I'm throwing this together as I write it but here are some of my favourites throughout his career:

• The World is Yours (1994). Great lyrics about self-empowerment, but what makes this classic to me is the complex rhyme schemes and freeform verses that were unparalleled at the time. Might not sound revolutionary now, but that's because everybody's style was informed by this.
• I Gave You Power (1996). A song about inner-city violence as told from a gun's point of view. Nas wasn't the first person to rap from the perspective of a weapon, but I think he did it best. In this era Nas made a mix of conscious rap and (what was then a new form of gangsta rap) Mafioso rap, inspired by flicks like Scarface.
• Nas is Like (1999). This was the weakest year for Nas. He was supposed to release a double album, but after extensive leaks it was mostly scrapped and two albums featuring some fairly weak material were released in its stead. Still, some great songs were in amongst the filler, including this standout.
• Rewind (2001). Another concept track, this time a story told backwards. This is off Stillmatic, which was released after he was dissed by Jay-Z and needed a serious comeback album to save face. It's widely agreed that he succeeded.
• Purple and Doo Rags (2002). The Lost Tapes was a compilation of material that had been scrapped from his 1999 album, and makes it clear that he had been set to release something worthy of his first two albums before it all got nixxed. Pretty much everything off this is strong.
• Last Real N---- Alive (2002). At this time Nas was still fueding with Jay-Z. He's widely considered to have "won" this beef back on Stillmatic, but in my opinion this is a much stronger response than his first. It's a matter-of-fact retelling of his manoeuvres in the rap game and only actually addresses Jay at the end, but the way he establishes context is so effective.
• (He finally released a double album in 2004. It was bloated but had some interesting moments.)
• Fried Chicken featuring Busta Rhymes and Y'all My N----s (2008). This album is officially untitled, but Nas made it clear that it's called N----r and it deals with many topics affecting black people in the US. There are perhaps some misteps in there, but it manages to be profound and entertaining for most of its runtime.
• The Truth (2021). I'm not as familiar with his late career so I don't have so much to add from his last few albums, but they've all been produced by one person (Hitboy) and have a throwback boom bap styles. There's a lot of reflection about his life and quite a lot of bragadoccio, but he's always had an interesting perspective as a disruptive artist.

Latest Czarface is probably the best thing they've done since those first three albums.

Simply untrue. Industrial hip-hop peaked within the last few years, drumless production has taken off, indie/undie legends are putting out some of their best material, some of the biggest mainstream artists fall under conscious rap, and Open Mike Eagle exists.

If you've stopped listening to the genre then stop commenting on the state that it's in.

He's put out four albums in the last three years and they're all considered quite good. His first two albums, released in the mid-90s, are considered two of the best hip-hop albums ever made.

He has a lot of great material in between, but it's less consistent.

Just today I was thinking that some clean/mixed-vocal djent (AKA "technical groove metal" but nobody's gonna call it that) artists sound like a modern extension of nu metal, albeit with more technical chops than mainstream 2000s rock/metal had.

You might like Periphery. They're probably the biggest djent band right now and have a new album out soon.

Monuments have a bit of a rocky discography overall, but if you can get into harsh vocals then 2014's The Amanuensis is really good.

Unprocessed are a German band treading the line between virtuosic musicianship and poppy metal, which is a really weird combination. Great production; often lacklustre lyrics but if you're coming from nu metal then that shouldn't be a problem.

I don't think Sleep Token really take many direct cues from 2000s rock/metal, but they're worth mentioning anyway as a major up-and-coming artist right now. They've got a new album out soon as well and the singles suggest that it'll be pretty diverse in sound.

"Sound quality per unit of mass" is an odd metric but I guess I can't argue with it.

If you had worked your way through my entire comment you'd have gotten the gist that I don't consider vinyl to be superior to CD. I know that's a big ask, though—to read a whole entire comment before branding it "misinformation".

I have hundreds of CDs and I think the format is mostly awful. They're prone to scratching, the jewel cases fucking will break, and switching discs in your player is a bit cumbersome. If you want to digitise your collection though, CDs are a good way to go. Plus you'll have a physical copy with artwork and liner notes—those can be fun to flick through.

Vinyl looks better and (for a lot of material) has a better sound, but it's very inconvenient if you want to play a song on a whim.

Bandcamp sells both formats along with digital albums and it's the best way to put money in artists' hands through digital album sales. You might find their selection too limited though, especially if you mostly listen to popular mainstream artists.

Buying digital albums or ripping CDs means that you have complete control over your digital library and can use any music playback software you like. This is really handy if you value perfectionism in your library management, but frankly if you're just starting out then you're liable to make some mistakes as you learn. There is a lot of useful free software out there for this.

iTunes has a massive catalogue and you can find nearly anything on there, but they pay artists a pittance and their proprietary library management & file format are bollocks.

All of them are good in their own way, but from The Family Sign (2011) onwards they sort of enter the "dad-rap" subgenre. You Can't Imagine... or God Loves Ugly are probably the best places to start.

• Linkin Park - Reanimation
• Tool - 10,000
• Wu-Tang Clan - Wu-Tang Forever
• Atmosphere - You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having

These were the first albums I owned in their respective genres (if you consider indie hip-hop to be a genre). Not necessarily the best in their niche or even in the artist's discography, but they got me into a lot of fantastic music.