Credit: Mikamote

Nas was ‘God’s Son’ and as the dust settled on the East Coast-West Coast battlefield, he sat atop hip-hop’s mountain of Olympus as an unchallengeable deity. That was until Jay-Z started taking the game seriously. Also hailing from Brooklyn, Jay had one thing on his mind: to take the mountain for himself. He had a plan; you could even say that he had The Blueprint.

Nasir had music in his blood; his father was jazz and blues musician Old Dara, so it was no surprise that he took the artist’s path. The young rapper got his start through a meeting with iconic rapper and producer Large Professor, who mentored him and would often take him to the recording studio where Rakim and Kool G Rap would record.

It wouldn’t take long for the Brooklyn rapper to explode onto the scene, releasing his renowned debut album Illmatic in 1994. This record was seen as a revolutionary announcement of himself to the world. He was lauded for his exemplary flow and storytelling ability. It has since gone on to be included in the conversation for the greatest rap album of all time. This was the record that made Nas.

Jay, born Shawn Carter, had a different comeup, having to quite literally fight his way to relevancy. His early life was marred by drug dealing and violence, but so was hip-hop in the 1990s. Hov even shot his own brother in the shoulder once for stealing his jewellery. He was street and rap was street, it was a match made in heaven.

He gained early notoriety through his battles with LL Cool J in the early ‘90s, but it was his third studio album Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life, released towards the end of the decade, that saw him step into the limelight.

Hov won a Grammy for his efforts and in an effort to sustain his hunger for success he released The Blueprint in 2001. The whole rap community was put on notice, including Nas, and the beef between the two went from a simmer to boiling over.

The beef informally began in the mid-’90s as the pair threw subtle jabs at each other in throwaway lyrics. With Carter throwing the first punch, their fallout apparently steamed from a recording session for ‘Bring It On’, which Nas reportedly failed to show up to. 

Following the release of The Blueprint, the real war commenced as the track ‘Takeover’ took shots at Nas’ credits as an artist and his street cred. Not one to take a diss lightly, the senior rapper returned fire with his song ‘Ether’. The track completely destroyed the ’99 Problems’ rapper with accusations of misogyny and affairs being fired at all angles, accompanied by his own street cred attacks. 

The battle came to a head with Jay’s release of ‘Supa Ugly’, where most significantly he bragged about having a three-year affair with Nasty Nas’ girlfriend. Many people considered this track a step too far, even Hov’s mother said on a radio appearance that he should apologise. This was the beef-killer but to this day it’s still uncertain who won.

In 2005 the pair made a shocking reconciliation as the two shared the stage and performed ‘Dead Presidents’ and ‘The World Is Yours’ in front of a sold-out crowd. Hov went on to say in the show “All that beef shit is done, we had our fun”.

Four years after the end of the feud, Nas ended his deal with Columbia Records to sign with Deaf Jam, which was now headed by Jay himself. The two then went on to finally work together on the track ‘Black Republican’. The track is in a class of its own and is demonstrative of what happens when two titans come together instead of trying to take the other out.