but i don't think illmatic was a perfectly-wrapped, cohesive 40 minutes either.

"halftime" was a jolly battle rap about having "mad, phat fluid when i rhyme" bookended by densely poetic and visual tracks like "the world is yours" and "memory lane." and, with "represent" and "one time for your mind" at the end with similar beats, similar content and similar hooks, it felt like they'd run out of ideas. then "it ain't hard to tell" is another song about nothing (albiet a classic one).

i basically think the nas/large pro tracks aren't exceptional enough to comprise a third of the "greatest album of all time." that's why the length of "illmatic" matters to me.