Verified answer

Well the answer I am about to give is a bit diplomatic but honestly its my true opinion , if we consider technical aspects of rapping Nas is arguably the best of all time , Nas' with his debut album really took hip hop to a whole new level as that was the point in the rap game where the MCs got more lyrical. I know maybe Rakim or Big Daddy Kane can be considered the creators of lyrical hip hop but Nas came in with a fresh flavor remember his verse on "Live at the Barbeque".

On the other hand I've got more respect for 2pac not for being technically strong but for being a great communicator like still when I listen to Pac his voice has got all the emotional value. I think content wise (not lyrically) he was the best. Tracks like "Dear Mama" , "Keep Ya Head Up" , "Life Goes On" , "Pain" & "Changes" are arguably among the top 100 songs ever made by a West Coast artist and ofc who can forget his attitude of a renegade never afraid to talk about anything.

I would say 2pac. It's hard to see the full scope of how he's innovated simply because of ubiquitous his influence is without stepping back. People often cite 2pac as being endlessly emotional, as one that spoke to people's hearts at a time where no one else had that empathy. That is the key feature of his influence, not just the political aspect, the vitriol, or the consciousness: it was the presentation. Before 2pac rapping was machine-like, not in terms of content but in emotional presentation. When 2pac rapped he was *angry*, or sad, or happy, or generally empathetic, and this infusion of emotion is something that you can see in a huge amount of rappers afterwards, it's not just the monotone anymore.

Nas and Wu-Tang were the two groups that proliferated the updating of rhyme techniques, Wu-Tang bringing their own brand of rhyming while Nas refurbished the old, and Nas contributed a timeless classic to the game, but he simply doesn't have anywhere near the perennial influence 2pac does.

I mean, Nas is obviously the more technically proficient MC. That in itself has to earn him respect. When you're talking about their respective impacts on the rap game, 2Pac has undoubtedly been more important. His brand of hip-hop, for better or worse, has been prominent for almost 20 years now, whereas Nas' has been relegated largely to the underground.

Let's be honest, Nas' has never been an innovator. He pretty blatantly was influenced by Rakim and G Rap. As a result, you don't see Nas cited as an influence by as many current rappers as you would expect, given the amount of respect he gets.

2Pac, on the other hand, is someone who is listed as an influence almost obligatorily. Of course, he had influences (Dr. Dre, Too $hort, BDP), but I feel like he borrowed less, and that's why you see him cited as an influence by everybody and not Too $hort, for example.

So who deserves more respect? Depends on whether or not you view skills, or influence as being more important.

Personally I respect Nas more, but I'm not going to act like the fact that I feel 2Pac only is as influential as he is because he died at the peak of his fame doesn't have some influence on that.

Holy cow, this took me longer to write than it should have.

I think when you add it all up not limited to lyrics, I would say I have more respect for pac. I mean, most people pay more respect when someone's dead, but imo if he were still alive I'd still have more respect. And to the commenter above, don't say what pac would or wouldn't be doing today. "You don't know **** about a dead man's perspective." Besides, wu-tang is making a remix of wu-tang forever with drake. And em's going to have a song with miley cyrus on MMLP2. Bet no one would've saw that coming.

Nas.

Nas' material has vastly been unappreciated since his debut album Illmatic. Nas lyricism is always on point and has been very creative with his material. Tupac gets over appreciated for the wrong reasons. As he wasn't as skilled as an emcee as people praise him to be. Nas flourishes through his strong lyricism but his downfall will always be his production(Except with Premier).

2Pac because he is more lyrical then NAS besides NAS has gone soft these years. if 2pac was alive he would still be blazing hot and non of these fake *** rappers wound of existed in this era

from what i have seen 2pac was more centred around change and putting an end to racism so he tried to give more of a positive message

2pac,reasons are those which above two guys gave

props to both ...