There's a Rap Pages issue from 1995 that has this on its Most Dissapointing Albums Ever list because of how AZ's street poetry was hit and miss and was short of being Illmatic.
Dumbest shyt I ever read
But then again I'm 99% sure people who listened to it when it first came out...were expecting it to be Illmatic 2 of some sorts..keep in mind this was before It Was Written came out, so Nas was still the lyrical street poet..so I understand how they might not have cared for it...
But listening to this years later as its own individual project, do what it was, without any expectations, it immediately became my top rap 10 albums ever.
I will say Pete rock should have produced the entire project though..like it was originally intended
Gimme yours is the second best rap song ever to me