How Jay-Z inspired one of Nas’ greatest lyrics but “it wasn’t a shot”
Hip-hop artists have been known to take inspiration for their lyrics from a spectrum of sources. Often leveraging this power to shine a light on troubling social issues, but equally, to highlight their lavish lifestyles. That being said, there are some who are able to toe the line between showing up for what matters and showing off. Nas has always been outstanding in this regard. His fans have opined about the beautiful lyrics that he is able to wrangle together which make them feel something.
In ‘Street dreams’, where he borrows the flow of British pop duo Eurythmics on their track ‘Sweet Dreams’, where he talks about how the definition of success might not be what we all thought it to be with “I thought Jordan’s and a gold chain was living it up”.
He lyricises about an ideal society in ‘Thugz mansion’, “A place where death doesn’t reside, just thugs who collide / Not to start beef but spark trees, no cops rollin’ by / No policemen, no homicide, no chalk on the streets / No reason for nobody’s momma to cry.” And in ‘The Message’, the Line “A thug changes and love changes / And best friends become strangers” resonates with almost everyone above a certain age.
In the latter of those tracks, which contains 50 Cent’s favourite rap verse in history, Nas takes inspiration from another source. The line “Lex with TV sets the minimum, ill sex adrenaline / Party with villains”, was later revealed to be inspired by fellow New York City hip hop icon, Jay Z.
“I saw Jay-Z driving a Lexus with the TVs in them,” Nas told Complex in 2016. “I got rid of my Lexus at that point and I was looking for the next best thing. It wasn’t a shot at Jay but it was just saying that’s the minimum you gotta have. It’s not a shot at him but he inspired that line. It wasn’t necessarily a shot at him but because the song was a shot at everybody, he fell into that. But he definitely inspired that line.”
I’m not sure if Nas mentioned this in the quote, but it definitely was NOT a shot at Jay Z. Jokes aside, this line is indicative of the shifting goal posts that rappers feel, through self imposition or peer pressure, they need to aim for.
Both of these rappers existed in a time where hip hop may not have been considered mainstream, to a time when hip hop tracks could reach the top of the Billboard hot 100, which first occurred in 1990 with Vanilla Ice’s ‘Ice Ice Baby’. ‘The minimum you gotta have’, continues to be the carrot on the end of the stick that is attached to our backs.
Jay Z, of course, is no stranger to understanding consumerism. His stance on frivolous spending being “If you can’t buy it twice, you can’t afford it”. But the hip hop game has never been about modesty. I’m pretty sure Nas can afford two Lexus’ anyway.