This track came out earlier today but I was reluctant to post it considering that the last time Khaled & Nas hooked up the results wasn’t that great. But this isn’t bad at all. With The Inkredibles behind the boards, Nas goes in with just one long verse and reminds us that we can mention his name without saying how much he’s paying Kelis monthly: “I feel intelligence is my wealth/However how enormous is Nas pockets is a pop quiz to gossipers”.

Rumor is that Kanye was suppose to be on this track too. Who knows? This will be on DJ Khaled’s Victory which drops March 2nd.

Download: DJ Khaled feat. Nas & John Legend – “Victory”

Seeing that Nas & Damian Maley was suppose to drop the collaborative album Distant Relatives last year, it’s good to finally hear some material from it. I’m a huge Nas fan but I won’t act like this is the greatest music ever. It’s nice but…I don’t know. I guess I’m really not looking out for this project. We’ll see if that changes when Distant Relatives actually drops sometime this year. Update: I hear it’s dropping April 20th (420). Update 2: Added another track. Update 3: Added updated version “Strong Will Continue” with second Nas verse added.

Download: Nas & Damian Marley – “Strong Will Continue”
Download: Nas & Damian Marley – “As We Enter”
Download: Nas & Damian Marley – “Strong Will Continue” (Final Version)

It seems like it was just yesterday when Nas and Jay-Z were involved in the what some may call the greatest Hip-Hop battle of all time. But since then times have changed; people have squashed beef on stage, deals have been sign, and it seems that Jay-Z and Nas have put all of that behind them. Earlier this month when a tracklist for Hova’s The Blueprint 3 was released, fans were excited to see yet another track, “Empire State Of Mind”, with both God’s Son and Jigga featured. Fast forward to earlier this week, and we see that on the “official” tracklist, Nas has been replaced with Alicia Keys. Now, we all love Miss Keys. But you know the real Hip-Hop heads would have preferred Kelis’ baby daddy on the track. But hey, who knows? It could still change. But until we get a final word, let’s look at past Jay-Z and Nas collaborations.

Nas feat. Jay-Z – “Black Republicans”
Album: Hip Hop Is Dead [2006]; Produced by L.E.S. & Wyldfyer
We had already been teased when it was rumored that Jay-Z would jump on the Kanye West/Nas track “We Major”, but the highly anticipated collaboration finally took place on Nas’ Def Jam debut Hip Hop Is Dead. At first listen, I was a little underwhelmed. But what had I expected? The speaker to explode and the world to cease as we know it? Once you get past the impossible expectations, the track more than lives up to the potential (And is one of my all time favorites). Both rappers got one verse each over an epic beat. Plus, that hook was hard.

*Notable Jay-Z Line: “Huddlin’ over the oven, we was like brothers then (What?)/Though you was nothin’ other than a son of my mother’s friend/We had governin’, who would of thought the love would end”

*Notable Nas Line: “Just like an acrobat ready to hurl myself though the hoops of fire/Sippin’ 80 proof, bulletproof under my attire”

Jay-Z feat. Nas – “Success”
Album: American Gangster [2007]; Produced by No I.D. & Jermaine Dupri
I guess this was the trade off for “Black Republicans”. Nas returns the favor and does a guest spot on Hov’s 2007 American Gangster. This song also has the distinction of Nas maybe taking a jab at Hov (“Worst enemies want to be my best friends”). I personally think Jay-Z went hard the whole song, but even the biggest Jigga stan will admit that Nas’ Google Earth line killed it. Jay-Z had three verses (Or one long one) and Nas went last. “Let that bitch breath!”

*Notable Jay-Z Line: “Broad daylight I off ya on switch/Ya not too bright, goodnight, long kiss,/Bye-bye, my reply, blah-blah/Blast burner then pass burner, to TyTy/Finish my breakfast, why?/I got an appetite for destruction and you’re a small fry/Now where was I”

*Notable Nas Line: “Old cribs I sold, yall drive by like monuments/Google Earth Nas, I got flats in other continents/Worst enemies want to be my best friends/Best friends want to be enemies, like that’s what’s in/But I don’t give a fuck walk inside the lion’s den”

Ludacris feat. Nas & Jay-Z – “I Do It For Hip Hop”
Album: Theater Of The Mind [2008]; Produced by Wyldfyer
Let me first state that I thought Luda had the best verse but the actually song looks better on paper. It was good to have Jay, Nas, & Ludacris on the same track, but the end results did produce a classic track (Jay’s performance was so-so and this is me saying that). The song still has a great message though.

*Notable Jay-Z Line: “The past of time when I was gettin’ it in/Just so happens I’m so illegal with the pen/They ain’t want me to do anything illegal again”

*Notable Nas Line: “That’s who you are so when the cash and cars is gone/The day after tomorrow/Don’t be asking to borrow, ski mask ang it hard/Like the way you rap in your bars”

Young Jeezy feat. Nas & Jay-Z – “My Presdent (remix)”
Album: The Recession [2008]; Produced by Tha Bizness
Okay, so this wasn’t exactly a Nas and Jay-Z collaboration since Hov jumped on the remix version. But it’s still technically a track featuring both rappers. The remix came at the height of the 2008 election and Jay-Z on the remix pushed it over the top (It already was the “hood” Obama them song). I still wished Nas would have redid his verse for the remix.

*Notable Jay-Z Line: “My president is black in fact he’s half white/So even in a racist mind he’s half right/If you got a racist mind you’ll be aight/My president is black but his house is all white”

*Notable Nas Line: “For years there’s been surprise horses in this stable/Just two albums in, I’m the realest nigga on this label”

Shaquille O’Neal feat. Jay-Z, Lord Tariq, & Nas – “No Love Lost/Analyze This”
Album: You Can’t Stop The Reign [1996]; Produced by Tone & Poke
Do some of you youngsters even remember when Shaq used to rap? If not you didn’t miss much. But it was on one of Diseil’s album that we actually saw the first Jay-Z and Nas track. Well, almost. It gets confusing here. The original version of the song only had Shaq, Jay, and Lord Tariq (“Uptown baby!”), but somewhere along the line a new Nas verse was added and Shaqillie’s verse was taken off. Even through all that, I think it’s important to see what may have been the first Jay and Nas track together…13 years ago.

*Notable Jay-Z Line: “I got mine, your little bit of money couldn’t stop mine/Your block time, too hot, too many hands in your pie/Seventy thirty, the nigga you work for work for me”

*Notable Nas Line: “I flip my loot twice a week/On my most trifest streets/”You got no right to eat/By the laws of life you keep”

Download: A Collection Of Jay-Z & Nas Collabos

A few weeks ago me and the rest of the team were trying to put together a project that had all the best Nas cameos. I say “were” because that piece is now scrapped; there were just too many too name. I wanted to do it because recently Nasir Jones is in the news way more for paying $55,000 a month to Kelis, than his rhymes (Isn’t he dropping an album with Damian Marley later this year?). Let’s not forget this guy still should be in everyone’s Top 5. Which brings me to today’s pick Song of the Week. It’s not a track from Illmaic or God’s Son, but from Nas’ Def Jam debut Hip Hop Is Dead. “Where Y’all At” was the buzz single for the album and for me, it did just that. On top of a Salaam Remi production, Nasty Nas goes in:

“Eat with my elbows top of the table/Street etiquette with speech impediments/And still see presidents, no matter who paid/Cause you ain’t take the last dollar made/Long as they keep printing it, there’s chances of getting it/Money’s my bitch, and we stay intimate/Ask about Nashwan, could ask about Jung/Ask about Bravehearts, and ask where I’m from/Q Boro, specifically The Bridge/Don’t ask no more question, ya know what it is”.

And that why it’s one of my many Nas favorites. Enjoy.

Download: Nas – “Where Y’all At”

By now, you have probably heard The Game go at Jay-Z pretty hard in a freestyle in Madrid, Spain..if not, check out the video. The Game taking shots at Jigga isn’t a new thing, he does it from time to time, but ALWAYS takes it back after throwing a jab or two. So with this latest attack I am skeptical about drinking the kool-aid. Let’s face it, the Game can match bars with Jay. There is no question about that, if you deny it, you are lying to yourself. If Game would go at Jay with the same tenacity that he went at Bleek, Budden, Ja, and 50 with, he might can lay the old man down. The time is now, Jay is ripe for the picking. It is time for one of these new school cats challenge Jay and win. The Game might be the one to do it. The old guard must pass it on to the next generation.

My questions to Game: ARE YOU FOR REAL THIS TIME? By the time I post this I hope you have not  issued an apology and said that you was just playing to the crowd and didn’t really mean it. You did call out the man wife..so I’m expecting Jay to really have something for your ass in the next week or so. BE READY. Second question: WHY DO YOU DO MOST OF YOUR DISSES OVERSEAS? What’s up with that? You talking greasy in Europe, but when you get back stateside, you make it seem like you was just “messing around”. When you get back home, can we expect more disses?

So Game, if you are going to do it…GO ALL THE WAY IN. (PAUSE) Make history, this could be one of the best lyrical battles in a minute. Do it for all those that came before you but came up short. Do it for Jaz-O, who simply was upset because the dude he brought in the game became WAY more successful than him. Do it for Prodigy, while I know you and him aren’t like that anymore, but do it because he put pictures of a “gangsta” rapper in a ballerina suit. Do it for Nas, who was involved in a CLASSIC battle with Jigga,and (depending on who you ask) beat him and to turn around and kiss his ring like Superman did Lord Zod and WORK for him! Do it for Dame. No explanation needed on this one.

I would love to see these two go back and forth..could be EPIC, as long as The Game is serious and Jay takes the bait. WE SHALL SEE!

Download: The Game – “I’m So Wavy”

A few Tuesday’s ago (May, 19th to be exact) we saw album releases from Busta Rhymes, Method Man/Redman, & of course, Eminem. This was so far the biggest release date of 2009. All three acts that I mentioned are veterans in the game and well respected by their peers. Another thing they have in common: They’re all over the age of 30. If you think about it, most of Hip-Hop’s elite are over the age of 30. I guess it’s no longer a young man’s game. So I was thinking, since you see a lot of lists with titles such as “25 Hottest Celebs Under 25” or “40 Richest Under 40”, why not The Best 30 Rappers Over 30? But for this list, we got set some ground rules. #1 of course is the most obvious; you gotta be over the age of 30 (That throws out people like Weezy, Lupe, Drake, & T.I.). #2, you have to be 30 as of this list (Both The Game & Joe Budden will be 30 this year, but aren’t as of yet). #3, you got to be active and releasing records with new material that’s relevant (Rakim & Big Daddy Kane are legends but they don’t make this list). Other than that, the only requirement is being 3-0 or older. So, here’s it: The Best 30 Rappers Over 30 (Ordered from oldest to youngest). 30 is the new 20! Did I forget anybody? (Update: Fabolous replaces Beanie Sigel)

Ice Cube (June 15, 1969) – 39
Jay-Z (December 4, 1969) – 39
Raekwon (January 12, 1970) – 39
Q-Tip (April 10, 1970) – 39
Redman (April 17, 1970) – 39
Ghostface Killah (May 9, 1970) – 39
Fat Joe (August 19, 1970) – 38
Scarface (November 9, 1970) – 38
DMX (December 18, 1970) – 38
Method Man (April 1, 1971) – 38
Snoop Dogg (October 20, 1971) – 37
Common (March 13, 1972) – 37
Busta Rhymes (May 20, 1972) – 37
Black Thought (October 3, 1972) – 36
Eminem (October 17, 1972) – 36
Bun B (March 19, 1973) – 36
Nas (September 14, 1973) – 35
Mos Def (December 11, 1973) – 35
Andre 3000 (May 27, 1974) – 35
Styles P (November 28, 1974) – 34
Big Boi (February 1, 1975) – 34
Jadakiss (May 27, 1975) – 34
50 Cent (July 6, 1975) – 33
Talib Kweli (October 3, 1975) – 33
Rick Ross (January 28, 1976) – 33
Cam’ron (February 4, 1976) – 33
Kanye West (June 8, 1977) – 31
Ludacris (September 11, 1977) – 31
Young Jeezy (October 12, 1977)- 31
Fabolous (November 18, 1977) – 31

I will state this now. This column is NOT an issue of color or race. It’s a deeper issue that happens to be rooted in it, unnecessarily I might add. I debated writing this a number of times, but I feel somebody needs to say it; and if it gets through to one, maybe the effort was worth it.

First, my reason for writing this. I think back to a trip to Alabama with a good friend of mine for a wrestling show [Youtube “Kareem Abdul Jamar”, check my pedigree :p] and I find myself rattled by some commentary he made about what I was playing at the time. Gym Class Heroes was in the CD player, the track was “New Friend Request”.

I’m grooving and he’s laughing, so of course I want to know what the joke is.

Friend: “Man, why you listening to this white people rap?”

Me: “White people rap? Didn’t buy this CD in THAT section. Must’ve missed it.”

Friend: “Pssh. Even my SON knows that’s white people rap.”

I was willing to write it off. I’ve come under fire all my life for my musical tastes, dreams, style, and grammatical syntax [peep the grammar]; often being described as being the “White Black Guy”….I fucking hate that. I’m always black enough when I get pulled over, and my interests aren’t color-coded; open your mind.

I digress, my friend is a grown man with his own thoughts and Lord knows, that’d be a task to change. His kid though? It bothered me all day. His child is going to view music as white, black, and whatever else instead of what it should be at the end of the day….

Good or bad.

Not to sound like the older cat at the barbershop where everything was better in “his day”; but in what I’d consider the golden era of rap, 1980-1992, you had EVERYTHING. Experimentation, storytelling, mashing, consciousness, raw styles, flash, trash talk, and so much more. Everything was done just enough; not too excessively. Rap from the early 80’s to the early 90’s had to be the most exciting genre to watch unfold, because it was open to being whatever you needed it to be. There were no definitions. The most creative musical form out there.

Now, it seems like the artists that still believe in that notion are pushed to the backburner and considered irrelevant. Trap-stars, self-proclaimed killers, and hood figures are the order of the day. They all boast about the same things, their stories an unoriginal tapestry of uninspired wordplay. A dark society demands dark figures to place on a pedestal, AND OUR CHOICES ARE ENDLESS!

What people are failing to understand is that your soundtrack, the music you take in, has a huge effect on who you are and what you think. Especially in the case above where it molds our youth. African Americans already have a complex where ignorance is glorified and education/outside the box thought is considered weak or selling out. What other culture do you know where you’d gain more widespread respect holding a glock then cradling a schoolbook?

Ludacris wants to tackle serious issues in Release Therapy, wins a Grammy, and gets called a sellout for his troubles.

Wayne, wants to add a little rock to his sound and he’s already got people saying he’s “gone white”. At least he’s trying something different, whether it will be good remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, OJ Da Juiceman and Gucci Mane receive praise for wearing ignorant values on their chest; lacking the talent and creativity to make their stories worth a damn. Their stories used as motivators for people with no idea what that life is truly like. They see the flash and hear their boasts and think that’s the way to escape mediocrity and poverty. All they find for themselves is a trap more expensive then whence they came. The streets are harsh. The means to survive them are even worse and I ask this question to any fan of rappers who love to tout their body count or total bricks sold.

If that life was so good, so awesome; why not do that instead of schmooze at label parties and pop expensive collars? Why grind so hard to sell rhymes to get out of the hood in the first place? They’d still be there.

Have we grown so callous that we can’t appreciate the steps The Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass, Pharcyde, Tribe, Run DMC, and so many others tried to do to make hip-hop not only innovative, but an outlet for all? By definition, the white/sellout rap that some would say Lupe, Gym Class, and others do is the true essence of the art. Unfortunately, not enough hate or guns or drugs to make it relevant to an age where vice and violence aren’t just the answer…

…it’s the punctuation.

I can’t recall when struggle and hardship was just a “black or white” thing. I’m thrown off that you can’t be real talk or create something unique without being scrutinized by masses who choose to be so closed minded, accepting of the fact that they don’t want better. Music often times is a reflection of the times. And if the music is any reflection, then we’ve grown as uninspired and cliché as ever. It’s really sad.

There is a place for the subject matter. There is not a place in thinking that’s all there is to my beloved Hip-Hop. I find myself looking to her and asking what happened? Like a relationship gone sour, but you’re still locked in. When did she let ANYONE define what she was. All Hip-Hop had to be was possibility. Much like life, possibility makes it so worthwhile.

Much like life unfortunately, you have too many who’d rather take the easy way and not blaze their own way. It’s easier to be a killer, a pusher, a follower. So they set their soundtrack to that and pray it’s not too complicated for them to understand.

Do we fear better? Fear something new and exciting? Brave? Do the masses hate on Release Therapy because Luda because he sold out for a Grammy, or because it was harsh truths we weren’t ready to hear? Is it easier to turn your swag on; while turning off issues that still plague us as spit by Nas or K’Naan? How long are we going to be mad for no reason? Hurt others and us for no reason? Believe that hood fables are all we should aspire to learn?

These questions rattle through my brain 24-7 while I defend who I am and what I listen to. The art is on the verge of collapsing under the weight of sheer ignorance and it’s the few who still realize what Hip-Hop is that keep it going. I never thought I’d see the day I’d have to defend liking Andre 3000, as if he isn’t as real as the rap game could be; with the talent to match. Too bubblegum I guess, despite FEATURES that have been more raw then whole albums of his contemporaries. Since when did a man who blends everything that rap could be and then some have to come under fire for being too watered down for Hip-Hop?

It makes me wish I could stop the madness and give up. Then I realize all I can do is keep my ears open, accept all styles and flows, and remember that it can be only good or bad. That’s my responsibility to Hip-Hop.

What are you doing to make sure it survives another day?

Or perhaps I’m just being too white for you?

But since when was having a voice, being white? Or black? I thought intelligence was human. I suppose to enjoy Hip-Hop these days; I should just stop with that, right?

Right?

Damn, I was thinking about doing something like this, but I doubt it would have been half as good as this. Thomas over at KevinNottingham.com wrote up an extensive (And I mean extensive) write up about the whole beef between Nas & Jay. It has the year, songs, and even lyrics. You probably should head over there because they also got a compilation of all the tracks too (Original article). - B-Easy

Any one who has visited KevinNottingham.com knows that I’m a huge fan of both Jay-Z and Nas. I’ve always wanted to put together the musical history of the tracks that may have started the beef. From what I’ve found neither Jay or Nas have ever discussed the beginnings of the beef or discussed the perceived shots at one another over the years.

I present my interpretation of the The Genesis Of Beef. I referenced wiki for the song list and OHHLA for the lyrics.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song(s): “Dead Presidents” (Original)
Year: 1996
Lyrics: “Presidents to represent me/Get money!/I’m out for presidents to represent me…”
“I’m out for dead *fuckin* presidents to represent me”
Interpretation: Jay wanted Nas on the track, but used his vocals from “The World Is Yours” (Q-Tip Remix) instead. I’ve always thought Jay caught feelings behind the snub.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song(s): “The City Is Mine”, “Where I’m From”, & “Rap Game/Crack Game”
Year: 1997
Lyrics: “Don’t worry about Brooklyn I continue to flame/Therefore a world with amnesia won’t forget your name/You held it down long enough, let me take those reigns…/I ain’t a player get it right, I’m controllin the game/From now until they blow holes in my frame/I’ma stand firm, holdin my aim, feel me?/I’m the focal, point like Biggie in his prime” (”The City Is Mine”)”.
“I from where niggas pull your card, and argue all day about/Who’s the best MC’s, Biggie, Jay-Z, and Nas” (”Where I’m From”)
“Somehow the rap game remind me of the crack game” (”Rap Game/Crack Game” vocal sample from “Represent” by Nas)
Interpretation: The city of New York was up for grabs once B.I.G. died as he was hailed as the King of New York by many in the Hip Hop world (July 1995 Source Cover). Jay wanted the crown and boldly stated on “The City Is Mine” that he was taking the “reigns” from B.I.G.
Jay makes another reference about Nas in “Where I’m From” and samples his voice again for “Rap Game/Crack Game”.
In My Lifetime…Vol. 1 also marks the first time Jay starts using B.I.G. lyrics: See “Friend or Foe 98′” and “Real Niggas”.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “We Will Survive”
Year: 1999
Lyrics: “It used to be fun, makin records to see your response/But, now competition is none, now that you’re gone/And these niggaz is wrong — using your name in vain/And they claim to be New York’s king?/It ain’t about that”
Interpretation: This joint was off of Nas’s third album I Am, which dropped April 6, 1999. Straight forward shot at Jay. By this time Jay was in full superstar mode especially after the commercial success he garnered from Vol. 2…Hard Knock Life. Jay wasn’t shy about acknowledging he was the King of New York. Obviously Nas didn’t think so. Nas was acknowledging Jay wasn’t on his or B.I.G.’s level with these lines.

*Artist: Memphis Bleek feat. Jay-Z
Song: “What You Think Of That”
Year: 1999
Lyrics: “I’ma ball till I fall what you think of that?” (Memphis Bleek) – Line from the chorus of “What You Think Of That”..
“Round here frontin like my shit don’t sound like nuttin/Like I ain’t got the crown or suttin/Like I ain’t the nigga you base ya life on” (Jay-Z)
“I guess I ain’t the reason you rhyme the way you do” (Jay-Z)
“Like I ain’t 5 mill, and what do ya joint go?/Excuse me? Nigga don’t confuse me” (Jay-Z)
Interpretation: Memphis Bleek dropped Coming of Age on August 3, 1999 with a buzz worthy single (”Memphis Bleek Is…”), but everybody from what I can remember was talking about the track he had with Jay: “What You Think Of That”. Bleek doesn’t go at Nas, but Jay takes exception to Nas questioning his “King” status of New York. Obvious answer to Nas’s lines on “We Will Survive”.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “Nastradamus” and “Come Get Me”
Year: 1999
Lyrics: “You wanna ball till you fall, I can help you with that/You want beef?/I could let a slug melt in your hat” (”Nastradamus”)
“You don’t like me clown? Now you wanna take me down?/If I bring my face around, you gon’ do what?/You butt/Your crew knew I blew up, I been shinin – baseball diamonds…” (”Come Get Me”)
“You make hot songs, but she know you steal from me/Who ill as me?/I wild on haters in album three” (”Come Get Me”)
Interpretation: The “ball till you fall/slug melt in your hat” is a play on words from the sung Chorus” by Memphis Bleek on “What You Think Of That”. Memphis Bleek wore a tilted hat on the cover of Coming of Age, thus the “slug melt in your hat” line. “Come Get Me” was all over the place, with with lines like “you steal from me” and “your crew knew I blew up…” screams subliminal at Jay.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song: “Come and Get Me”
Year: 1999
Lyrics: “I got, shots to give come and get me nigga/Y’all wanna rob the kid? Come and get me nigga/I won’t, part with this come and get me nigga/I worked, hard for this come and get me nigga/I got, shots to give, COME AND GET ME../COME AND GET ME..”
Interpretation: The song itself is Jay talking to rappers in general, but the chorus is a play on Nas’s “Come Get Me”. I’ve never thought the song was about Nas because Jay doesn’t believe Nas is a street dude or did any street dirt. He wouldn’t give Nas props with lines such as “I’m a crook like you, I took like you/I disobeyed the law threw out the book like you”

*Artist: Memphis Bleek
Song: “My Mind Right”
Year: 2000
Lyrics: “I’ma make you understand why I do what I do/Why I keep my hat tilt, and my doorag too”
“It’s beef I’ma see you, and bang til you hang up/Your life a lie, but here’s the truth/You aint hype to die, but you hype to shoot”
“And only a few fit in, your lifestyle’s written/So who you supposed to be, play your position”
Interpretation: Memphis Bleek addressing Nas and questioning the truthfulness of his rhymes.

*Artist: Nas feat. Various
Song: “Da Bridge 2001″
Year: 2000
Lyrics: “Oh no you didn’t, wanna know whose life Was Written/The life I’m livin/The ice the women/The kites that sendin to lifeless biddin/The streets to prison/I touch you then buck you/Heats be spittin/La-ser, AR fifteen doors come down/Jaws is broke, your whole crew is/coffin bound/Your hoe, your man, lieutenant, your boss get found”
Interpretation: Nas addressing Memphis Bleek’s shots on “My Mind Right”. Nas is not only going at Bleek, but the whole Roc fam with the last couple of lines in his verse.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “Eye 4 An Eye Freestyle”
Year: Circa 2000-2001
Lyrics: “You’re on top — WHAT?/Copy and fuck, I said it first, you repeated/Your false crown covered in dirt – defeated/Y’all niggas all hail, the King is dead/He running like a bitch with his tail between his legs/’Stillmatic’, still eye 4 an eye, wanna be God/You’re just the next rapper to die, fucking with Nas”
Interpretation: Not sure when this came out (from Clue’s – The Great Ones Pt. 2). Nas going directly at Jay about his assumption of being the King of New York.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “Stillmatic (Freestyle)”
Year: 2001
Lyrics: “N Y City, grab a hold and ride with me/ Rip the FREEWAY, shoot through MEMPHIS with money bags/Stop in Philly, order cheese steaks and eat BEANS fast/And bring it back up top, remove the fake king of New York/You show off, I count off when you sample my voice/I rule you, before, you used to rap like the FU-SHNICKENS/NAS designed your BLUEPRINT, who you kidding?/Is he H TO THE IZZO, M TO THE IZZO?/For shizzle you phony, the rapping version of SISQO/And that’s for certain, you clone me, your wack clothes line/I’d rather wear Sean John, you bore me with your fake coke rhymes/And those times, they never took place, you liar/UN was your first court case, you had no priors/You master fabricated stories of streets and sound slick/Have you surrounded, you and the faggots you down with/While they riding NAS, trying to boost their careers”
Interpretation: Nas went at the whole Roc fam by name saying most of his verbal onslaught for Jay. Called Jay “fake”, “teh ghey”, questioned his street credibility, and hinted that he fathered Jay’s style. Nas went in on this joint.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song: “Takeover”
Year: 2001
Lyrics: “I know you missin all the (FAAAAAAAME!)/But along with celebrity comes bout seventy shots to your frame/Nigga; you a (LAAAAAAAME!)/Youse the fag model for Karl Kani/Esco ads/Went from, Nasty Nas to Esco’s trash/Had a spark when you started but now you’re just garbage/Fell from top ten to not mentioned at all/to your bodyguard’s “Oochie Wally” verse better than yours/Matter fact you had the worst flow on the whole fuckin song/but I know – the sun don’t shine, then son don’t shine/That’s why your (LAAAAAAAME!) – career come to a end/There’s only so long fake thugs can pretend/Nigga/you ain’t live it you witnessed it from your folks pad/You scribbled in your notepad and created your life/I showed you your first tec on tour with Large Professor/(Me, that’s who!) Then I heard your album bout your tec on the dresser/So yeah I sampled your voice, you was usin it wrong/You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song/And you ain’t get a coin nigga you was gettin fucked and/I know who I paid God, Serchlite Publishing/Use your (BRAAAAAAAIN!) You said you been in this ten/I’ve been in it five – smarten up Nas/Four albums in ten years nigga? I can divide/That’s one every let’s say two, two of them shits was due/One was – NAHHH, the other was “Illmatic”/That’s a one hot album every ten year average/And that’s so – LAAAAAAAME! Nigga switch up your flow/Your shit is garbage, but you try and kick knowledge?/(Get the fuck outta here)/You niggaz gon’ learn to respect the king/Don’t be the next contestant on that Summer Jam screen/Because you know who (who) did you know what (what) with you know who (yeah) but just keep that between me and you for now”
Interpretation: “Ask Nas, he don’t want it with Hov’, nooooo!” When this joint dropped as the freestyle from the Summer Jam concert it had everybody open and wanted to hear what Jay had next.
Jay’s verse summed up the criticism Nas was receiving after Illmatic dropped. “Nasty Nas to Esco’s trash”, “…Fake thugs…”, “fell from top ten to not mentioned at all”, etc was what fans and critics were saying about Nas…that he fell off. Jay was the first to put it in a rhyme.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “Ether” & “You’re Da Man”
Year: 2001
Lyrics: “That this Gay-Z and Cockafella Records wanted beef” (”Ether”)
“When KRS already made an album called “Blueprint”/First, Biggie’s ya man, then you got the nerve to say that you better than Big/Dick suckin lips, whyn’t you let the late, great veteran live” (”Ether”)
“My child, I’ve watched you grow up to be famous/And now I smile like a proud dad, watchin his only son that made it” (”Ether”)
“All I did was gave you a style for you to run with/Smilin in my face, glad to break bread with the god/Wearin Jaz chains, no tecs, no cash, no cars/No jail bars Jigga, no pies, no case/Just Hawaiian shirts” (”Ether”)
“You a fan, a phony, a fake, a pussy, a Stan” (”Ether”)
“Shaun Carter to Jay-Z, damn you on Jaz dick/So little shorty’s gettin gunned up and clapped quick/How much of Biggie’s rhymes is gon’ come out your fat lips?/Wanted to be on every last one of my classics/You pop shit, apologize, nigga, just ask Kiss” (”Ether”)
“I don’t kill soloists only kill squads” (”You’re Da Man”)
“Now you wanna hang with niggas I hung with/Fuck bitches I hit, it’s funny I once said…” (”You’re Da Man”)
Interpretation: Check out Sean’s take on “Ether” on his Top 10 Diss Records of All Time.
Nas dedicated a whole song to Jay this go around. Once “Fuck Jay-Z” is heard you knew it was on. Nas gets a lot of digs in at Jay: Called him a Stan, questioned his street credibility, said he gave him (Jay) a style, addressed Jay’s insistence of using B.I.G.’s rhymes, questioned he loyalty to B.I.G., but now claiming to be better, biting KRS-One’s album title, etc.
“You’re Da Man” addresses Jay bangin Nas’s “baby mama” and Jay’s relationship with Steve Stoute. I believe during this time Nas and Steve Stoute had a falling out….or definitely after the “Hate Me Now” controversy.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song: “Super Ugly”
Year: 2001
Lyrics: “With Queens niggas you know how I do/Look, I got more shooters in Queensbridge than you”
“Nigga never sold aspirin how you Escobar?”
“I came in your bentley backseat, skeeted in your jeep/Left condoms on your baby seat”
“And since you infatuated with sayin that gay shit/Yes you was kissin my dick when you was kissin that bitch/Nasty shit, you though I was bonin Vanette/You callin Carm a hundred times I was bonin her neck/You got a baby by the broad you can’t disown her yet”
Interpretation: Jay finally letting us know “…Because you know who (who) did you know what (what) with you know who (yeah) but just keep that between me and you for now”
As crude, vugar, and disrespectful as you can get on a record. Admitted Jay stan that I am….just wasn’t Jay’s style. Jay is a calculated person and this record (funny and informative as it was) screamed of knee jerk reaction. My take is all of the the gay references made by Nas made Jay goes this route…thus the apology after the track dropped.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “U Wanna Be Me”
Year: 2002
Lyrics: “I think of kings who died and rappers out to dethrone me”
“And show you how to stay off my dick/That’s the thing I hate the most, can’t even call you a man/When you gotta call out my name to get you some fans”
“Realize, how many classics I gave you/Perhaps if you think back you’ll realize that I made you”
“And understand, to battle Nas not in your plan…… And you my offspring, the boss sting”
“Play me a gangster’s theme, while you entertain me/If I ain’t cryin laughin, to the lions, throw your ass in/What the fuck was you niggaz thinkin?/Guns’ll clutch if I get a inklin that you comin for the kingpin”
Interpretation: Nas isn’t calling Jay out by name, but if he isn’t talking about Jay then who….? Definitely wasn’t Cam/Dip Set or N.O.R.E.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song: “Blueprint 2″
Year: 2002
Lyrics: “But you can’t give cred to anything dude says/Same dude to give you ice and you owe him some head”
“Can’t y’all, see that he’s fake, the rap version of T.D. jakes/Prophesizing on your CDs and tapes”
“Cause the nigga wear a kufi, it don’t mean that he bright/Cause you don’t understand him, it don’t mean that he nice/It just means you don’t understand all the bullshit that he write”
“Is it “Oochie Wally Wally” or is it “One Mic”?/Is it “Black Girl Lost” or shorty owe you for ice?”
“Since I will not lose, they try to help him cheat/But I will not lose, for even in defeat
There’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up for me”
Interpretation: The mature answer from Jay that again attacks Nas’s creditability and the contradictions in his rhymes. I definitely enjoyed this better than “Super Ugly”.
After Nas dropped “Ether” and Jay came back with “Super Ugly” many claimed Nas the winner. Hot 97 in New York had a vote on the air and the listeners crowned Nas the winner of the battle. Jay had a good understanding that Goliath (Jay) wasn’t going to beat David (Nas) in the eyes of the public. The underdog is always cheered on.

*Artist: Nas
Song: “Last Real Nigga Alive”
Year: 2002
Lyrics: “Jigga started to flow like us, but hit with ‘Ain’t No Niggaz’/Had much Versace swagger B.I.G. admired the Brooklyn knight and it took him in as Iceberg the rapper/Today don’t know nothing, about this bullshit/There’s more shit than wanting to be this King of New York shit”
“She hit the streets, later on she hittin the sheets/With a rapper who wanted me on his songs, thinking he strong”
“The Gift and The Curse? Fuck that shit, the first shall be last/I’m the man’s man, a rapper’s rapper/G-O-D S-O-N, they’ll be none after/I was Scarface, Jay was Manolo/It hurt me when I had to kill him and his whole squad for dolo..”
Interpretation: What I respected about Nas through this whole “beef” was he went at Jay (and the Roc) and Cam (Dip-Set) dolo. None of his crew (not that Jungle or Grand Wizard could help him lyrically) stepped up to go to battle with him. Nas addresses Jay sleeping with his “baby mama”, but hints that he only did it to get closer to him. Nas has always claimed throughout this beef to have “fathered” or “designed his Blueprint” and the Scarface/Manolo analogy sums that up perfectly.

*Artist: Nas (with Bravehearts)
Song: “Quick to Back Down”
Year: 2003
Lyrics: “First of all this is Nas I’ma Braveheart veteran/And y’all already know who I’m better than”
Interpretation: By this time the beef had died down, but Nas got a quick stab in on this joint.

*Bonus Tracks*

These songs and lines could be interpreted as disses or subliminal.

*Artist: Jay-Z
Song: “Don’t You Know”
Year: 2002
Lyrics: “Young’n, you are my hijo/My son dula/I clean the cess pool up/Rap stinks/You cats are the sphinx/You cut off your nose to spite your face/Bet you like it that way don’tchya?’

*Artist: Nas feat. Jay-Z
Song: “Black Republican”
Year: 2006
Lyrics: Nothing obvious or subliminal, but historic in the sense that two MEN that went at it can put differences aside and do business today and publicly reconcile differences.

*Artist: Jay-Z feat. Nas
Song: “Success”
Year: 2007
Lyrics: “Worst enemies wanna be my best friends/Best friends wanna be enemies like that’s what’s in/But I don’t give a fuck walk inside the lions den”

*Artist: Ludacris feat. Jay-Z & Nas
Song: “I Do This For Hip Hop”
Year: 2008
Lyrics:
Nas – “Pardon the rest of my niggaz…but I’m the best who’s ever did it!”
Jay-Z – “That’s why I took the number one slot/The realest shit in rap comes from my voice box”

I know what you thinking. A remix of a song that came out in 1996? But understand, this shit is kinda hot and I’m always up for ready to check out some new Nas (Big up to Marsha Ambrosius too). I still remember how hyped I was when the original came out (Checks to see if It Was Written is certified Classic Material…it is). Smirnoff Signature Mix Series is back this year and this is the first offering (You may remember last year’s Just Blaze & Common’s “The Light 2008″). Check out the official site to check out a new tracks by Buckshot + Kardinal Offishall & Nice & Smooth Pac Div. As always, tell us what you think.

Download: Nas feat. Marsha Ambrosius – “If I Ruled The World (remix)”

People overuse the word “classic” when talking about albums these days. When 14 years can go by and your album is still fresh to every Hip-Hop head, that my friends, is CLASSIC. When your album is referred as “the Purple Tape” you know that is has to be one of Hip-Hop’s greatest masterpieces. I do not care if you like the Wu-Tang or not, you HAVE to like this album.

When Raekwon dropped his “solo” album, the game would not be the same for a while. While this album displayed two of Shaolin’s greatest samurai’s, it also cemented the Wu’s legacy on Hip-Hop. Everybody knew the Wu as a collective was nothing to fuck with, now we knew the Wu was strong enough to go for dolo. This album featured every member of the Wu, and a guest appearance from an up and coming Nas. Raekwon the Chef lived up to the hype giving you top notch lyrics from the POV of a drug kingpin. OB4CL jumpstarted the whole Mafioso/Hip-Hop love affair of the 90’s  and easily is considered the best album that came out of the Wu-Tang camp. RZA’s production was flawless on this album, the rhymes were first class, and the cohesiveness of Ghost and the Chef was remarkable. This album did not just give you razor sharp lyrics; it also gave you some memorable intros and skits. I would be wasting time picking out which songs to highlight THEY ALL ARE GOOD!

Trust me; this is one of those that you have to have in your collection to consider yourself a true HIP-HOP HEAD, its undeniable CLASSIC MATERIAL.