
The obsession with classic albums is what ruined his standing in Hip Hop. With him being as talented as he was, a lot of people felt that he owed them a classic. He started to feel that pressure talking about how he wanted to be in people's Top Fives. That's when he started making the cliche records that he thought made classic albums what they were. He fell into the trap of trying to create a classic without realizing that classics just happen. It's not the artists who make the classics, it's the fans. You could make all the deep records with the craziest production in the world, but if it doesn't impact the culture and/or the listeners to the point where they feel the music is timeless, it won't matter.