Jadakiss Recalls Nas Jay-Z Battle

After a decade of the Nas Jay-Z battle, Jadakiss has come to give his opinion on who had the better diss track. Jay-Z released Takeover in the summer of 2001, and Nas came with Ether around the beginning of winter. A lot have been said about this beef, but more is been said now, as other artists didn't want to take sides back then, but i guess they feel it wont hurt the two rappers that were involved, now that they have long squashed the beef. Jadakiss commented in a recent interview that he felt Ether was a better diss record than Takeover.

"I didn't really like the "Takeover" beat. But the words--you know what the words are! It's like the Declaration of Independence on the battle tip. What he's saying is crazy. I like the laaaaayyyyymmmmme part. It was heavy, but Nas' "Ether" sits on the mantle when it comes to battle songs. From the production, to the way he formatted it, to what he was saying--he touched everything. It was an A-Plus grade." (VIBE)



I remember back in 2001/2002, i was riding for Nas (still am), but there were just a few people riding for nas back then, as Jay-Z had a crazy buzz. I had just gotten into college, and i would argue all day with all the Jay-Z fans till i started to sweat. It's funny cos after the first break we had, when we got back, those jay fans had become nas fans.

Personally, when i heard Takeover, i thought it was over for nas. I had been a nas fan for the longest time, and i knew he wasn't at his best when Jay hit him with Takeover. I was thinking, 'can nas actually come out of this'? In december when i heard Ether, i put it on repeat for over an hour. I do have to say that Jay brought that 'fire nas' back...nas was really slipping into oblivion just before Takeover. So, i say thank you Jay-Z.

But seriously, not many people thought nas would come back, i guess that's one of the reasons why Ether is still considered the best diss track ever made. I remember watching a nas documentary by VH1, and there was a part where DJ Premier commented about the whole nas and jay thing. He said he saw nas after takeover and nas told him he was going to get jay, and premier said he told nas to his face that he didn't think he could pull it off.