Trigger
The feud's origins trace to the mid-1990s — Nas declined to appear on Jay-Z's 'Bring It On' for Reasonable Doubt (1996), and Jay-Z used a sample of Nas's 'The World Is Yours' on 'Dead Presidents II.' After Notorious B.I.G.'s death in 1997 left the New York 'King of New York' throne vacant, Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek began trading subliminal shots with Nas across multiple records. The exchange escalated publicly at Hot 97's Summer Jam 2001, where Jay-Z performed 'Takeover.'
Summary
The Nas vs Jay-Z feud is the most lyrically substantive beef of the bling era and one of the most frequently cited in hip-hop criticism. Its roots predate the diss tracks: Nas declined to appear on Jay-Z's 'Bring It On' for Reasonable Doubt (1996), and Jay-Z built 'Dead Presidents II' around a Nas sample. After Notorious B.I.G.'s death in March 1997 left the 'King of New York' throne unclaimed, Jay-Z and Memphis Bleek traded subliminal jabs with Nas across multiple records through the late 1990s. The public escalation came at Hot 97's Summer Jam on June 28, 2001, when Jay-Z previewed an early version of 'Takeover' that called out Mobb Deep's Prodigy by name and showed embarrassing childhood photos of him on the venue screen. The full version of 'Takeover,' released on The Blueprint on September 11, 2001, added a verse aimed squarely at Nas. Nas responded on December 4 with 'Ether' on Stillmatic — a track so widely cited by Complex, XXL and Rolling Stone retrospectives that 'ether' has entered the hip-hop vocabulary as shorthand for a total lyrical takedown. Jay-Z's freestyle reply 'Supa Ugly' was aired on Hot 97; per Jay-Z's own account in his memoir Decoded, his mother made him publicly apologize for the lines about Carmen Bryan. The reconciliation came at Jay-Z's 'I Declare War' concert at Continental Airlines Arena on October 27, 2005, where Nas joined Jay-Z on stage. Nas subsequently signed to Def Jam under Jay-Z's presidency in 2006, and the two have collaborated multiple times since.
Diss-track chronology 3
- "Takeover"— Jay-Z
On The Blueprint; the verse aimed at Nas was added after Jay-Z previewed an earlier version at Hot 97 Summer Jam in June 2001.
- "Supa Ugly"— Jay-Z
Freestyle aired on Hot 97; Jay-Z's mother reportedly made him apologize publicly afterward.
- "Ether"— NasKey track
On Stillmatic. Widely regarded by Complex, XXL and Rolling Stone retrospectives as one of the defining diss tracks in hip-hop history; the word 'ether' became shorthand for a comprehensive lyrical takedown.
Resolution
Jay-Z and Nas appeared together on stage at Jay-Z's 'I Declare War' concert at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ on October 27, 2005, publicly reconciling and performing 'Dead Presidents' together. Nas subsequently signed to Def Jam under Jay-Z's presidency in 2006.
Moments in this beef 4
Citations 3
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