No Bad Energy. Good introductory track; Pretty fuckin' dope spiritual / religious beat by Swizz. You can hear DMX shouting out "What! What!" in the background. Lyrics are cool. Hook could be better but doesn't ruin the song.
Forget Jay-Z’s Black Album. The Lost Tapes was a real black album. No singles, no videos, no radio reaches, no real promo campaign to speak of. It’s not really a NaS album, it’s a compilation, but I’ve included it in my overview anyway. 
NaS was getting it from all sides between the releases of NaStradamus’ in Nov. 99 and Stillmatic, his fifth solo album, in Dec. 2001. NaStradamus was hated, Queens rap crews were falling apart, Jay-Z dropped Takeover in Aug. 2001, and NaS’ beloved mom, Ann, was dying of cancer. 
When the I Am... double album was shelved, Columbia / NaS decided to put out two albums, the second titled NaStradamus, just months apart from each other. Advertised in the single disc I Am as coming out in late October ‘99, NaStradamus arrived a month later than expected 
Coming 3 years after the popular but arguably disappointing It Was Written, I Am… was touted as a return to form. Peep the message suggested by this 'toon published by The Source. I Am… was promoted as a musical autobiography and was rumored to be two discs long 
Illmatic was a critical darling but not a commercial smash. Now double-platinum, it sold slowly and didn’t make a big impact outside NY. At the Source Awards in August '95, Biggie’s Ready to Die cleaned up, inspiring NaS to go in a different direction. 
