I Always Found It Surprising That “The World Is Yours” Didn’t End Up Being A Pop Hit In 94

[Piff Perkins]

“An individual song off an album can’t be a hit because of the album.”

Huh

But nothing on the album sounds like a hit. That's part of the reason it's revered. There is no Sugar Hill type track on the album. Nas has never been a hits guy. If I Ruled The World got certified plat in 2001, which is insane to me but the truth. Out of all the mainstream rap legends of the 90s - Pac, Big, Snoop, DMX, Jay, Busta, etc - he probably has the fewest hits and worst pop sensibilities (melody, catering your cadence for radio/hoes/etc). To a normal person such as myself, this makes Nas even more impressive - he had this longevity and legendary status without the radio play and hits. To a super stan, this is an attack that most be countered by bringing up...You Owe Me. Come on fellas. I'm a Nas stan. He's never been the hit guy and that's ok! You could argue no one has managed to reach the heights he reached without radio or hits.

 

[Cladyclad]

But nothing on the album sounds like a hit. That's part of the reason it's revered. There is no Sugar Hill type track on the album. Nas has never been a hits guy. If I Ruled The World got certified plat in 2001, which is insane to me but the truth. Out of all the mainstream rap legends of the 90s - Pac, Big, Snoop, DMX, Jay, Busta, etc - he probably has the fewest hits and worst pop sensibilities (melody, catering your cadence for radio/hoes/etc). To a normal person such as myself, this makes Nas even more impressive - he had this longevity and legendary status without the radio play and hits. To a super stan, this is an attack that most be countered by bringing up...You Owe Me. Come on fellas. I'm a Nas stan. He's never been the hit guy and that's ok! You could argue no one has managed to reach the heights he reached without radio or hits.

Hate me now
Hey nas
You won’t see me
Street dreams
That song with Chris Brown
The one with Miguel
Reach out
If I ruled
You owe me
Hero
I can
Summer on smash
Etc..

Please believe he tried

also I need proof on if I ruled the world going plat

 

[Billy Ocean]

If you knew how cap illmatic's impact was, you'd understand. Nas wasn't a big deal in 94'.
Album was average. Got 5 mics by some asian chic, in a bias magazine.
But in real life, meant nothing

This dude is one of the worst posters on the internet. Not just the Coli...the INTERNET.

 

[spliz]

But nothing on the album sounds like a hit. That's part of the reason it's revered. There is no Sugar Hill type track on the album. Nas has never been a hits guy. If I Ruled The World got certified plat in 2001, which is insane to me but the truth. Out of all the mainstream rap legends of the 90s - Pac, Big, Snoop, DMX, Jay, Busta, etc - he probably has the fewest hits and worst pop sensibilities (melody, catering your cadence for radio/hoes/etc). To a normal person such as myself, this makes Nas even more impressive - he had this longevity and legendary status without the radio play and hits. To a super stan, this is an attack that most be countered by bringing up...You Owe Me. Come on fellas. I'm a Nas stan. He's never been the hit guy and that's ok! You could argue no one has managed to reach the heights he reached without radio or hits.

If I Ruled The World wasn’t released as a traditional single tho.

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

This dude is one of the worst posters on the internet. Not just the Coli...the INTERNET.

 

[DANJ!]

If I Ruled The World wasn’t released as a traditional single tho.

Sure it was... It was available in stores, serviced to radio, had a video that played on TV the whole summer... that was the song that broke him out mainstream-wise (and even that one didn't chart as high as I thought it did)

But on the topic of The World Is Yours- if you were around in '94 and knew what radio was playing (and especially the stuff that was hitting big on the pop charts as well), it's not that surprising that "The World Is Yours" wasn't THAT kinda hit. A lot of songs we love from that era weren't THAT kinda hit. They hit with US (hip-hop listeners), but that's about as far as it went. That sound wasn't really what radio was into playing around the clock, or what MTV (or even BET for that matter) was playing around the clock. That was the shyt you heard at nighttime during the mix shows, not 15/20-time-a-day rotation.

 

[spliz]

Sure it was...

It was available in stores, serviced to radio, had a video that played on TV the whole summer...

But on the topic of The World Is Yours- if you were around in '94 and knew what radio was playing (and especially the stuff that was hitting big on the pop charts as well), it's not that surprising that "The World Is Yours" wasn't THAT kinda hit. A lot of songs we love from that era weren't THAT kinda hit. They hit with US (hip-hop listeners), but that's about as far as it went. That sound wasn't really what radio was into playing around the clock, or what MTV (or even BET for that matter) was playing around the clock. That was the shyt you heard at nighttime during the mix shows, not 15/20-time-a-day rotation.

No it wasn’t. I believe it was only a Vinyl release over here.

 

[DANJ!]

No it wasn’t. I believe it was only a Vinyl release over here.

Bruh, I had the damn thing It was available in stores as a single, serviced to radio, and had a music video. It was a single just as much as anything else that was available.

 

[spliz]

Bruh, I had the damn thing It was available in stores as a single, serviced to radio, and had a music video. It was a single just as much as anything else that was available.

A lot of the singles back then that was huge didn’t sell much records. I don’t remember a traditional cassette single of that song.

 

[Cladyclad]

Bruh, I had the damn thing It was available in stores as a single, serviced to radio, and had a music video. It was a single just as much as anything else that was available.

He was like 7 years old lol

 

[bigbadbossup2012]

In the South we was messing with Nas starting in 1992 when Zebrahead ST dropped and Halftime was on there. Still remains the most played Nas track down south. Nas was too hood and didn't promote the album or tour or do many interviews that were open to him back then....aka play the game like BIG did. Just wanted to smoke weed, drink, fukk bytches, and catch BS court cases until promoters stopped booking him

A couple of nikkas in your crew doesn't equate to "the south". Although my household owned and bumped songs off of illmatic, I can step outside and be honest in the fact that nas was not hot. Cause he wasn't and his album flopped in real time.

 

[DANJ!]

But nothing on the album sounds like a hit. That's part of the reason it's revered. There is no Sugar Hill type track on the album. Nas has never been a hits guy. If I Ruled The World got certified plat in 2001, which is insane to me but the truth. Out of all the mainstream rap legends of the 90s - Pac, Big, Snoop, DMX, Jay, Busta, etc - he probably has the fewest hits and worst pop sensibilities (melody, catering your cadence for radio/hoes/etc). To a normal person such as myself, this makes Nas even more impressive - he had this longevity and legendary status without the radio play and hits. To a super stan, this is an attack that most be countered by bringing up...You Owe Me. Come on fellas. I'm a Nas stan. He's never been the hit guy and that's ok! You could argue no one has managed to reach the heights he reached without radio or hits.

He didn't do it without radio or hits either... he went YEARS making songs that got radio play and video rotation... let's not start actin' like he never had any radio songs now... at one point, he was gettin' criticized for doin' just that, and then made a song about it that was also a radio hit

 

[Sinnerman]

The World is Yours is the first rap song I truly loved

 

[CrimsonTider]

But nothing on the album sounds like a hit. That's part of the reason it's revered. There is no Sugar Hill type track on the album. Nas has never been a hits guy. If I Ruled The World got certified plat in 2001, which is insane to me but the truth. Out of all the mainstream rap legends of the 90s - Pac, Big, Snoop, DMX, Jay, Busta, etc - he probably has the fewest hits and worst pop sensibilities (melody, catering your cadence for radio/hoes/etc). To a normal person such as myself, this makes Nas even more impressive - he had this longevity and legendary status without the radio play and hits. To a super stan, this is an attack that most be countered by bringing up...You Owe Me. Come on fellas. I'm a Nas stan. He's never been the hit guy and that's ok! You could argue no one has managed to reach the heights he reached without radio or hits.

J Cole is in the convo

 

[Zero]

Huh. If I Ruled The World only got a vinyl and CD single release in the states. Only the UK and Australia got a cassette single.