On paper I love it, but the both albums themselves are not my thing beyond a few songs.

I think his solo career was hurt by being connected to Wu-Tang and that sound (dark) for those earlier years and then trying to go a bit too commercial (with really only one note) once he really started branching out doing the Red and Meth albums. I would compare him to Black Thought being tied to the Roots for so many years in that it limited him to gain a larger audience because he only had a certain sound (neo soul and live band). Both of them eventually moved beyond that sound but the music landscape was totally different by then and it became much harder to get any traction in this streaming/pick your own media culture.

Think about how Nas or Biggie could (and did) rap over anything. Neither Meth or Thought them did a bunch of songs with Premo. There's a bunch of producers that they could have done great work with. I think they both missed out on the golden age of working with an all-star line up of Hip Hop producers where the beats took the front seat. I think Method Man did do it to some extent but they were all collaborations and features so he doesn't get full credit for those songs.