... to mainstream "success" and shiny suits while ryhming "Oochie Wally" (maybe his lowest moment) back down to somewhere in the middle, Nas's career has been quite a roller coaster ride of ups and downs trying to straddle the fine line of commercial success and street credibility. Unlike 2pac, Big, and Jay Z, Nas has always had problems pulling it off and taking a look at his catalog of albums shows exactly that... drifting from great, (Illmatic, The Lost Tapes) to good, (Stillmatic, It Was Written) to passable (Nastradamous, I Am). It's really a true testament to his MC greatness that he's been able to keep afloat through it all, including bouncing back strong from a wicked attack from the most popular MC at the time when Jay Z busted him hard (probably even revived his career with his counter attack). This isn't a bad selection of tracks (though every Nas fan can think of more than a few that are missing) but if you are new to Nas and want a true "best of" album then you'd be better served to pick up his first album Illmatic and get blown away by it's brilliance (9 tracks, not including the intro, produced by some of the best producers ever... DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Large Pro, and an incredible offering by Q-Tip?! Not to mention the best guest spot EVER by AZ!). So 4 stars for this, a good collection of tracks for the casual fan of Rap that just wants to hear a little of what Nas has had to offer through the years without investing too much time or money.