Throwback Thursdays: AZ feat. Daddy Rose - I'm Back (2002)

I got up on AZ pretty late, which is surprising, since I'm such a Nas stan. But dude is pretty dope, and I remember this song, especially considering the addictive horns and the insane soul sample.

The first thing I can remember hearing from AZ was this gem from Nas' second album. The Firm, which was comprised of Nas, AZ, Foxy Brown & Nature, was not only a great group of lyricists, they were a bunch of New Yorkers who made an album with the West Coast's most prolific producer, Dr. Dre. This was particularly significant at the time, considering all the East Coast-West Coast beef that was going on at the time.

AZ dropped a pretty good album earlier this year, and I'm sad to admit that it's the first album of his that I own. But I'm up on game now, and dude is definitely a legit rhyme spitter. The way he puts words together is almost unparalleled.

Nas, of course, was supposed to put out an album called "Nigger", but the rich white people said there was no way in hell they were gonna let that happen. He then decided to just call it "Untitled". AZ, who was inspired by his homey's movement, put together a little mixtape of his own called "N.4.L.", short for Nigger 4 Life. I would tell you to download it, but you could just check the goodness for yourself.