Yea nothing on those albums is remotely close to the worst shyt on illmatic and it was written. It's the same way I view the new common and Pete album. Very solid. But nowhere close to their prime work. It's not something I would recommend to people who were just getting into common or Pete.
Just like I wouldn't recommend the magic & kd albums for people just getting into Nas. Sure check them out after you've already went through his early work. But leading off with those would actually do Nas a disservice. The main issue is that all those albums blend into eachother. You can barely tell them apart. Same kinda beats. Same flow patterns. Same vibes. It's very very SAFE rap music...in both sound and lyrical content. And that's not the Nas I became a stan of. Still awesome to hear Nas putting out solid material. But none of them albums moved the needle or pushed the culture forward. It's just a fact. I wouldn't take all 6 of them albums combined over any one of Kendricks first 3.
