Someone posted last week that Memory Lane was as if Nas had read a book of insightful information, but only read the first half of each sentence. It's kinda scattered. It's called "Memory Lane" but the nostalgia isnt' particularly obvious. He "pours a brew to his deceased crew" but it's not like the song had been about fallen friends. I mean he touches on theses things, and it does have a good case for being in the top ten, but it could be more cohesive. Doo Rags IS cohesive, and yeah, practically every word is perfect.

Also, quintessential Nas and quintessential Illmatic are not the same thing...