No. 2: Nas

I've gone back and forth on these last two guys for weeks, waffling as recently as yesterday.

In the end, Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones falls a sliver short of the top spot largely because I couldn't pretend that his late-1990s slump didn't happen. The greatest of all time can't fall off like that.

What makes the gap so much more difficult to accept is the fact that Nas has spent the rest of the last 20 years being nothing short of remarkable. From the moment he burst on the scene with his 26-bar leadoff verse on "Live At The Barbeque" in 1991, Nas has been considered one of hip-hop's elite wordsmiths.

The hype surrounding his 1994 debut LP, Illmatic, was almost impossible to live up to — but Nas managed to surpass even the highest of expectations with what remains arguably the greatest album in rap's history. With most of the East Coast's elite producers jumping at the chance to supply beats, Nas puts together a masterful collection of stories and verses that many have fallen well short trying to imitate. Aside from a career-making verse from AZ on "Life's A Bitch," Illmatic is all Nas — and with tracks like "N.Y. State Of Mind" and "Memory Lane," the album has held its replay value throughout the years.

It likely always will. Shit, where do you think this blog got its name?

Nas followed his debut by making a handful of notable guest appearances — his verses on Raekwon's "Verbal Intercourse" and Kool G Rap's "Fast Life" helped make those songs into classics — before dropping his follow-up album, It Was Written, in 1996. Though not as strong as Illmatic (what could be?), the record was solid throughout. The pressure to generate more crossover appeal is evident, with Trackmasters handling much of the production, but for the most part, Nas maintains his lyrical integrity.

The same can't necessarily be said for his next few projects. The Firm, a group featuring AZ, Foxy Brown and Nature (who replaced original member Cormega) fizzled despite being produced by Dr. Dre, and Nas' next LP, I Am..., was considered a massive letdown. The lead street single, the DJ Premier-produced "Nas Is Like," was a gem, proving that Nas still had the goods, but tracks like the Puffy-fueled "Hate Me Now" were ill-advised attempts to remain relevant as a crossover act.

Ditto for Nastradamus, a rush job released in late 1999. When most of the original material for the album leaked online, Nas opted to create a whole new album, and the results were for the most part underwhelming.

Perhaps it was this last subpar effort that allowed Jay-Z to believe Nas' title as the best living rapper in New York was ripe for the taking. Jigga fired the first major salvo in their feud with "Takeover," only to have Nas answer back with "Ether" — without question the most brutal battle record ever. While Jay-Z took the comedic route, Nas opted instead for blunt force trauma:

...and your man stabbed Un and made you take the blame/your ass went from
Jaz to hanging with Kane to Irv to Big and/Eminem murdered you on your own shit...

...before going with the kill shot by reminding us that Jay even named himself after his mentor, Jaz-O:

Shawn Carter to Jay-Z? Damn, you on Jaz('s) dick...

He already knows.

Jay-Z has never been a sympathetic character — despite his blatant commercialism, he's still one of the most highly regarded rappers ever and rich beyond most people's belief — but it's hard not to feel for him when listening to the complete evisceration that the receives on that track. Jigga tried to respond again with "Superugly," but there was no coming back. With one crushing blow, Nas had taken the battle.

In the process, he re-energized himself and resurrected his career. Stillmatic was arguably his best effort since Illmatic, with outstanding tracks like "One Mic," "Rewind" and "My Country." After several years on the mafioso-rap train made popular by himself, Biggie and Raekwon in the mid-1990s, Nas got back to basics on Stillmatic, delivering plenty of thought-provoking material. Oh, and that verbal ass-whooping, too.

God's Son was another solid effort, fueled by the street banger "Made You Look" and "Last Real N**** Alive," on which he puts the Jay-Z feud to rest, and the double LP Street's Disciple, released in 2004, remains one of the most underrated efforts of the last decade. Nas handles a wide range of topics, dissing the likes of O.J. and Kobe Bryant on "These Are Our Heroes," talking life and death on the back-to-back cuts "Live Now" and "Rest of My Life," discussing women and his marriage to Kelis over three tracks on the second disc, and collaborating with his dad, jazz musician Olu Dara, on "Bridging The Gap." Covering the whole spectrum without a real weak spot, Nas didn't get nearly as much credit for this joint as he deserved.

Nas was no stranger to controversy in the years that followed, earning criticism from some rap fans for declaring that Hip Hop Is Dead in 2006 and criticism from damn near everybody for naming his 2008 album after Dick Gregory's autobiography (he later met his record label halfway and released it as Untitled).

He remains busy, having released a collaboration album, Distant Relatives, with reggae star Damian Marley in 2010, and he is set to drop another LP, tentatively titled Life Is Good, in 2012. The first single, "Nasty," which came out in late summer of 2011, offers an old-school sound reminiscent of his earlier years. (Sadly, it's not about Notre Dame women's hoop star Natalie Novosel.)

Time will tell if Nas can continue making solid music — he seems content with his spot outside of the limelight now, more concerned with making quality product than making money, so it's likely that he'll be able to keep going strong for a while. Whether it's enough to fully erase the stains on his discography and eventually propel him into the top spot remains to be seen, but it's certainly not impossible. These rankings are always fluid, especially when the gaps are this tight.

If Nas isn't number one right now, though, then that means...