Thats only partially true
Nas has had this truly weird trajectory where from IWW-Stillmatic Hip Hop, culture focused critics and publications gave Nas high marks and reviews while the white reviewers (ROLLING STONE) always shytted on him. For instance, The Source gave Stillmatic 5 Mics while Rolling Stone only gave it a fukking 2 stars. At around Gods Son things got really interesting, you can read the more mainstream reviews were glowing and then during the Streets Disciple era the mainstream reviews were praising it while the Hip Hop publications were more tepid. Things started to converge during the Def Jam era except for one entity, muthafukking Pitchfork. They trashed all of Nas albums in the Def Jam era except for Life Is Good (which they surprisingly praised) and went back to trashing the Hit-Boy run.
If you look at Metacritic, the only reason why the Hit-Boy albums aren’t the most acclaimed rap albums of the year of release is because of Pitchfork. NME, Rap Reviews, Clash and Hip Hop DX have all given rave reviews.
The issue with Nas and the press isn’t his albums. Its the fact that he’s never had an Elliot Wilson or Paul Rosenberg, or Akademiks to go to bat for him through thick and thin. Elliot Wilson would DIE for Jay-Z and proclaims his GOATNESS at every junction while downplaying Nas because he’s Jay’s only competition. Nas for all
intents and purposes, doesn’t cultivate dikk riders, doesn’t engage in payola, and doesn’t do bullshyt favors. He lets the music speak for itself.
