Aside from Ice Cube’s “No Vaseline” and 2Pac’s “Hit Em Up,” very few diss tracks have been as vicious as Nas’ 2001 obliteration “Ether,” which found the Illmatic legend unapologetically ripping JAY-Z to pieces.
Billed as a response to Hov’s diss “Takeover” (released on The Blueprint just three months earlier), the track questions Jay’s street credibility, accuses him of being misogynistic and ripping off KRS-One and repeatedly mocks his looks. But perhaps the most disrespectful part was the fact it arrived on December 4, 2001 — Jay’s 32nd birthday.
Nineteen years later, “Ether” is still considered one of the best diss tracks ever released and stirs up a certain air of Hip Hop nostalgia whenever it’s brought up. On Friday (December 4), HipHopDX spoke to legendary producer Pete Rock, who crafted “The World Is Yours” from Nas’ 1994 masterpiece Illmatic, and “Ether” was thrown into the conversation.
“Oh shiiiiiit,” he replied. “That’s how you battle a muthafucka who’s talking shit and going at you in a song. You come back on his birthday and kill ’em — and that’s what he did [laughs]. This is Hip Hop. There ain’t supposed to be no real beef. It’s Hip Hop. People are too sensitive out here. There’s soooooo many sensitive muthafuckas in Hip Hop.”
How Nas & JAY-Z's Longstanding Beef Was Permanently Squashed At A Private Def Jam Retreat
As Jay turns 51, his beef with Nas is firmly a thing of the past. During an interview with MC Serch for the Serch Says podcast, DJ Cassidy explained how a 2006 Def Jam retreat played an integral role in permanently mending their severed relationship.
“I’m on a stage at a casino restaurant and we’re not talking a ballroom — we’re talking like the P.F. Changs at the casino,” Cassidy recalled. “On one side of the room is Jay, on one side is Nas. I led myself into this epic 30-minute back-and-forth between Jay records and Nas records, and not just the hits. Like ‘Memory Lane,’ so on and so on. If my memory serves me correctly, the space between them started to get smaller and smaller.
“Before you knew it, I passed someone a mic — this is all very casual, there was nothing set up for a performance. This is like standing on a restaurant table. Next thing you know, they’re rapping each other’s lyrics. You could feel it in the room from L.A. Reid down, that everyone was like a little kid at Disney World witnessing their favorite superheroes come out of the castle. And they were doing their own but next to each other.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pLqVZiS80A&feature=youtu.be
Years later, Hov and Cassidy ran into each other at another event where the Roc Nation boss revisited that fateful night at Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort Casino.
“I remember him walking over to me that night and tapping me on the shoulder,” Cassidy added. “He said ‘You made that happen that night.’ My heart dropped. I will never forget that one moment when he kind of credited for me for this epic coming together that was not public … it was an amazing moment.”
“Ether” was included on Nasty Nas’ fifth studio album Stillmatic and is often credited with reinvigorating Nas’ career following the lackluster Nastradamus album. The two Hip Hop titans have gone on to collaborate several times throughout the years on songs such as “Black Republican” from Nas’s 2006 album Hip Hop Is Dead and “Success” from Jay’s 2007 album American Gangster.
In a 2014 interview with Angie Martinez, Nas admitted he was tired of hearing about both “Ether” and “Takeover.”
“It’s just old,” he said at the time. “I mean, I don’t feel anything from it. It’s just … it’s so old. It’s another chapter. It’s old. Classic for sure. History even. I haven’t heard that thing in [awhile]. I don’t listen to that. That or the other thing … he knows that.
“I told him ‘I can’t listen to this.’ I mean, it’s great. It’s great times, but that was then…But that’s my dog. So, that was a different time. That’s my dog. It’s too good right now. Everything is right…History is history. Can’t change history. It is what it is, but it’s love.”
And oh yeah — happy 51st birthday Jay.
I’m a Nas fan but you guys are petty for this…these articles are getting worse every day.
Just a “Rewind” in history…(they do have a lame ass staff)
I see what you did there but this article is dope
1 for 40 ain’t bad
Revenge is a dish best served cold (blooded).
Yes I did know….it was a bad day “4” The Roc
R.I.P. Pimp C.
“I hit the three just like Steve Jackson, ni**a say my name watch yo bitch reaction
Sweet Jones or Sweet James? Switched my name and finger fu*ked the game
The ni**a fell off cause his raps are shi**y, plus a ni**a need to move up out the city
The game gritty but the bitch pretty, lemme snort some white girl up off ya titty
Ya heard me right, we play with our nose, wear platinum piece and with the Gucci clothes
Paid my dues, I ain’t came to lose, I wear Marvin Blackman tennis shoes
In the winter time, mink coat to match, the mink on the floor in my candy ‘Lac”
RIP to the Pimp! The greatest in the South to ever do it! I consider Pimp C the Hov or
I consider Pimp C the Hov or the Tupac of the South. A true originator and one of the realest to ever do this. Never afraid to speak his mind and say it how it is. Rest in peace Pimp C yousa straight up G!
Did y’all know Pac died(?) exactly 2 years after Biggies Ready to Die album dropped?
Coincidence I think not.
Did you know Eminem’s brother Nathan is really MF DOOM???
He isn’t
hes not even his full brother; hes his HALF brother, u fuckin rEtArD!!!!!!!! the fuck on, bruh.
Yes and it was the best birthday gift King HOV ever received because it allowed him to respond back with “Supa Ugly” which ended broke ass Nas’ career for real. You can’t recovernfrom “skeeted in your mom’s jeep, left condoms in the baby seat” and “you were kissing my dick when you kissed that bitch”. Look what happened to that woman beater afterwards. Married Kelis who robbed him dry with child support and starting making trash songs and albums with pop artists and flop after flop. King HOV really destroyed him and people still wanna say he lost. LOL! Happy 51st birthday to the King. It’s the ROC in here!
And Hov’s mother made him apologize for that.
Serious question…..How many years you been on this site dude? I’m thinking maybe 10 or close.
Your comments shows how low and uneducated you are. Both men are cool with each other and you hang on to old shit. In my guess, u ain’t shit either that’s why u talk old shit up and put men against each other. Get a life bro…
Hov put out Super Ugly before Ether clown
Nas did recover, he put out “Last Real N Alive” which out everything to bed. And Jigga ain’t say nothing else after that.
Jay cried to Angie Martinez on her show when Ether dropped you bun! HAHAHAHAHA take the L like a man bro, you keyboard clown
It’s good they’re handling this situation like men who don’t care about wypipo because they’d love to see them spatting at one another.
According to Joe Budden and the goof troop pod, ether wasn’t good. Smh
Boss move. Nas is such a more entertaining rapper
Lol the author went from writing de la soul articles to forgetting about ether day, thank me for the reminder, step it up
Both gay, don’t care
Jay-Z was called by a radio station to get an interview the day Ether dropped and Jay-Z heard the song first time then and afterwards Jay-Z was clearly crying when speaking on the phone to the radio station. There was a clip about this for years on Youtube but seems to have been taken down since I could not find it now when I went to search for it.
Its the angie Martinez post Ether interview…LMAO!!! JIGGA WAS HURT!!!
Jay-z petty ass probably took it down himself.
Its still up on youtube yall
Fuck me if any Stan of either of these two dorks knew that? You some creepy-ass preteen-panty-smelling muthafukas
OH SHIT HOW CAN I 4GET REWIND!!!!!!!!
Ether was released Nov 23, 2001. This article is click-bait.