It Was Written "Illmatic", the album contains a more detailed and elaborate production, while it shares similarity to the G-funk sound, relying heavily on sampled and looped funk grooves. "It Was Written" has Nas experimenting with a theatrical mafioso concept under the alias of "Nas Escobar" (inspired by the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar). The album's subject matter has been noted for its focus on materialistic excess and other mafioso lyrical themes. Jon Pareles of "The New York Times" wrote of Nas's shift in lyrical themes from "Illmatic", stating he "repeatedly cites the Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar and drops brand names of
Arturo Escobar (anthropologist) Colombia’s Pacific rainforest region called the "Proceso de Comunidades Negras" (PCN). Arturo Escobar (anthropologist) Arturo Escobar (born 1952) is a Colombian-American anthropologist and the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. His academic research interests include political ecology, anthropology of development, social movements, anti-globalization movements, and postdevelopment theory. Escobar was born in Manizales, Colombia. He currently holds Colombian and American citizenship and publishes in both English and Spanish. He received a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering in 1975 from the University of Valle in Cali, Colombia, and completed one year of