Best Album 1996 Round 2: Reasonable Doubt vs. It Was Written (A)

vs.

..Too bad one of these has to leave in Round 2. I'll go with Jay Z

man this one is tough...but I've gotta go with Jigga here

This one is hard. I'll go with Nas barely.

This should have been an Elite 8 matchup at the very least.

Reasonable Doubt wins but I'm good either way, RD is interchangable with Illadelph Halflife as my fav of 96.

I like the Nas album better.

Jigga

Reasonable Doubt

Beyond a shadow of a Reasonable Doubt.

It Was Written that Nas gets my vote.

There's no reasonable doubt that I would never listen to a Jay-Z record. Marcy son!

I love Nas and all, but the only Nas album that's better than Reasonable Doubt is Illmatic.

Wayne wrote:

WOW, just wow, I KNEW it was going to come to this matchup, between my #1 and #2, respectively. It Was Written, I've always gave this album a strong 4 star rating (still stand by that rating), however, I don't feel it's better than Reasonable Doubt. So, RD gets the nod here, BUT, I can still say I'm certainly good either way.

You think Reasonable Doubt was the only classic in 96? Or do you mean #1 & #2 favorite rappers?

I don't see how anyone(especially Wayne) can say I'm good either way. For the most part, people consider Reasonable Doubt to be 5 stars, and It Was Written is not. In what world are you ok with a 4 star album beating a 5 star album? KJ first says he's good either way, and then says the only Nas album better than RD is Illmatic. Why are you good when the inferior album might win? If the albums were ranked the same and you made the choice on personal preference, i could see it.

Reasonable Doubt

If Illmatic would get blown out by Reasonable Doubt to these ears, no way in hell It Was Written stands a chance.

I like It Was Written a lot better than Illmatic. More versatile, more creative, and I think Nas' wordplay is better, too. Just better music, better songs. I always thought so.

parker lewis wrote:

I like It Was Written a lot better than Illmatic. More versatile, more creative, and I think Nas' wordplay is better, too. Just better music, better songs. I always thought so.

Yep.

parker lewis wrote:

I like It Was Written a lot better than Illmatic. More versatile, more creative, and I think Nas' wordplay is better, too. Just better music, better songs. I always thought so.

If It Was Written was 10 tracks, or Illmatic was longer, I would agree with you. As it is, it's much easier to have a 10 track (really 9) album be a classic so Illmatic gets the W IMO.

Deanie O'Banion wrote:

There's no reasonable doubt that I would never listen to a Jay-Z record. Marcy son!

Why he mush her?

lol... don't I rememeber you saying that its not as impressive for a short album to be dope because there's less of it. That was definitely you.

That's exactly my point here...

Reasonable Doubt

Reasonable Doubt...

T. Myers wrote:

I don't see how anyone(especially Wayne) can say I'm good either way. For the most part, people consider Reasonable Doubt to be 5 stars, and It Was Written is not. In what world are you ok with a 4 star album beating a 5 star album? KJ first says he's good either way, and then says the only Nas album better than RD is Illmatic. Why are you good when the inferior album might win? If the albums were ranked the same and you made the choice on personal preference, i could see it.

I'm saying I'm good either way because both albums are classics IMO. I stand behind my statement of Illmatic being the only Nas album better than RD, but I love IWW too so I wouldn't be upset with it winning, that's all I was saying. It doesn't look like IWW is going to win anyway so it's whatever, but I do consider it classic personally.

parker lewis wrote:

I like It Was Written a lot better than Illmatic. More versatile, more creative, and I think Nas' wordplay is better, too. Just better music, better songs. I always thought so.

More creative, perhaps. But I don't agree with any of those other points.

Reasonable easily.

Alright, my bad KJ. I didn't know you considered IWW a classic.

T. Myers wrote:

Alright, my bad KJ. I didn't know you considered IWW a classic.

It's all good, it's one of 5 Nas albums that I have at 5 stars.

KJ Styles wrote:

T. Myers wrote:

Alright, my bad KJ. I didn't know you considered IWW a classic.

It's all good, it's one of 5 Nas albums that I have at 5 stars.

KJ Styles wrote:

T. Myers wrote:

Alright, my bad KJ. I didn't know you considered IWW a classic.

It's all good, it's one of 5 Nas albums that I have at 5 stars.

WOW! did you just really type that or is someone messing with your account?And you just had the balls to say something about "Pac stans" on he other thread. What albums of his are 5 stars to you other than Illmatic?

First of all SRP you can eat a fat dick. You thinks Illmatic is a bad album yet you have every UGK album is 5 stars except Dirty Money. Go fuck yourself.

Secondly to Kev, yeah I said that and I stand by my statement. At least I can admit to being a Nas stan whereas others here are in denial about being a stan for other artists. I never said that there was anything wrong with being a Pac stan, all I said was that only Pac stans have All Eyez On Me rated at 5 stars, and that it's not blasphemous to have Muddy Waters rated over it.

As for the Nas albums I have at 5 stars, they are Illmatic, Lost Tapes, It Was Written, Stillmatic, and Untitled. I'm not the only one that feels that way either. I believe Wayne has all those except IWW rated at 5 stars too.

Whatever Southern Rap Hoe, post that dumb ass pic all you want. All it does is confirm your obvious hypocricy.

Wayne wrote:

KJ Styles wrote:

As for the Nas albums I have at 5 stars, they are Illmatic, Lost Tapes, It Was Written, Stillmatic, and Untitled. I'm not the only one that feels that way either. I believe Wayne has all those except IWW rated at 5 stars too.

Oh yeah, Illmatic, Stillmatic, Lost Tapes, and Untitled all get 5 stars from me.

You are a wise man my friend.

KJ Styles wrote:

Wayne wrote:

KJ Styles wrote:

As for the Nas albums I have at 5 stars, they are Illmatic, Lost Tapes, It Was Written, Stillmatic, and Untitled. I'm not the only one that feels that way either. I believe Wayne has all those except IWW rated at 5 stars too.

Oh yeah, Illmatic, Stillmatic, Lost Tapes, and Untitled all get 5 stars from me.

You are a wise man my friend.

lol... what an endorsement.

I can see 5 stars for Illmatic and maybe Stillmatic. Its a push imo for the others. I have them highly rated like in the 4.5-4.75 range myself but they are not perfect.

Oh and AEOM is not a 5 star album in my book its a 4.5-4.75 for me. That Muddy Waters is a 3.75-4.0, maybe 4.25 at the highest.