Is Illmatic Overrated because of how short it is?

[TheGentlePlayer]

It was written>>>Illmatic

[cheeseburger]

Well, I do think Illmatic is overrated and the length may be to do with it, as it leaves less room for error. And actually, the second point you bring up, or rather imply as many critics have, is Em being guilty of making his albums too long, and I think he has been.

I think The Eminem Show is an amazing classic, but yeah... it could probably be even better if just a bit shorter, if he was just a little more brutal with editing himself.

But he makes it up for having a long period between each release , no?

Well... I wouldn't say he has a long period, it's about average.

The Marshall Mathers LP came out just over a year after The Slim Shady LP. And The Eminem Show came out just two years after, and Encore two years again...

But he doesn't do a ton of mixtapes and is quite picky (apart from recently where he's a lot more open to collaborations with everyone), so he certainly makes people wait and thirst for material. Which is one of the reasons each album sells through the roof. He doesn't spread himself too thin.

Yeah, I wonder whats the best way. Selling average numbers but lots of material, or selling loads of lesser material. In the long run, maybe the first example is better. Much material can aply to a wider audience, while less material is more difficult to stick maybe. But then again, if you are eminem you seem to come up with gold all the time and it sticks with everyone anyway. Exept for these latest collabs, but noone will remember them in one year anyway.

[Cube23]

I don't think so.

Illmatic was intended to be longer, but bootleg copies were available in an abundance, so it was released as is. There's no doubt in my mind that it would have been consistent no matter the tracklist's length.

[Tornado]

Maybe, it's a definite factor on whether someone thinks it's classic. Thing is in this era, artists generally gotta have more content just to be heard so a lot more filler content gets heard