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.