-Z (1996)
18. The Message (Unreleased Version) (1996)
19. Affirmative Action (Poke & Tone Remix) feat. Foxy Brown, AZ, Cormega & Jungle (1996)
20. It Ain't Hard To Tell (Large Professor Remix) (1994)
21. The Bridge Keeps Rockin' (Clueless Freestyle) (1996)
    

* The speed or pitch of the usual leak is obviously wrong - voices are deformed. We tried to slow down -7.0 (new track duration is 2:25, against 2:15), it sounds perfect and the Nas delivery really sounds like in 1995, what suspect many fans.

Credits :

1. Tim Westwood Radio, UK (May 6th, 1994). Archives

2. Godfather Don & Victor Padilla from the Beatnuts, One Love single, 1994

3. Marley Marl. On The Real single (1997). Released for the 10th anniversary of Illmatic.

4. Chris Large & Mr. Freak Nasty. Street Fighter OST (1994)

5. Saalam Remi. From Kool G Rap's Check Da Bitch single (1996) or Epic Street sampler

6. Large Professor. Bad Boys Soundtrack promo (1994-1995)

7. Easy Mo Bee. Unreleased. Nas talks about his daughter, Easy Mo Bee confirmed it was between Illmatic and It Was Written

8. Q-Tip. Alternate lyrics, from The World is Yours single (1994)

9. Chris Winston. Unreleased. Nas says 95 in his lyrics.

10. Def Jef & Meech Wells. Life's A Bitch single (1994).

11. L.E.S. (?). Unreleased. Leaked with 91-93 demos but with a distort voice which makes him sound younger.

12. Sway & Tech. From Wake Up Show Freestyles, Vol. 2 (1996)

13. Poke & Tone. From Street Dreams single (1996).

14. Poke & Tone. From Street Dreams single (1996).

15. Unreleased. Recorded before Nas/Cormega dispute. (1996).

16. Poke & Tone. Unreleased. (1996)

17. Trackmasters. Unreleased until unofficial Lord Tariq Past & Present compilation (1999) and Lord Tariq's Analyze This single (2001).

18. Poke & Tone & DJ Kid Capri. Unreleased. With the original Scarface voice sample in the intro (1996).

19. Poke & Tone. From Street Dreams single (1996).

20. Large Professor. From It Ain't Hard To Tell (Remix) single promo (1994).

21. Poke & Tone. Beat from Foxy Brown's "Get Me Home" feat. Blackstreet (1996). From DJ Spinbad, Clueless mixtape (1996).

 

 

It is funny to think that Danny Clinch made these pictures for Illmatic album around the time he made a wonderful photoset for 2Pac's forthcoming album then titled Mr. Middle Finger or Out On Bail (famous front cover of Until The End of Time)

Unused Tracks : 

. One Love (The LG Experience Remix) (1994)

. It Ain't Hard To Tell (Stink Mix) (prod. by Dave Scratch & Dj Ron) (1994) 

. It Ain't Hard To Tell (The Laidback Remix) (1994)

. Life's A Bitch (Buckwild Remix 1) feat. Az (1994)

. Life's A Bitch (Buckwild Remix 2) feat. Az (1994)

 

. Tim Westwood Freestyle feat. Mobb Deep (1995)
. Tim Westwood Freestyle feat. De La Soul (1996)

. Funk Flex Freestyle feat. Cormega (1996) / Partially included in Cormega's The Montana Way / The Montana Diary mixtape (1997). Maybe recorded just before Mega was dropped from the group by Steve Stoute in summer of 96. A shame ! He was the one who could have saved the Firm project from disaster.

. 40th Side Of Things (Good Fellas) feat. Syl Drama & Cormega (1995)  / Hot Day & Jae Supreme. Jae Supreme said "Produced by The Dream Team (Hot Day & Jae Supreme). The 1st guy spittin, is my cousin Syl Drama. We did this demo for Cormega album." Nas here re-use his 3rd verse from "Déjà Vu". We prefered include it in our Cormega's Montana Way advanced version, especially because of DJ Hot Day who Mega started with.
. Fast Life (Original) feat. Kool G Rap (1995) / On the chorus, the singer is saying "everywhere we go bitches know who we are" instead of "people" in the Kool G's album version
. One + One feat. Large Professor (1996) / Large Professor. From Large Professor's The LP (1996-2009)

Al Pereira, Nas, 2Pac and Redman at Club Amazon (1993, July 23)

The diligent kid who was preparing his destiny

Nas always looks so serious... not often smiling and joking in comparison of Tupac ! In July 1993, he was still an unknown for the general public, even if his features with Main Source, MC Serch and his first single Half Time gave him one of the biggest hype, earning him the underground nickname of "new Rakim". Maybe at that time, he was deeply preoccupied by the recording of his first album, to not miss his entrance into the Hip-Hop hall of fame.

At the time of these pictures, 2Pac was recording his whole New York flavored album (almost entirely unleaked), well titled Mr. Middle Finger, mainly produced by produced by the Queensbridge rapper Stretch, probably also known from Nas. It is said that when Nas met 2Pac, they quickly became friends, as often with 2Pac. The Notorious B.I.G. was also at this party, about to go on tour with 2Pac and his Thug Life group. They were all good friends at that time...

A nasty aftertaste for Nasty Nas

When Nas finally released his album Illmatic, the 19th of April 94, 2Pac has had to change his projects (three times) and was announcing his new R U Still Down (Original album) for the following summer. Illmatic is an instant classic acclaimed by the whole Hip-Hop community, East to West. But five months later in September, while 2Pac again had to change his solo album plans for his group's first album Thug Life : Volume 1, The Notorious B.I.G. released his first album Ready To Die, also acclaimed by the whole community, also with a picture of the rapper as a child in the front cover, also with amazing stories told about the hood, but with a much greater commercial success... 

At the end of the year of 94, Nas was the admiration of the critics, B.I.G. was the king of New York and 2Pac was going to prison... In March of 1995, 2Pac's new solo Me Against The World was finally released, exploding the chart whilst he was behind bars...

 

The revenge of Nas : the metamorphosis into Nas Escobar...

Can these facts explain the turning point from Nas, maybe during the first half of 95, adopting his new nickname Escobar after the Colombian drug lord, and the gangster style which fits with it ? The leftover songs from late 94 - early 95, "Understanding", "Life Is Life A Dice Game", "Déjà Vu" or "Everything Is Real" still sound Nasty Nas. Maybe he was mad at the success of The Notorious B.I.G., feeling that he had stolen something from him - and from 2Pac - with the cover and the storytelling, stolen the New York crown he deserved... Maybe considering that the gangster imagery, was selling more than his pure lyricism.

His new songs, like "The Message", are full of a kind of bitterness about that. The lyrics seem to talk about B.I.G. and 2Pac... introduced as characters into his fictional gangsta stories. 

What's the catch ? Was Nas dissing The Notorious B.I.G. ?

So maybe we can understand why when 2Pac listened to It Was Written in the 3rd of July 96 (the album was released the 2nd), hearing the first song starting by "Fake Thugs, no love...", with his heavy paranoia syndrome, he took it against him and was very hurt, more than if it would have been from an unknown rapper... "And friends became strangers". He straight recorded answers to Nas with "U Don't Have 2 Worry" and "War Gamez" before filling up his new album with words against him (cf. Makaveli : Killuminati early diss album project).

Nas was hearing here and there that 2Pac was talking against him. It is probably the time - in July-August of 96 where he and Steve Stoute - a kind of Puff Daddy / Suge Knight for the Queens - decided to fire Cormega from the Firm project. The time Nas recorded a few songs where he disses 2Pac/Makaveli in the original Firm Intro "Welcome To The Firm" with Noreaga (who already entered the East/West rap war) : "Black Pirellis rolling over this Makaveli", and in "Real Niggas" (cf. DJ Clue Vs. The Firm), before solving their short lived different in early September of 96. 

Nas would have said to 2Pac he was thinking to the Notorious B.I.G. when wrote the lyrics of "The Message". 2Pac & Nas never recorded together but they were planning to do so. The Dogg Pound song, "Don't Stop, Keep Going" is the only song which can really reunite them because both of them recorded a verse for that same song (not at the same time, maybe half a year later). But Nas never recorded with The Notorious B.I.G...