DMX was originally supposed to feature on Nas’ ‘One Mic’
‘One Mic’ is one of the standout moments of Nas‘ career, but it almost turned out a lot different. The song’s producer, Chucky Thompson, has revealed that DMX was originally supposed to appear on the track.
The late Yonkers rapper was in the studio when they were recording the Stillmatic song, released in 2001, but Nas was against putting him on it for one reason.
“The crazy part about it is DMX was in the studio with us at that time,” Thompson told Vibe. “He was actually about to get on it, but Nas is like, ‘I don’t think I should do that ’cause then I would have to have him every time I perform the song. I’ll just go ahead and drop this joint and get it done.’”
He added, “It was just that. It was some theatrical hip-hop shit. I was just there to colour it in for him.”
There were no hard feelings, with DMX and Nas collaborating on other tracks like ‘The Grand Finale’, ‘Life Is What You Make It’, ‘Sincerity’, ‘Bath Salts’, and ‘Walking in the Rain’.
Thompson previously spoke about the making of ‘One Mic’ in 2013, revealing it was his first time crossing paths with Nas.
“‘One Mic’ was a situation that was during a time that [Nas] was in the beef with Jay-Z,” he told HipHopDX. “I knew that that beef wasn’t gonna last forever. My whole thing was, ‘OK, so what do we do after this whole beef is over? How do we come out of this?’
“It was my first meeting with Nas. We just sat and talked about that situation where you feel you’re gettin’ ready to fight or gonna have to get ready to defend somethin’, what’s that record that would calm you down? We both said it was [Phil Collins’] ‘In the Air Tonight.’”
He continued, “He mentioned to me that he wanted to make a record where the chorus was quiet [laughing] and that verses would rise. So me taking those two ideas, I just came up with something that was calm and built up a little bit in the verses and then go back calm for his chorus.”