>>I'd like to see the albums that are better lyrically.
>>
>
>not just FTL, but I'd put Rakim's first three over IWW, there
>was just too much innovation and reinvention of lyrical
>technique over the course of all three of them to ignore them

Listen, I'm not mad at people saying Rakim but I just think Nas took what those MCs did took the next level. And there's nothing wrong with that and that's what's supposed to happen. Jordan took what Dr. J did to the next level. Or some may say Jordan is a greater player than Kobe like Rakim is a greater MC than Nas but to me, IWW was Nas dropping 81.

>there's others I'd name before it as well, like Kool Keith on
>Critical Beatdown,

Nah man...nah

Kool G. Rap on Wanted: Dead or Alive (which
>is an obvious influence on IWW)

I love G Rap...always liked him more than Kane but the only dude from that era I'm not going to really argue with is Rakim. Nas passed all the others. Nas is just more versatile than G Rap.

or KRS on KRS-One

Nah man...nah. Lol. We've already had this conversation on here. The way I see it is: Rakim, KRS, G Rap. But I dont have KRS that high for his flat out lyricism. Dude is at times very basic as far as his rhyme structure and excels at his diction and delivery. I also love the self-titled but there are many albums I would name as lyrically better than that joint.

>but IWW is significant in that Nas didn't reinvent the wheel
>lyrically, but instead took material that had been used time
>and time again and added another dimension to it by finding
>ways to make what was usually above-it-all material and made
>it seem personal

This is what I'm talking about. And what you explained is the definition of reinventing the wheel. He took what people were doing and added to it and put his touch on it and in doing so improved upon it. This is what I mean by people giving more credit to the originators. For some reason in Hip-Hop it's seen as impossible for someone to be greater than that Rakim/G Rap/KRS/Kane era. Dyson didn't invent the vacuum but they made that shit better.

>that's why I think Illmatic is a better album but IWW is his
>best emcee performance, even if I didn't get drawn in to all
>his stories
>

I agree with this. There are a few things I would change about IWW.

>
>>And I'm not opposed to there being an album that's better
>but
>>it seems as though you're saying Nas isn't really as close
>to
>>whoever you feel is the best.
>
>not in the slightest
>but I've said before Nas wasn't my problem with IWW, sure
>there's some questionable song choices there but he delivered
>the goods on each verse-I don't think that much is disputable

Agreed.