Nas and JAY-Z have been compared at almost every step of their careers, and Escobar even referenced his past beef with Hov on his new album King’s Disease 3.
“No beef or rivals, they playing ‘Ether’ on TIDAL / Brothers can do anything when they decide to / In a Range Rover, dissecting bars from ‘Takeover’ / Sometimes I text Hova like, ‘N-gga, this ain’t over,’ laughing,” he rapped on “Thun.”
When asked about the lyrics during an appearance on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah this week, Nas brought up how JAY-Z posted a photo flexing all of his Grammy Awards the same day he shared the tracklist for KD3, suggesting his former rival attempted to steal his spotlight.
“When I released the tracklist for the album the other day, he released a picture with all his Grammys,” the Queensbridge MC pointed out while discussing his relationship with the Roc Nation boss. “Shout out to him.”
Social media has often had fun with the idea of JAY-Z overshadowing Nas throughout his career, with Hov’s “Entrepreneur” single arriving on the same day as Esco’s King’s Disease in August 2020 and Jay’s Everything Is Love LP with Beyoncé dropping the day after Nas’ Kanye West-produced NASIR in 2018, to name just a few recent examples.
However, the Illmatic legend doesn’t believe there’s any malice involved. “I think maybe there’s an energy that we both have where we maybe we feel like we work around the same time and the time,” he said on The Breakfast Club in 2020. “I think things just happen — just synergy, you know? Jay would know better than me.”
Nas and JAY-Z have certainly come a long way since warring on diss songs like “Takeover” and “Ether” — as well as “Supa Ugly” and “Last Real N-gga Alive” — in the early 2000s.
The former foes have gone on to collaborate numerous times, with Nas revealing on a FaceTime call with JAY-Z last year that colliding on DJ Khaled’s “Sorry Not Sorry” reignited his competitive spirit.
“Alright, I’m just here tweaking lines and shit,” he told Jay over the phone. “I’m in here, curating, rewriting four bars here and there … Oh, no no no. I gotta come back! [Laughs] Yo bro, this is one. The queen at the end, the harmonies, that gave me chills … this is definitely one for the books.”
Wtf did I just read?
Nas in 2020s has to be one of the greatest comebacks in hiphop ever. It’s not like dude ever faded into obscurity or lost his touch, but this is 30 years after his debut and I feel Nas is at the top of his game right now, still sounding hungry and pen maybe sharper than it ever was. Spitting venom still, plus it seems dude never ages, as a hiphop fan this is awesome to witness! Shoutout to Nasty Nas and keep on pushin, KD3 on heavy rotation and here’s to another few decades of dope music!
Also shout out to hitboy for the production his sound his tough and beautiful 👌🏽
someone around here mentioned shit jayz be doing during nas shit. Now nas is realizing it too…Jesus!
Jay was always jealous of Nas!!!!
Y’all love throwing the word “jealous” around so haphazardly. What would Jay-z be jealous of. Nas is great no doubt, but what does Nas do that would make Jay jealous. They are both regarded as unbelievable lyricists. They both have shown longevity. When you talk GOAT, I believe more people would lean to Jay. Now I do feel they are both very competitive with one another. Even on Success Nas took a slight jab at Jay but I feel it’s all done out of fun.
It’s a pattern at this point. Every time Nas gotta announcement Jay-Z does some weirdo shit and I love Jay-Z. It’s almost Iike a sibling rivalry but someone forgot to tell Nas they were competing.
Jay-z is a goat def but everyone knows hov modeled himself after nas. Which is why nas is regarded as “the” goat. He inspired his contemporaries.
Nas is being diplomatic about the way Jay politic. Fif called Jay out about it with the Nasir drop a while back. Unlike the ones before, KD3 shines the light back on Jay. The cover art says it all. For those 3 STRAPS that Jay gave on the Blueprint album cover Nas is giving 3 GOLD BARS on KD3 for the culture. Read it and weep!
Jay always been that one dude with the slick sideways petty sht. Nas killing the game right now 4/4 with Hit-Boy in 2 years!!! Jay can’t even touch that but he gotta post a wack ass grammy pic. That was a pathetic attempt to try to take attention away from Nas. Grammys are garbage and fixed anyways. This is real hip
Hop! Nas Won
Jay always been that dude to say or do some slick sideways sht because his ego too big. That was a pathetic attempt to take the light away from Nas. Nas is 4/4 in 2 Years with Hit-boy!! Nobody is doing that! Jay gotta post some wack grammy photo when everyone knows the Grammys are garbage!! Sorry Jay this is Real Hip Hop! Nas Won
Jay always been that dude to say or do some slick sideways stuff because his ego too big. That was a pathetic attempt to take the light away from Nas. Nas is 4/4 in 2 Years with Hit-boy!! Nobody is doing that! Jay gotta post some wack grammy photo when everyone knows the Grammys are garbage!! Sorry Jay this is Real Hip Hop! Nas Won
Jay only the 🐐 to commercial cats.Nas true 🐐
I don’t think Jay Z post had anything to do with Nas. NBA Youngboy had just surpassed him on the Billboards for something…just showing that don’t mean shit without this type of hardware.
I don’t think Jay Z post had anything to do with Nas. NBA Youngboy had just surpassed him on the Billboards for something…just showing that don’t mean shit without this type of hardware.