>Rakim or KRS?
>
>It makes no sense to me.
>
>Rakim essentially fell off by not rapping. KRS fell off
>after, like, 8 or 9 consecutive good and successful albums.
>
>
>Nas never *really* fell off only because of hype machine
>bullshit and lowered standards that didn't exist when Rakim,
>KRS, Kane, LL and them were building the house for Nas to
>inherit.
>
>That doesn't even mention artists like Biggie (with much
>smaller output) and Jay-Z (with much bigger output) that have
>so much greater impact. Even artists like Common came up at
>the same time and have had a higher quality output than Nas.
>Then you have artists like Q-Tip/ATCQ who have discographies
>that have about 5X as many hits, 4X as many good albums, and
>are just better in every way.
>
>I don't get it. He doesn't have the music to back up his Top
>5 / GOAT hype. It's all about "Illmatic." There's nothing
>else.

Here is where I'll stop you. "It Was Written" was also an excellent album. I think part of the mystique of Nas is that he has this plethora of unreleased or leaked tracks that is more legend than fact. It's his gift and curse. He has the undeniable rap ability but sometimes lacks the ability to craft complete albums.

And lets be real about it. EVERY rapper has unreleased songs, but they aren't talked about or leaked like Nas songs. Most of the stuff in the vaults are garbage, but Nas does have some good stuff mixed in there too.
>
>He'll retire with a really good greatest hits album. So will
>De La Soul, Mobb Deep, UGK, Too Short, E-40, Naughty By
>Nature, Scarface/Geto Boys, Ice Cube/NWA, EPMD, Snoop Dogg,
>Gang Starr, and Busta Rhymes.
>
>As a matter of fact.... almost all of those Greatest Hits
>albums would be better than Nas's Greatest Hits album. What
>would be on Nas's Greatest Hits album if "Illmatic" had been
>shelved?

I think this is where the unreleased stuff comes to play. "Understanding" is one of the most known unreleased Nas tracks, but it stands along side of his best songs. Unfortunately he hasn't had the ability or really the desire to recompose these songs. Ghostface has the same problem, but still somewhere along the lines a tweaked version is created for the album, or the sample is changed.

>
>Shit. Even artists like Rick Ross and T.I. and 50 Cent have
>dropped albums in the past several years that are lightyears
>better than any single album that Nas has dropped since 1996.
> And they've had far more hits.
>
>Nas gets a severely weighted grade because of Illmatic.