Nastradamus

Nastradamus is the fourth studio album by American rapper Nas, released on November 23, 1999 by Ill Will and Columbia Records. It was originally scheduled to be released as a follow-up composed of material from sessions for his previous album I Am..., also released in 1999. Due to bootlegging of the material, Nas recorded separate songs for Nastradamus to meet its November release date. The album debuted at number 7 on the US Billboard 200, selling over 232,000 copies in its first week. It received generally mixed reviews from critics, and has been regarded by some as Nas's weakest effort. However, it achieved considerable commercial success and spawned two charting singles. On December 22, 1999, the album was certified Platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In retrospect, Nas said: “On that album, there’s a couple of songs that have a certain sound to it that doesn’t sound like anything else I’ve done. And it was a gray area in my life and that album represents that gray area. It was personal stuff that I’d rather not elaborate on. But I have nothing against that album.”