10) Nastradamous (1999): …well at least it had the club banger, “You Owe Me” on it.

9) I Am… (1999): This release has the honor of having the infamous track “Hate Me Now” along with its controversial crucifixion-themed video.

8) Street’s Disciple (2004): Double disc albums have a tendency to leans towards more quantity than quality. Only for the true Nas heads, this has cuts like “Just a Moment” and a duet with his father called “Bridging The Gap”

7) Hip Hop Is Dead (2006): When Nas’ began making rounds saying rap was dead it ticked off the southern stars that were leading the charts at the time. Critics aside, Hip Hop Is Dead showed that he wasn’t taking shots at the culture, but truly wanted to see it do better.

6) Untitled (2008): One of Nas’ most underrated. Originally called Ni**er, this album looked at how hip-hop culture was becoming a caricature of what he believed it was truly meant to be: inspirational.

5) Life Is Good (2012): With bangers like the gritty “Nasty” and club ready “The Don”, already released, Nas’ 10th has more than enough hype. Production featuring No ID and the introspective “Daughters” puts Life Is Good in Top 5 range.

4) It Was Written (1996): After MJB and Meth’s “You’re All I Need”, what duet defines an era more than the Lauryn Hill assisted “If I Ruled The World”? Add “Street Dreams” and you have one of Nas’ works.

3) Stillmatic (2001): This album contained classics like “One Mic” and the rebuttal to Jay-Z’s “Takeover”, “Ether” which some consider the greatest diss record of all time.

2) God’s Son (2002): The reflective post-”Ether” album. God’s Son gave us the singles “Made You Look” and the excellent James Brown sampling opener “Get Down”.

1) Illmatic (1994): No words needed. Illmatic was an instant classic launched a 20-year-old Nas to legend status.

Nas performs onstage during the 2012 ESPY Awards at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on July 11, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)