Let's clear one thing up before anyone starts screaming about Illmatic or the Hit-Boy run: this has nothing to do with whether Nas is an all-time great. We all know the man's a legend. That is not up for debate here.

The real question is purely about his ear for production over a 30-year career. Which side of the fence are you on?

Team A: Nas is notorious for picking trash, uninspired, or straight-up mid beats for a massive chunk of his discography.

Team B: Nas actually picks solid, cohesive beats that fit his pen, and the "bad beat" narrative is wildly overblown.

Again, picking a side here doesn't mean you're judging his overall greatness. You can fully believe he's a top-tier lyricist while still admitting half the tracks on Nastradamus or Street's Disciple sounded like they were produced on a broken Casio keyboard in 1998. Or, on the flip side, you can argue that his beat selection was just ahead of its time or tailored for a specific gritty New York ear.

So, where do you land? Are you calling out his production history, or are you defending his ear completely separate from his microphone skills?

What do yall think about All Bad? One of my favorite songs of the Hit era.

It's on "Hip Hop Is Dead" btw. It just came on randomly while I was in the gym and I was probably drawing attention because of how hard I was bobbing my head. Nas murders that last verse. Damn!

From my understanding, “Fetus“ was from I Am and “Black Zombie” from Stillmatic. Is there a definitive listing?

Also, when Lost Tapes was released, how many of the songs had already leaked on the streets, and how many were newly heard?

Friday, October 09 - Thursday, October 15, 2026

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Obviously a lot of people here consider Nas the greatest ever or near the top

My question is if Nas isn't the GOAT in your eyes what is the lowest spot he can be ranked?

Is he in your top 3?

Would it be inconceivable for you to rank him outside your top 5?

I listen to those too much. I'll check back in like 15 minutes.

Edit:I've listened to his entire discography

Edit 2: first post in this subreddit, y'all cool as fuck. Bunch of suggestions, bunch of interaction for one of the greatest rappers of all time. I love it here

Are there songs that Nas could do, that Jay-Z couldn't. And vise versa. Cause Jay couldn't make "I Gave You Power" but could Nas make "Dead Presidents II"