I Am

I Am may refer to:

Music

Albums

Songs

Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones (/nɑːˈsɪər/; born September 14, 1973), better known as Nas /ˈnɑːz/, is an American rapper, songwriter, entrepreneur, record producer and actor. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas has released eight consecutive platinum and multi-platinum albums and sold over 25 million records worldwide since 1994. He is also an entrepreneur through his own record label; he serves as associate publisher of Mass Appeal magazine and is the owner of a Fila sneaker store. He is currently signed to Mass Appeal Records.

His musical career began in 1991 when he was featured on Main Source's track "Live at the Barbeque". His debut album Illmatic, released in 1994, received universal acclaim from both critics and the hip hop community; it is frequently ranked as one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time.

Nas' follow-up album, It Was Written, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, stayed on top for four consecutive weeks, went Platinum twice in only two months, and made Nas internationally known. From 2001 to 2005, Nas was involved in a highly publicized feud with rapper Jay Z. In 2006, Nas signed to Def Jam. In 2010, he released a collaboration album with reggae artist Damian Marley, donating all royalties to charities active in Africa. His eleventh studio album, Life Is Good, was released in 2012, and was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.

Hate Me Now

"Hate Me Now" is a 1999 hip hop single by rapper Nas featuring Puff Daddy. The backbeat is inspired by, and contains some samples from, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. It was ranked 119 on XXL's best songs of the 90's.

Overview

Controversy

The music video for the single, directed by Hype Williams and featuring Nas being crucified, was the subject of extreme controversy, as the original edit also featured Puff Daddy on the cross. A Catholic, Puffy had demanded that his crucifixion scene be excised from the broadcast edit of the video, but the wrong edit was incorrectly sent to MTV and TRL, and aired on April 15, 1999. Within minutes of the broadcast, Puffy had barged into the offices of Nas' manager Steve Stoute with several bodyguards, and struck Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. Stoute later sued Puffy, the suit was settled out of court.

Nas later related the making of the song and the subsequent incident:

There's a play in New York City where a black man played Jesus, and caught a lot of flak. I think, even the mayor at the time, Giuliani, was against it. So my thing was I wanted to be crucified like Jesus in the video, to get back at all those people that don't want to see a black man doing his thing. Me and Puff got hammered to the cross, but after Puff expressed his religious beliefs and speaking to his pastor, he wasn't ready to take that stance, so it was really my idea anyway, so we took his part out. For some reason, I think [my former manager] Steve Stoute let it fly with Puffy still being crucified to the cross, so there was that fight at the office, where Puff jumped on Steve or some shit like that. Both of them were friends of mine, so I kind of stepped in and squashed the whole thing, and it's all in the past. Just growing pains. We were all growing up. That brings back a lot of memories. Even when I throw it on onstage now, it still kills."

Doctor's Advocate

Doctor's Advocate is the second studio album by American hip hop recording artist The Game, released on November 14, 2006 through Geffen Records. Due to his disputes with 50 Cent, Game left Aftermath/G-Unit and signed with Geffen Records, another label under Universal Music Group's Interscope-Geffen-A&M division to terminate his contractual obligations with G-Unit in the summer of 2006. The album is his second major label release, following 2005's The Documentary, which was released on Aftermath/G-Unit.

Despite the absence of Dr. Dre, who executive produced Game's debut record, The Documentary, the album featured production by four other returning producers—Kanye West, Just Blaze, Scott Storch and Hi-Tek—as well as will.i.am and Swizz Beatz. Production for the album was also contributed by DJ Khalil, Jellyroll, Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, Mr. Porter, Nottz, Reefa, Ervin "E.P." Pope and D-Roc, among others.

Doctor's Advocate debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200, selling over 358,000 copies in its first week, making it Game's second number one album in a row.

It Was

"It Was" is a song written by Mark Wright and Gary Burr, and recorded by American country music artist Chely Wright. It was released in September 1999 as the second single from her album Single White Female. The song reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart in April 2000.

Critical reception

Deborah Evans Price of Billboard gave the song a favorable review, saying that it "has a hauntingly beautiful melody and affecting lyric about the mercurial nature of love" and that "Wright possesses a strong voice, full of emotional depth and presence."

Music video

The music video was directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions and premiered in August 1999.

Chart performance

Year-end charts

References

External links