Nas had such a mediocre career.

[fraze]

Nas was a victim of his greatest success happening too early his career. He has undeniable talent, but Illmatic overshadows all of his later work by its status as THE iconic hip hop album from the golden era of hip hop. That's not something anyone can top, not even Nas. But every step of the way he's been expected to try, despite the fact that Illmatic was so classic because it was an unforced, honest expression of a young black mans life in America.

He was successful too young, held captive by a music industry that doesn't understand his art but only popularity. He style is the epitome of underground lyricist, but he shuttled towards the role of mafioso kingpin (which nobody believed sorry Nas), because gangsta rap was big at the time, and pretend playboy gigolo (sorry you still need more people) with Ginuwine. Nas is not a pop artist, which his catalogue makes pretty clear, but apparently none of his producers are Nas fans.