 Due to its critical fame, Nas' subsequent studio albums have been weighed against "Illmatic", despite all of them outselling his debut.Against this standard, they are often critically deemed as mediocre follow-ups.After manager Steve Stoute convinced Nas to aim his efforts in a more commercial direction for his follow-up album "It Was Written" (1996), he enlisted the production team Trackmasters, who were known for their mainstream work at the time.