A true East Coast beef. A story of a beef between two of New York's greatest.
Although their relationship is currently friendly, Nas and Jay-Z had an intense beef throughout the 90s and early 00s. This is beef is notorious for the fact they both were the same age, came up at the same time and represented the hip hop sound of New York.
Their beef started all the way back in 1996, when Nas reportedly didn't show up for a studio session with Jay-Z. Since Nas didn't show up the producer Ski Beatz decided to sample Nas' lines from "The World Is Yours"
Nas' second album "It Was Written" came out a month later. His opening lines on the track "The Message" were filled with disses toward Jay-Z. "Lex with TV sets the minimum". On his prior album "Reasonable Doubt" Jay-Z had many references to the luxurious car.
Nas has since confirmed that the bars were directed towards Jay-Z. Nas told Complex:
"I saw Jay-Z driving a Lexus with the TV's in them. I got rid of my Lexus at that point and was looking for the next big thing. It wasn't a shot at Jay but it was just saying that's the minimum you gotta have. It's not a shot at him but he inspired that line. It wasn't necessarily a shot at him but because the song was a shot at everybody, he fell into that. But he definitely inspired that line"
In 1997 Jay-Z dropped a line on "Where I'm from". The line was "I'm from where n*gga pull your card, and argue all day about who's the best MC's Biggie, Jay-Z and Nas". Biggie had recently died and Jay-Z surely wasn't hesitant about claiming his throne.
A lot of people claim that Roc-A-Fella artist Memphis Bleek came into the feud on his first single from his "Coming Of Age" album. Most notable was the lyrics for his song "What You Think Of That", where he said:
"My whole team rock rocks, we don't speak to cats / I'mma ball till I fail what you think of that?"
Nas quickly fired back at him with "Nastradamus" saying the following lines:
"I need an encore y'all, you should welcome me back / You wanna ball till you fall? I can help you with that"
Memphis Bleek decided to take it up a notch on his "My Mind Right":
"Your lifestyle's written / So who you supposed to be? Play your position"
"It's beef I'mma see you, and bang till you hang up / Your life a lie, but here's the truth: You ain't hype to die, but you hype to shoot"
With these lines Memphis Bleek instantly took the beef to another level. Nas responded with "Stillmatic" not only going after Bleek but Jay-Z and Beanie Sigel as well (the two other members of Roc-A-Fella):
"RIP the freeway, shoot through Memphis with Money Bags / Stop in Philly, order cheesesteaks and eat Beans fast"
At the Hot 97's Summer Jam, Jay-Z freestyled not only going after Nas but Prodigy from Mobb Deep as well. Then on "Takeover" from Jay-Z's Blueprint from 2001 he really went all out for Nas:
"One hot album every ten year average" as well as calling Nas a has-been. Jay-Z had a point in doing this as Nas' career had taken a huge downfall during the time.
But Nas didn't want to back down. He wanted to show who the king of NYC was. So on his 2001 album Stillmatic he dropped "Ether". A truly notorious disstrack aimed towards Jay-Z. Nas both attacked Jay-Z's claims of him being a has been, calling Jay-Z out for seeling out while also accusing him of copying Nas' style:
"I am the truest / Name a rapper that I ain't influenced"
"In '88, you was gettin' chased to your buildin' / Callin' my crib, and I ain't even give you my numbers / All I did was give you a style for you to run with"
"Y'all n*ggas deal with emotions like bitches / What's sad is I love you cause you're my brother, you traded your soul for riches"
Nas also called Jay-Z ugly, a misogynist, a lot of homophobic slurs, and revealed an affair Jay-Z had with Foxy Brown.
I mean "Takeover" was one hell of track with a lot of good disses towards Nas, but "Ether" was on another level with this track Nas cemented his spot on the throne of NYC.
As Nas delivered a worldclass diss towards Jay-Z, Jay-Z stroke back with his track "Supa Ugly", which was a sample of Nas' own "Got Ur Self A..." and Dr. Dre's "Bad Intentions". On "Supa Ugly" Jay-Z bragged about having a 3 year long relationship with Nas' girlfriend Carmen Bryan. That's taking the beef to another level once again. It's one thing to diss each other about fame and glory, but when Jay-Z decided to bring Nas' girlfriend into it. That was just something else.¨
And a lot of people thought so. Many people even called Jay-Z out saying it was to far. Even his mother Gloria Carter called the local radio station Hot 97 saying he should apologize to Nas and his family. Jay-Z had no choice but to do so, and soon after he called apologizing to his mother and any female listeners he had offended.
Hot 97 played a huge part in blowing up the beef as multiple times a day they would play "Ether" and "Supa Ugly" back to back. They even had a poll on which disstrack was the best. "Ether" won the poll with 58 % of the votes.
Jay-Z continued the beef on his next album Blueprint 2. He went hard with the lines:
"My momma can't save you this time / N*gga is history"
Nas responded on "Last Real N*gga Alive", where he compared their beef to Scarface.
Four whole years after the release of "Ether", Jay-Z and Nas decided to end the beef. They did so in front of a sold out crowd at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Ruthorford, New Jersey. Everybody was expecting Jay-Z to go all out on his enemies on this tour, but it seems like he had different plans.
The two even performed the two tracks "Dead Presidents" and "The World Is Yours" together on stage. Jay-Z declared:
"All that beef shit is done, we had our fun / Let's get the money"
A year later Nas ended his deal with Columbia Records and signed with Def Jam, which is now owned by Jay-Z. A short time afterwards they teamed up together on "Black Republican".
This story is fascinating in so many ways. Two of the biggest NY icons of hip hop to ever exist fighting for the throne. I hope you enjoyed the story. As a last note I really wonder how the story would have went if Biggie was still present. I mean there would for sure have been a third competitor for the throne.
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