Nas credited Kurtis Blow’s big-screen ambition with inspiring his Lauryn Hill collaboration “If I Ruled the World,” tracing the song back to Blow’s performance in “Krush Groove.”
In an a16z conversation released October 31, Nas said Blow gave him an image of the Bronx that went beyond news of burning buildings. The remake reached listeners on It Was Written, Nas’ second album, which Columbia released on July 2, 1996. “If I Ruled the World (Imagine That)” and “Street Dreams” were among its hit singles. The move brought his music to a wider market after the harder underground sound of his 1994 debut, Illmatic. The album opened at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, with first-week sales above 250,000 copies.
That commercial reach came alongside a broader musical cast. The album paired Nas with Dr. Dre on “Nas Is Coming” and introduced The Firm through “Affirmative Action,” featuring AZ, Cormega and Foxy Brown. Blow remembered receiving the remake on cassette and taking it into his new Nissan, which he had fitted with new speakers. He replayed it for about two hours before calling Sony with his verdict: “I think it is great.”