The Erykah thing is a good point. I guess I forget to think of things that way...for example, my favorite Redman album is Darkside (this is a theme with me...haha), but Red himself doesn't like the album because he was in such a dark place while recording it.
If it were me, I'd feel like "that was a rough time...but check out what came out of it!!"
But I gotta respect where these guys are coming from too, though (if Common's situation fits that description).
btw, I ain't gon lie...I LOVE To Pimp a Butterfly, and while it's not the same album as EC by any means, and it even could be a Lupe situation -- where Kendrick doesn't even really enjoy listening to the kinds of artists who paved the way for him (its possible, since he said in an interview that he knew nothing about jazz before Terrace Martin put him on), I kinda see TPaB as EC's descendent, sonically. And when other people LOVE TPaB, but are really dismissive of EC, they get the side eye from me.