Heās been one of the primary victims of the āKendrick Lamar is the greatest human to have ever livedā campaign being pushed by the machineā¦as Nasā traditional spot as ābest mainstream lyricistā has been wrestled away and he doesnāt have the commercial and impact bonafides as some of the others on the listā¦Nas has also had a contentious relationship with the hip hop media/critic class post-Illmatic, as opposed to the āeverything he puts out is perfect and brilliant, can we invent some more awards that donāt exist to give him because the current ones arenāt sufficeā thing Kenny has going
Honestly feel what you're saying applies more to J Cole than Nas.
Cole's whole aura as Kendrick's peer has died down completely after bowing out of the beef and dropping Grippy shortly after.
He can still spit but Kendrick and Drake are now seen as his "big brothers" as opposed to his peers(ironic since he's older than both). And now you got dudes debating Cole and Tyler which wasn't even a debate a decade ago.
Nas is pretty much cemented and has been deemed one of the top rappers and lyricists since Illmatic came out. And he's still deemed "your favorite rapper's favorite rapper" by many to this day and automatically put in most top 5 lists.