Wendo Kolosoy called ""Windsor"" (a homage to the Duke of Windsor and a play on the British Royalty theme of his band "Victoria Kin") which evolved into ""Wendo Sor"" and simply ""Sor"". He is most widely known as Wendo or Papa Wendo. In the mid-1940s, he began playing guitar around the capital Kinshasa (then Leopoldville) with his Cuban style band Victoria Bakolo Miziki. He had met Nicolas Jéronimidis, a Greek businessman, on a steamer returning to Leopoldville from Dakar in 1946, and in 1947 Jéronimidis agreed to record Wendo's music for his new Leopoldville based record label Ngoma. Imitating the bandleader Paul
It Was Written to aim his efforts in a more mainstream, commercial direction for his second album, after which Nas enlisted the production team Trackmasters, who were known at the time for their mainstream success. Other producers for the album included DJ Premier, Dr. Dre, Havoc of Mobb Deep, L.E.S., Live Squad, and MC Serch as executive producer. Premier and L.E.S. had previously served as producers for Nas's "Illmatic". The album was mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound in New York City. The album cover was designed by artist Aimée Macauley, and the photography was taken by Danny Clinch. In contrast to