i have legit arguements (the main one being: East Coat Bias that automatically upgraded anything from NYC over anything from elsewhere)

not saying Illmatic is bad, but there are things that make it less than perfect (on the level its hyped up as)

meanwhile, southern.... has more sustained excellence as a debut (and some of the best skits thematically of any hiphop album) AND its not even the best from them whereas Illmatic was peak Nas