<BR>>What if bootleggers got a hold <BR>>of "Illmatic" two months before its <BR>>release? Should Nas have scrapped <BR>>3 or 4 cuts and replaced <BR>>them with some thrown-together-at-the-last-minute-to-foil-bootleggers tracks or <BR>>should he have just put out <BR>>the 9 track album the way <BR>>he originally saw it - knowing <BR>>full well that a lot of <BR>>heads would have already heard the <BR>>album?<P>Well, "Illmatic" got bootlegged to death...that album was all over NYC weeks before its release...that hurt his sales a lot and partially explains why it took "Illmatic" so long to go gold...<P>it's so sad artists have to choose between putting out subpar material to fool bootleggers or face reduced sales from folks who look at the track listing and say "i got all these on the bootleg already". hmmm. <P>For my part, Com, I hope you keep it the same. <P>ps: Just for the sake of radio, I imagine (without even hearing it) that "Ghetto Heaven" will be a good first single, because D'Angelo is so hot right now in the mainstream (and deservedly so). Good luck, man.<P>Peace,<P>Spirit<BR><a href="http://amphibians.iuma.com" target="_blank">http://amphibians.iuma.com<;/a><BR><a href="http://infiniteloop.iuma.com" target="_blank">http://infiniteloop.iuma.com<;/a><BR>DC hip-hop is on the rise...<P>"High grade when I create beats/if I don't get signed/I'ma be the most dope bum that ever walked the streets" - <BR>Aychell (HL, of Khemystery)<P>"If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck, it's probably a tool of the conspiracy" - unknown