Ok, this will be short and sweet. What MC's showed more growth and skills on their 2nd album? I'm going to name a few from my perspective. What are some in your opinion and do you agree with any I listed?
1. NAS on It Was Written: Yes, as great as Illmatic was NAS was a better overall MC on It Was Written. On Illmatic NAS was just rapping like on the block freestyling. On IWW NAS was telling stories like "I Gave You Power" and "Shootouts". Don't get me wrong, NAS was amazing on Illmatic but to me he was better on IWW.
2. Biggie on Life After Death: Yes, Ready to Die is a Classic but Biggie showed growth as an MC. Dude was doing "Notorious Thugs" with Bone Thugs and still kept the rawness on LAD that he did on RTD. Biggie showed more versatility.
3. Black Thought from the Roots was better on Do You Want More compared to Organix.
4. Big L was better on The Big Picture compared to Lifestyles of the Poor and Dangerous.
5. Q-Tip was a better MC on The Low End Theory compared to Tribe's debut.
6. Big Boi and Andre 3000 were both better on ATLIENS than Southernplayer.
7. OC was better on Jewelz than he was on Word Life.
8. Kanye was a better MC on The Late Registration vs The College Dropout.
9. Eminem was better on The Marshal Mathers LP vs The Slip Shady LP.
10. Rakim was a better MC on Follow The Leader than he was on Paid in Full...
A few more thoughts: Do you think Redman was better after his debut on the second album? Do you feel that Scarface improved from album to album? I also believe KRS was better on By All Means vs Criminal Minded.....
Peace