Absolutely agree. I’d argue Blazing Arrow by Blackalicious is one of the greatest albums of all time. And that came out in 2002, eight years after Illmatic. Blazing Arrow is such a seamless and well thought out album from start to finish. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blazing_Arrow
Same. The OP article is interesting, but was hoping for more than a few wiki links of past instances. Is there more verifiable evidence for this instance? Don’t doubt the claim, just curious.