In 2009, the blog contingent was abuzz with a perceived snub on Raekwon’s part by not securing a Nas feature for his critically acclaimed Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II. Rae then told MTV that he requested a Nas feature for the fans but “if dudes were too busy in their own minds” he couldn’t make them drop in for a cameo. Fast-forward to 2011, and all that seems to be water under the bridge as Nas was found on “Rich And Black” 
from Rae’s Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang album.
Raekwon and Nas shot the video for their collaboration in Oslo, Norway. As part of a promotional campaign by LRG which leads up to the video’s scheduled premiere on Thursday, July 7, Nas and Rae were filmed reminiscing on their respective legacies and how their paths crossed.
“The first time I met Rae was at a big arena in New Jersey…Continental Arena for Summer Jam,” Nas recalled. “I think it was the first Summer Jam Hot 97 ever had. Rae walked in the door backstage, and popped open a bottle of champagne like it was a movie. And I said to myself, ‘There’s no other way I was supposed to meet Rae.’ He walked in, popped the bottle and was looking for beef. It wasn’t no Rap star shit or no cameras. All of that didn’t exist back then. My G walked in, and it was just strength off the money in his pocket champagne.”
Nas added that he respected Rae’s approach and recognized some of it in himself. Over the years the pair would combine on tracks such as “Verbal Intercourse,” Mobb Deep’s “Eye For An Eye” and Wu-Tang Clan’s “Let My Niggas Live.” Raekwon noted that the pair could not have been more than 21-years-old, and part of the celebratory mood was due to locking down such a high-profile performance and the fact that Rae had his mother and a family friend in attendance to celebrate a birthday.
RELATED: Raekwon Speaks On Self-Preservation, Reuniting With Nas
dam you cats get these videos slow… Dope shit regardless. These two are legends in the game
yo this is the best post i seen on this site in weeks, legends right here
nas good look, now lets get that AZ combo sun ,common ,rae time 4 u and A my dude!get it
Dope video.
Legends keep building their legacy right there!
Legendary! mad respect for both of them.
Yo man can we please get off the old azz dudes and talk about wtf goin on now!?!?
Raekwon is whats going on right now homie
You must be a Lil B fan or Odd Future..smh….GTFOH you gump ass nigga!!
Two of my all-time favorite MCs, but “Rich and Black” is kinda weak.
dude, what!?
it would have been a lot better if they actually got in the studio together and did a real collab, that beat and nas verse were over 2 years old rae just jumped on it and the producer spliced his verses in between to make it sound like they went back n forth when they really didnt
I don’t know which duo is better on a record….Raekwon and Ghostface or Raekwon and Nas.
Ghost and Rae no question, they actually compliment each other’s topics and flows respectively. Nas didn’t even sound hungry on Rich and Black IMO, but he still sounded good.
Rich and Black was jus a recycled track he threw to Rae, its about 3 years old and was originally called Heiroglyphs with Sha Stimuli, exact same song, beat, Nas verse everythin jus with Raes new verse instead of Sha’s
Neither of them has touched the Verbal Intercourse verse.
the original was just nas, no back in forth with anyone, it was all 1 continuous verse, then sha remixed it now rae did the same, would really like to hear a new actual “collab” with the 2
Man, that what missing in today rap game its ok to show respcet and love to the next nigga, end of the day this is black music, i dont care how much white boys they let in it let keep it together build on what we have and get this money man
idk how u tied race into that ok but this is america everybody is raised to be racist, some just dont even realize it
Straight up real conversation between two of the realest niggas in rap music, it doesnt get any better than this….