battle rap rewind
song “Got Ur Self A...”.“Ether”
was the most concerted critique of
Jay-Z. Just days after Stillmatic’s
release, Jay-Z put out “Supa Ugly”
which Hot 97 radio host Angie
Martinez premiered on December
11, 2001, a freestyle over “Got Ur
Self A...” and Dr. Dre’s song “Bad
Intentions.” The radio station
issued a poll asking listeners which
rapper made the better diss song;
Nas won with 58% while Jay-Z
got 42% of the votes. The song
contained claims that Jay-Z and
basketball player Allen Iverson had
both slept with Carmen Bradley,
the mother of Nas’ daughter
Destiny, while they were still
together.
In an interview with
Rolling Stone, Jay-Z claimed that
mentioning his relationship with
Bradley was fair game when Nas
implied Jay-Z was gay in “Ether”.
The feud continued to simmer,
and rumors of a live pay-per-view
freestyle battle began to circulate
but never came to fruition. After
Hot 97 would not let Nas lynch
Jay-Z’s effigy at 2002 Summer
Jam, Nas appeared on Hot 97’s
rival, Power 105, and attacked
both the music industry’s control
over hip hop and the rappers
who he saw as submitting to it.
This included Jay-Z, his label,
Cam’ron, Nelly and N.O.R.E:
“Y’all brothers gotta start rapping
about something that’s real. This
brought Cam’ron into the Jay-Z/
Nas feud; Cam’ron controversially
made disparaging remarks about
Nas’ mother. This caused Nas to
retaliate against Cam’ron on the
track “Zone Out” on his 2002
album, God’s Son. Nas said “You
got a house in Virginia, the only
way you sicker than us, gettin’
bagged with a .22 now you a
ridiculous fuck,” commenting
on the rumor that Cam’ron
was infected with HIV (House
In Virginia). Despite “Ether”
beating out “Supa Ugly” in a Hot
97-sponsored radio phone-in poll,
Jay-Z and Nas continued to feud,
including Jay-Z criticizing Nas for
his apparent hypocrisy on his The
Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse
album’s title track. On “Blueprint
2”, Jay-Z begins his diss against
Nas in the second verse by
attacking his street credibility.
Jay-Z also says that while he
himself is more successful, he is
more generous than Nas with his
money. Jay goes on
to mock Nas’ spiritual persona
from Stillmatic after accusing Nas
of using both his appearance and
convoluted lyrics in an attempt to
appear
more intelligent than he is. In the
lines immediately after, he also
accuses Nas of being contradictory
for putting out commercial/
materialistic-oriented tracks and
then denouncing materialism and
misogyny on other songs. Jay-Z
also says, “My momma can’t save
you this time / Niggas is history”
referencing the public apology his
mother made him make after
“Supa Ugly” was released.
Meanwhile, on his track “Last
Real Nigga Alive” from his album
God’s Son, Nas compared himself
to Tony Montana,
and Jay-Z to Manolo respectively
from the film Scarface (Montana
and Manolo were partners, but
towards the end of the film,
Montana kills Manolo in a fit of
rage),
The track details how Jay-Z forced
Nas into battling him by attacking
him while he was raising his
daughter, and caring for his dying
mother. After 2002, though, both
artists essentially discontinued
the feud. The rivalry was put to
a formal end in 2006, when Nas
signed with Def Jam, of which
Jay-Z was still President at the
time.
Nas and Jay-Z toured, recorded
and appeared on television and
radio together throughout 2006;
the artists collaborated on Nas’
Def Jam debut, Hip Hop Is Dead,
on the
song “Black Republican”; Nas
returned the favor by appearing
on Jay-Z’s 2007 album, American
Gangster on the song “Success.”
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