I mean if it wasn't for Biggie and Pac dying he'd still be left in the shadow, people outside of NY and the hardcore heads probably wouldn't even know what an Illmatic was. He really only released one real album, Illmatic, then attempted to go with the crowd, but after the Mafioso era was over he released nothing but garbage attempts at trying to be a commercially renown artist. If it wasn't for Jay-Z beefing with him he would probably fell completely off the edge of the hip-hop world. And look at hip-hop today, is Nas even in the picture? I mean at least Jay-Z can say he is still in the mix, Nas was just plain lost. He tried to heal things with a real "Hip-Hop is Dead" movement which just straight failed. Then he tried to be some type of activist with Untitled which was straight up overlooked and dissed. So where does the respect for this guy come from, his tenacity.

To put it in perspective, I told my parents that I thought Nas was better than Biggie and Tupac, and they laugh hysterically, then responded while shaking their heads, "whatever you say".
@ TLC

the only reason he released It Was Written was because that is what was popular.

Mobb Deep- Infamous
OB4CL- Rae
AZ- Doe or Die
Reasonable Doubt- Jay-Z

all mafioso and all before NaS. except for Reasonable Doubt was around the same time. they are all better also.

NaS lived longer because, he is a punka** and was scared of beef. "NO NO The Messege wasn't about 2Pac or Biggie I have respect for them." hmmm......?