That album was really the first and the last time that Nas actually genuinely experimented with his flow (for a whole album) and he pulled it off to perfection.

That album has his most vicious rhyming, he was so completely in the pocket and not a single bar was wasted.

Of course I like Illmatic but for me it had two songs that I consider duds. "Halftime" and "One Time For You Mind". These songs for me just sap all the energy out of that album.

IWW was Nas showing off and saying, "yeah, I can do that shit too"

It's all opinions though, but cats get mad when this topic comes up and you don't pray at the altar of Illmatic.

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