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>You explained why you liked it more but none of that had to
>do with the quality of the music.
Premier, in particular, was in the zone that gained him the reputation that he's held for so long in the business. '94 and '95 were the last years where his beats had a shared theme, but none of the real "sameness" that instantly identified them as Premier beats (and were subsequently easily imitated). There was a diversity in the drum kits he would use then. Which says nothing for the outright dirtiness of the finished product ("ALONGWAYTOGO", "Brainstorm", "Tonz of Gunz" "Speak Ya Clout", and "The ? Remainz" which unfortunately was confined to B-Side hell for years).
By '98, Premier had settled into his familar style (though to his credit, MOT has a number of songs that step outside of that comfort zone, namely "You Know My Steez", "Robbin Hood Theory", "Royalty", "My Advice 2 You", and that set's B-side, "So Wassup")... while the beats are hard, a lot of them have the same feeling and structure as what he was providing to artist such as Jeru (on the 2nd album, which I felt was an exercise in bringing that "new Premier" style to the forefront) or O.C. (ditto). There weren't too many outside the above listed that I could see Premier not saving for Gang Starr, but at the same time, the reason why a lot of those songs work is because they are Gang Starr songs.
Guru's own performance may have lacked some of the polish that he had on the surrounding efforts and his own Jazzmatazz albums released in the period, but it loses none of the power. I think the sense of frustration that Guru exhibits on many of the tracks, is best established on HARD TO EARN'S intro, where he goes off on hangers-on, and general wackness of the industry.
The resultant effort is an album that just says "F.U." arguably louder than some of his contemporaries do in the time. Though, not as loudly as Jeru, whose debut album was very much the more refined, yet more biting cousin. Again, context is key, Guru was coming off the Jazzmatazz, which was a much more refined and restrained affair, largely due to the high-profile guests. Premier's most high-profile project in that time was RETURN OF THE BOOM-BAP, which I felt was a legendary "F.U." type of album... it was cool that after Premier and arguably one of the most famous and revered MCs in the history of rap music could make that kind of connection off several tracks, that Guru and Premier could reunite and deliver an even more intense sort of album together.
That spirit and feeling was gone on MOT, as it could have worked to their detriment in the market. Guru has settled into a mode mirroring his albums prior to HARD TO EARN, but with more contemporary sounding production. I think the overall experience and context of the album tends to tilt me toward HARD TO EARN, even if I concede that the careful crafting and efforts of both Guru and Premier produced music to a higher standard.
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