IF Not For Bootlegging Would I Am... Been A Better Album Than Illmatic

I was listening to I Am... well atleast my version of it and is thinking this would've been nas best album overall and perhaps getting out of the shadow Illmatic, if you look back at that time even tho today many consider It Was Written a classic and perhaps his best album some also consider it a flop even tho it went 2.5x platinum it was just did have that street hop/poetry gutter music but it did have some of his best songs with the street hop mixed it and introduce us to Esco. Point is with the double disk version I Am it was a mixture of both nasty nas and escobar, every song flowing into the next from beginning to the end playing out like a movie. especially if it was in this order

Disk 1
1.Intro
2.Fetus
3.New York State Of Mind Pt2
4.Poppa Was A Playa
5.Project Window
6.Find Ya Wealth
7.Small World
8.Hate Me Now
9.Daydreamin,Stay Schemin
10.Wanna Play Rough
11.Favor For A Favor
12.Money Is My ?
13.1 plus 1
14.My Worst Enemy

Disk 2
1.Nas Is Like
2.Ghetto Prisoner
3.Life Is What You Make It
4.Blaze A 50
5.Dr Knockboot
6.You Won't See Me Tonight
7.The Hardest Thing
8.We Will Survive
9.K-I-S-S-I-N-G
10.? By Myself
11.Undying Love
12.Afterlife Intro
13.Amongst Kings

Now if this was the actually album then who knows how history plays out there might not be no Nastradamus,Stillmatic,&Lost Tapes but then again the lost tapes would've been early illmatic & it was written material, i do believe that the jay-z beef would've eventually happen regardless.