In February 1999, almost two full months ahead of the album’s original March 30th release date,
13 unreleased tracks from Nas’ forthcoming release were leaked online, prompting him to push the album back and reconfigure the track listing.
I Am… was originally going to be a double LP entitled
I Am… The Autobiography, with the first disc following his journey from birth to death by suicide, and the second disc chronicling his afterlife. But Nas and Columbia, his label at the time, opted to scrap the two-disc release and the overall concept. Songs that would’ve been highlights on the project –
“Poppa Was a Player,” “
Fetus (Belly Button Window),” “
Drunk By Myself” – were cut from the disc, while commercial attempts (“Hate Me Now” and “You Won’t See Me Tonight”) were added. The version of the project that hit record store shelves was a disjointed, unfocused 16 tracks featuring some of Nas’ strongest and weakest songs at that point in his career.
https://www.okayplayer.com/originals/nas-i-am-20th-anniversary-legacy.html
Background
This album was originally to have been a
double album titled
I Am...The Autobiography, however most of the original sessions were bootlegged forcing Nas to discard many songs and adjust the release to one disc.
I Am...became one of the first major label releases to be widely leaked using
MP3 technology.
[2] Some of the leaked songs were later released on the compilation LP
The Lost Tapes in 2002. The concept of this album as can be seen by tracks such as "Fetus" from
The Lost Tapes was to be an autobiography of sorts for Nas. Although several bootleg versions have appeared on the internet over the years, an official version of the intended double album has never leaked and it remains unclear whether or not it was ever completed.
1998 leak tracklisting
- 01. Fetus (Belly Button Window) (later on The Lost Tapes)
- 02. Small World (later on I Am...)
- 03. Money Is My Bitch (later on I Am...)
- 04. Project Windows (later on Nastradamus)
- 05. Poppa Was a Player (later on The Lost Tapes)
- 06. Dr. Knockboots (Do's and Don't) (later on I Am...)
- 07. Day Dreamin' Stay Schemin'
- 08. Sometimes I Wonder
- 09. The Hardest Thing to Do Is Stay Alive
- 10. Drunk by Myself (later on The Lost Tapes)
- 11. Wanna Play (later on Dame Grease's "Live on Lenox" The Album)
- 12. Blaze a 50 (later on The Lost Tapes)
- 13. We Will Survive (later on I Am...)
Other leaked songs include Find Ya Wealth (later on
QB's Finest), U Gotta Love It (later on The Lost Tapes), My Worst Enemy, Amongst Kings and The Rise & Fall.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am..._(Nas_album)