It seems like the Source was the outlier review for Stillmatic

[Street Knowledge]

Stillmatic - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I was on Wikipedia the other day and I looked up Nas Stillmatic and critical reception, it’s score on metacritic is 69 which is mixed to average. If you read the reviews at the time The consensus seemed to be that it’s better than his previous 2 records but nothing special. The source seemed to be the only magazine saying it was classic or flawless. Why do you think this is?

There is a theory that they only gave it 5 because they didn’t want to be seen as taking “sides” in the beef between Jay Z and Nas becayse Blueprint got 5. But the difference with the Blueprint is that album was universally acclaimed across the board, even outside of the Source. For example the Blueprint is 88 on metacritic

 

[Ziggiy]

Stillmatic - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I was on Wikipedia the other day and I looked up Nas Stillmatic and critical reception, it’s score on metacritic is 69 which is mixed to average. The consensus seemed to be that it’s better than his previous 2 records but nothing special. The source seemed to be the only magazine saying it was classic or flawless. Why do you think this is?

There is a theory that they only gave it 5 because they didn’t want to be seen as taking “sides” in the beef between Jay Z and Nas becayse Blueprint got 5. But the difference with the Blueprint is that album was universally acclaimed across the board, even outside of the Source. For example the Blueprint is 88 on metacritic

If you look at the reviews for most Nas albums after Illmatic, you’ll notice the same trend.

Hip Hop publications praised him whilst more mainstream publications shytted on him. For instance Rolling Stone gave It Was Written 2 stars while The Source gave him 4 Stars. They gave I am 3.5 stars while The Source gave him 4.5 Stars. They gave Nastradamus 2 stars while The Source gave him 3.5 stars. They gave Stillmatic 2.5 stars (and actually dissed One Mic) while The Source gave him a perfect 5.

The critical consensus surrounding nas albums was only ever “universally” in consensus from God’s Son to Life Is Good. People actually don’t realize that when it comes to critical acclaim, Streets Disciple is actually one of his most praised albums across the board.

 

[FunkDoc1112]

God's Son>Stillmatic. Stillmatic's 5-mics was aided by the beef. As long as Nas bounced back from Nastradamus, he was getting that score.

 

[MurderToCassette]

Hangmen 3 (Benzinos team) produced the intro

 

[Toe Jay Simpson]

You cant trust any Nas reviews between like 96-2000. They all basically said “this aint Illmatic”

 

[get these nets]

Never knew that real people cared about album reviews.

 

[OfTheCross]

Stillmatic - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

I was on Wikipedia the other day and I looked up Nas Stillmatic and critical reception, it’s score on metacritic is 69 which is mixed to average. If you read the reviews at the time The consensus seemed to be that it’s better than his previous 2 records but nothing special. The source seemed to be the only magazine saying it was classic or flawless. Why do you think this is?

There is a theory that they only gave it 5 because they didn’t want to be seen as taking “sides” in the beef between Jay Z and Nas becayse Blueprint got 5. But the difference with the Blueprint is that album was universally acclaimed across the board, even outside of the Source. For example the Blueprint is 88 on metacritic

It was politics. They couldn't give Jay 5 and not Nas in the middle of all that.

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

To give 'it was written' anything below a 4/5 is pure hate in my eyes. i don't remember ppl then sayn 'i am' was classic but it had some classic songs. 'Hate me Now" was everywhere at the time..

 

[JustCKing]

Objectively speaking, Stillmatic is a collection of brilliant songs, some of Nas's best work actually. At it's best, Stillmatic is an elite performance. The biggest flaw in that album is that it isn't cohesive especially when compared to God's Son or even Lost Tapes. Those flow near seamlessly from song to song.

I get why it got 5 mics. What else could you give an album that had as originality, creativity, and lyricism that Stillmatic had? The concepts were well executed and a breath of fresh air.

 

[Mike Wins]

Stillmatic got love from hip hop publications and fans. It's an abrasive, angry album and outside a few tracks it's not accessible to the average 40 year old cac that was reviewing music for Rolling Stone or Entertainment Weekly at the time

The Blueprint is a lot easier and more digestible album both sonically with the soul and pop hit samples and less aggrieved lyrical content

Going off Metacritic scores, Streets Disciple, HHID and Untitled are better than Stillmatic and Stillmatic is Nas worst album of the 21st century outside of Nasir. That's totally out of line with how it was received by Nas fans and hip hop fans in general

 

[Easy-E]

Hangmen 3 (Benzinos team) produced the intro

God's Son>Stillmatic. Stillmatic's 5-mics was aided by the beef. As long as Nas bounced back from Nastradamus, he was getting that score.

Stillmatic starts off slow.

I don't like the Intro like most do (ya'll talk like it's on the Dynasty Intro's level because of the blood of a slave, heart of a king line...the beat does not sound like it was mixed properly).

But, you may have something.

I never compared them.

Stillmatic got a handful of average to bad songs.

God's Son just suffers from a horrible Bravehearts feature and a couple bad beats