By DCist contributor W Jacarl Melton

The hip-hop industry is a cruel and fickle creature. It’s built up many an emcee based on one nice record only to devour them during their next Soundscan. Very few artists have been able to recover from missteps. However, if there’s a poster boy for career resurgence, Nas might be him.

It’s hard to find a hip-hop writer who’d ridicule Nas’ first solo album, Illmatic (this writer included). The 1994 release featured some of the most vivid rhymes ever written as he detailed life in his New York neighborhood. Tracks like “N.Y. State of Mind” and “One Love” highlighted what is arguably an all-time classic album.

Then came It Was Written, I Am…, and Nastradamus interspersed with The Firm album and a role in the film Belly. Although he was working with the likes of Lauryn Hill, P. Diddy, and Dr. Dre, the folks who were fans of Nasty Nas (such as this writer) tuned out as alter ego Nas Escobar took center stage. How could the second-coming of Rakim let us down?