After the modest commercial success of his debut album Illmatic (1994), Nas pursued a more polished, mainstream sound for It Was Written.

The album was a commercial success, selling 270,000 copies in its first week and debuting at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, while receiving mostly positive reviews.

However, Nas's more commercial sound fostered accusations of selling out within the hip hop community, and its critical standing suffered with comparisons to the acclaimed Illmatic.

[4] Meanwhile, his excessive spending habits left him with little money, and Nas was forced to ask for a loan to purchase clothes to wear to the Source Awards ceremony in 1995.

and promoter Puff Daddy at the awards show sent a message to Nas to change his commercial approach, resulting in his hiring of Steve "The Commissioner" Stoute as manager.

[1] In contrast to Illmatic, the album contains a more detailed and elaborate production,[5] while it shares similarity to the G-funk sound, relying heavily on sampled and looped funk grooves.

[4] Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrote of Nas's shift in lyrical themes from Illmatic, stating he "repeatedly cites the Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and drops brand names of clothes, cars, liquor and guns.

[8] Legendary producer DJ Premier had one production credit on the jazz fusion-styled "I Gave You Power",[11] a song which depicts a first-person narrative from the perspective of a gun.

Music critic J.R. Reynolds wrote that the former has Nas "rapping his way to anarchy in an imagined world where he kicks discipline to the curb and good times rule.

[12] The album also features guest appearances from Mobb Deep and The Firm, a supergroup which was initially composed of Nas, AZ, Cormega and Foxy Brown.

"[13] The song's title comes from the book of the same name by pulp writer Donald Goines; his literary work has served as a popular source of reference for many gangsta rap artists.

"[23] Vibe magazine's Kris Ex criticized the album's "consistently aggressive attempts at pop music", but also wrote that Nas "shines through".

"[13] NME's Andy Crysell wrote that "Nas's neat, considered lyrics treat the violence that surrounds him with a mixture of remorse, resignation and ebullience.

"[20] Christopher John Farley of Time stated "The lyrics in It Was Written could be sharper, but the music, energetic and engaging on many tracks, helps drive his message home.

[18][17] Los Angeles Times writer Cheo Hodari Coker called the album "poetic", writing that it "demonstrates a continuing lyrical maturity that makes his already potent beats and rhymes all the more compelling".

[19] Spin magazine preferred the "reach" of It Was Written to Nas's "more suavely rapped debut", praised the production, and described the songs' choruses as "grainy, pop-savvy".

[4][27] Rolling Stone's Mark Coleman wrote negatively of Nas's themes and called it "the latest blatant example of trashy tough-guy talk", writing "Certainly he strikes a note of creepy realism in his stories of heavyweight dealing and literally cutthroat competition.

On 'Watch Dem Niggas', Nas cites as inspirations both the boxing coach Cus D'Amato and the murderous drug lord Pablo Escobar.

[11] Jon Pareles of The New York Times commented that he "continually shifts perspective" and called it "late-stage gangsta rap, starting to buckle under its own contradictions.

Reviewers found Nas's violent, fantastical mafioso stories to lack the authentic, emotional qualities of his debut album.

While Illmatic is often held as Nas's masterpiece, It Was Written deemed a case of the sophomore slump and the first of his subsequent work to be scrutinized in comparison to the former.

[40] On September 6, 1996, It Was Written was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for shipments of 2 million copies in the United States.

The alliance also resulted in the formation of The Firm, Nas's short-lived supergroup, which comprised rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega, who make their debut on track number eight, "Affirmative Action".

"[10] Chennault also discussed the significance of It Was Written during the period of its release, stating "after mastering stark street corner realism on Illmatic, Nas delivered a loose concept album that was, at the time, groundbreaking in its scope, approach and execution.

[8] American hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco has cited It Was Written as his favorite album and his primary source of inspiration.

[52] Danny Brown claimed to have quit his job in order to stay home and listen to It Was Written, inspiring him to pursue rapping full time.

[55] It Was Written was the first of Nas's albums to have been labeled as 'selling out' by fans of Illmatic, due to his crossover sensibilities and radio-friendly hits aimed at the pop charts.

[56] After the releases of I Am... and Nastradamus (1999), which underwent considerable editing due to bootlegging of the recording sessions, many fans and critics feared that his career was deteriorating.

[4] Despite the chart-topping success of I Am..., hip hop audiences were not ready for the more prophetic themes of Nastradamus, as it only sold 232,000 copies by its first week (less than half of I Am...'s first-week figures).

[57] Nas, however, made something of a comeback with his fifth album Stillmatic (2001) and the follow-up God's Son (2002),[4] which both sold in excess of 1 million copies.