The Best Comeback Album Ever is.....

[spliz]

Nah man. There's a difference between opinion and popular sentiment. For instance I didn't think Kingdom Come was bad, but the overall rap world sentiment was that it was a bad/disappointing album. Mos' True Magic is one of my favorite rap albums of that era but in real time it got bad reviews and was dismissed by fans. Me being able to accept these things and not re-write popular sentiment with my own opinions is essential to fairly discussing shyt. You liking I Am and your friends liking it doesn't change the fact that the overall reception was ehh. It's basically a generic late 90s rap album: Timbo beat, clear trend following decisions, etc mixed in with some dope shyt. It's ok at best because it has high highs. But if you thought Nas was gonna drop a classic after hearing Nas Is Like you were disappointed. Heavily.

Even bringing up the bootleg proves my point because most people said the bootleg was good but the album was meh lol.

There was a clear sentiment that Nas fell off as a RAPPER. Music wise. After two albums that were significantly worse than his first two. This is not a controversial opinion at all. Stillmatic was seen as a return to form as a RAPPER. Music wise.

I Am the RELEASED version got a higher score in the Source than IWW. Like I said. This is some bullshyt. I'm not saying it was better than IWW. But to act like it was viewed as some severe drop off is corny. The streets wasn't talking like that. It was only after Nastradamus was people feeling disappointed like that. To be honest. Before Takeover. I hadn't met a person who didn't like I Am in real life. And I was a DJ at the time. Doing block parties to school dances. So let's get this straight. Critically it did well. Commercially it did well. My own life experiences showed me that people liked the album. It was treated well on the radio. And I'm supposed to ignore all of that cause Jay Z and some nikkas on the internet said so? Even in that XXL article son posted. It was about Nastradamus. NOT I Am. Nas Is Like wasn't even on the bootleg version of I Am. So those of us who had that version. Were pleasantly surprised by that song. Did u have the I Am bootleg when it dropped?

 

[spliz]

This is true.

Stoute said that Columbia wanted to drop Nas after Nastradamus, and he was having trouble booking him at venues that used to always show love. The whole situation with Jay definitely brought his career back to life. Everybody knows that. It was rough after the wack version of I Am dropped. The OG was a masterpiece that got shelved as a retail. Before that, Nas was untouchable.

Cap.

 

[BIGDENNIS10UK]

Don’t All Eyes On Me count?

 

[Awesome Wells]

Cap.

 

[NormanConnors]

The best comeback album ever is the 18th Letter by Rakim

 

[spliz]

Don’t All Eyes On Me count?

No. Pac was double plat with Me Against The World when AEOM dropped and was still winning awards for it. Knocked Bruce Springsteen out the top slot with that album. That's another narrative that gets on my nerves. That people didn't care about Pac till AEOM.

 

[Awesome Wells]

The best comeback album ever is the 18th Letter by Rakim

Loved that album, but Rakim wasn't clowned or panned before that dropped.

Dude went off quietly in '92, but not because he dropped something wack and then had to reup with better work.

 

[spliz]

I didn’t read nothing past the first sentence and I Know I’m older than you and this how I know .NOBODY was checking for nas then period

Shut the fukk up nikka , the streets said everything nas dropped since iww was wakk ,fukk whatever you’re talking about

Nas was dead before jay reignited shyt

I would slap the Holy Ghost out of yo goofy ass. U don’t know shyt bout the streets u either too old, too young, or not even from the US. Shut the fukk up.

 

[NormanConnors]

Em wasnt in any position to make a comeback, he didn't have any notoriety like others mentioned in this thread. He was still trying to come up. SSLP would have to be in another best category

 

[god shamgod]

I would slap the Holy Ghost out of yo goofy ass. U don’t know shyt bout the streets u either too old, too young, or not even from the US. Shut the fukk up.

Not arguing with no dikkriding groupie

Lmao clown mutha fukka wasn’t even old enough to cop illmatic when it dropped

 

[spliz]

Not arguing with no dikkriding groupie

Lmao clown mutha fukka wasn’t even old enough to cop illmatic when it dropped

I actually had Illmatic on cassette when it dropped. Next.

 

[NormanConnors]

Loved that album, but Rakim wasn't clowned or panned before that dropped.

Dude went off quietly in '92, but not because he dropped something wack and then had to reup with better work.

I remember certain publications/media outlets trying to write The God off, breh was being blamed for a forced hiatus () cats doubting if he could drop/be accurate with the current climate. Cats talking like he was Larry Holmes too. I knew that wasnt the case because #1 he's the goat and #2 because periodically he would step outside (Hoodlum with Mobb Deep, Game of Death with Shaq and etc) to show he still had it.

I also remember ALL questions being answered when he dropped . Breh was on another planet with the rhyming, writing, multi's, and over technical execution on the 18th letter. The barbershop conversations that were had

I mean it might have been a different temperature in NYC. But that's the vibe I was getting everywhere else.

 

[mitter]

Mama Said Knock You Out, obviously

 

[spliz]

I remember certain publications/media outlets trying to write The God off, breh was being blamed for a forced hiatus () cats doubting if he could drop/be accurate with the current climate. Cats talking like he was Larry Holmes too. I knew that wasnt the case because #1 he's the goat and #2 because periodically he would step outside (Hoodlum with Mobb Deep, Game of Death with Shaq and etc) to show he still had it.

I also remember ALL questions being answered when he dropped . Breh was on another planet with the rhyming, writing, multi's, and over technical execution on the 18th letter. The barbershop conversations that were had

I mean it might have been a different temperature in NYC. But that's the vibe I was getting everywhere else.

Rakim is my fam and there’s nothing that poster can tell u about Ra that he would know over me and he will basically say his business wasn’t right when he separated from Eric B. nikka took a whole 6 year hiatus from dropping an album it was absolutely a comeback album. nikkas tryna argue me down about Stillmatic vs I Am but wanna argue about Rakim who hadn’t dropped for like 6 years meanwhile his peers like KRS, G Rap and LL was dropping heat all thru the 90s. shyt funny as fukk to see the goalpost moved.

 

[NormanConnors]

What's so controversial about admitting Nastradamus was a bad album that followed up a meh album, and Nas was viewed as cold due to that? This isn't just about sales - if you were on a major label and had a budget in 1999 you were going platinum. It's about critical, fan, and casual reception. Nas was fading, Jay was heating up.

So we either all have a collective psychosis of something that isn't true about the past, OR we're right lol. Stillmatic was a great album and a return to form after a bad and meh album. It clearly fits the comeback album mold. And like someone said earlier, if Nas doesn't fit then why would LL fit (if we're just basing it on sales).

Lowkey its a myth that Nastradamus is bad album at this point. You Owe Me still gets things going as a club joint, ladies still love that song. Album has lyrical bangers, graded off of a regular rapper scale it checks many boxes. Cats just put extra weight/pressure on it because its Nas. That's one reason him and Jay can never be in the same conversation, Jigga never had to carry the same weight.