Jay Abbondanza
As complex as he is brilliant, Nas is no stranger to the rap beef. After video of The Roots front man, Black Thought, talking about a past beef with Nas popped up this week on Complex TV‘s ‘Combat Jack Show’ I thought it was time to do a brief rundown of all of Nas’ problems with people.
Nas vs. The Roots
What Happened: Nas was mad at the Roots for portraying the Alabama Porch Monkeys in Spike Lee’s film Bamboozled.
The Resolution: Nas apologized to Black Thought at a Talib Kweli show.
Nas vs. Gucci Mane
What Happened: Gucci made fun of Nas’ financial situation.
The Resolution: None yet, it would appear that Gucci’s just trying to get his name out there by throwing shots. He also recently verbally attacked Jeezy, Yung Joc, and T.I. This one doesn’t appear to be Nas’ fault. Maybe Gucci should’ve thrown some shots at Nas’ money manager.
Nas vs. N.O.R.E.
What Happened: Nas attacked N.O.R.E’s lyricism and said, “I love you N.O.R.E., but y’all need to step it up.” The beef actually came to blows at a certain point, well not blows, but allegedly N.O.R.E. threw a flower pot at God’s Son.
The Resolution: None really, but recently N.O.R.E. has spoke about the beef and said, “Me, personally, I actually love Nas,” but despite that fact N.O.R.E. just couldn’t let it go saying, “even though he called me and said sorry, I had never got over that incident.”
Nas vs. Young Jeezy
What Happened: Jeezy questioned Nas’ street credibility on Monie Love’s radio show in England as well as Philadelphia’s 100.3 The Beat.
The Resolution: Jeezy squashed the beef on the Funkmaster Flex show saying, “All that ain’t making nobody no money at the end of the day. I’m a tell you, me and Nas about to go out and make some money.” Sounds like no money, no beef. Nas went on to appear on Jeezy’s single “My President is Black.”
Nas vs. 50 Cent
What Happened: Apparently, Nas replaced 50 Cent on the Jennifer Lopez song “I’m Gonna Be Alright” which hurt 50’s feelings and led him to drop this lyric on “Piggy Bank” : “Kelis said ‘her Milkshake bring all the boys to the yard’/Then Nas went and tattooed the b!tch on his arm.” Nas responded with “I’m in the streets like old graffiti/Im hearin wankstas talkin greasy/whether broke or rich my friend/Nasir bring that career to an end” on the diss record, “Don’t Body Yourself“.
The Resolution: It more or less fizzled out. 50 Cent appears to have too much money today to worry about what Esco’s up to. 50 recently put Nas in his Top 5 Rappers of All Time list and last year he was on the same show with him at the Open Air Frauenfeld Festival 2012 without incident.
Nas vs. Jay-Z
What Happened: More ink has been spilled about this beef than almost any in history, save for Tupac and Biggie so let’s not get too deep into it. Jay-Z took shots at Nas and Mobb Deep at Hot 97’s Summer Jam in 2001 and dropped ‘The Takeover.’ Nas responded with the tremendous diss track,“Ether,” and an attack on Jay-Z during a radio freestyle over Eric B. & Rakim’s “Paid in Full”. Finally, Jay dropped ‘Super Ugly’.
The Resolution: Jay-Z signed Nas to Def Jam. So my guess is the check writer is the beef winner.
So, that’s about it. They’re not all Nas’ fault. When you’re as good and as serious as Nas is you’re going to pick up some flack. That’s the price of being Illmatic.
