
Illmatic had the larger impact that can't be denied, but one could argue that IWW is better, plus Nas had advanced even more as an emcee
I agree that Nas was definitely a better MC by '96, but
IWW was nowhere near the level of
Illmatic.
Maybe if that's someone's first Nas album, it could be a sentimental thing. But
IWW didn't have the impact or level of perfection that
Illmatic had. Everything stopped in Hip Hop when
Illmatic dropped. It literally changed the course of the culture.
IWW is a classic, and I copped it the first day it came out, but it wasn't even in the same zip code as
Illmatic, in terms of quality.
You're not gonna make a better album than Premier, Q-Tip, Pete Rock and Large Pro in their prime, with '96 Trackmasters, lol. That sh*t is impossible.