Which musicians would have the best "greatest hits" album?

[Sandman]

[OGPhilly]

[OGPhilly]

[Sandman]

[OGPhilly]

I think nas has just been pretty much wack since streets disciple. Yes he's still a skilled mc but only like 1 out of every 15 songs he puts out is actually worth repeat listenings.

It's not just his bad ear for beats, though that's a problem. His flow has gotten duller, and he's perpetually looking for a new persona unlike on Illmatic when he was just rapping. He also sees himself as a wise man who should educate his younger fans, which is unfortunate because nas is pretty dumb.

[Sandman]

LMAO @ "Nas is pretty dumb". That's almost an understatement. I still remember my disillusionment the first time I read a Source interview with him when they veered into politics. Him and Scarface are neck and neck with making me facepalm while reading what they say over the years.

Anyway, I definitely don't see his career trajectory like you do. I think all musicians, not just rappers, are victims of expectations. In my book he really only has one truly bad album (Nastradamus, obviously), and personally I think every album he's made since Street's Disciple has been above average. If you compare them all to Illmatic, yeah, they're going to fall short, but people talk about post-Illmatic Nas as if he was post-Tical Method Man or some shit, which is not even close to being the case. Not saying dude hasn't fallen off from time to time, or that he hasn't fallen short of the perfect god MC he was supposed to be. He clearly has. I just don't think that means the pendulum has swung all the way to the other side where he's some complete failure. His catalogue is still crazy respectable, and with the exception of the one aforementioned album that was terrible, I can still go back and jam any of his albums. All I ask is to never hear "Hate Me Now" or "Oochie Wally" ever again in my life.

[The Dude]

[The Dude]

[Divinity11]

Okay, a little late getting here, but...

The greatest hits "criteria" that was laid out at the beginning of the OP was something like 15 to 18 songs, which is a good standard for a greatest hits compilation.

With that said, right away someone like NAS is eliminated. He just doesn't have that many good songs in his arsenal. Or Tupac. One might be able to convince me of a Wu-Tang greatest hits, especially if you include individual efforts in the mix. Maybe.

[OGPhilly]