I Am...

For I Am..., photographer Daniel Hastings turned Nas into a pharaoh. "We came with the concept of making a King Tut sarcophagus piece," he said. Hastings saw it as the next step in a story told through the covers: Illmatic showed Nas as a young boy, It Was Written showed him older, and I Am... crowns him a king.

Making the gold mask was difficult. Sculptor Dave Cortes made a clay mould of Nas's face, and the first attempt nearly suffocated him before a second one worked. Once Nas was painted gold, his face reflected everything in the studio, so Hastings used large black and white boards to shape the highlights and shadows. "I was essentially shooting a mirror," he said.

Hastings was hired for the job by creative director Ola Kudu. The album was released by Columbia on 6 April 1999.