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Underground > Radio & Music >

Battles

14:20 / 31.01.02

quote:
Last month New York radio station Hot 97 set up a battle-of-the-beats showdown between Nasir "Nas" Jones and Shawn Carter, a.k.a. Jay-Z. In one corner was Jay, boasting of an affair with Nas' baby's mother and threatening to come to Queens to hem up his adversary over the musical backdrops of Nas' "Got Ur Self A ..." and Dr. Dre's "Bad Intentions" on a freestyle he calls "Super Ugly."

In the other corner was "Ether," Nas' reply to another Jay dis, called "Takeover." On "Ether," Nas interjects, among other things, innuendo about who is really behind Jigga's stabbing of Lance "Un" Rivera and what he calls a striking resemblance between Hova and "Good Times" character J.J. Evans.

Even before Nas' 52 to 48 percent victory, which was decided by listeners calling up and faxing in their choice for the most scathing barb record, it was apparent that the streets were leaning toward the former Mr. Escobar.

MTV News

Thoughts? Has Nas won? Will Jay be able to respond? Will he bother? What are other favorite battles in hip hop?

BTW, the above is part of a much larger article.

[ 31-01-2002: Message edited by: I Am... tSuibhne ]

Regrettable Juvenilia

14:30 / 31.01.02

I think Jay-Z pretty much trashed Nas so accurately and wittily on 'Takeover' that he won any battle right there and then. Unless Nas was going to come back with something really special, and to be honest, after his recent releases, who honestly expected that?

The problem with 'Ether' is that it just sounds so bitter... it sounds like 'Takeover' got to him, like it stung - and why wouldn't it? By cleverly conceding that Nas' first album Illmatic was "hot", Jay-Z made his dismissal of Nas circa 2001 almost incontrovertible. I just get the impression that Nas knows deep down that a lot of that song was fair comment, and he's a bit fucked-up about it - but if the best he can do in response is say "Jay-Z? That rhymes with Gay-Z!", then he might as well not bother...

Matthew Fluxington

20:30 / 31.01.02

or "H to the Omo"...

I'm with Flyboy. I really do think Nas is a has-been, and Jay-Z nailed the guy on "Takeover".

Whenever I hear that one verse in that song, I just wince, and feel bad for Nas...more than anything else, Jay-Z just makes you feel pity for the guy.

Recently on WFMU, there was an interview with Cut Chemist, and he was talking about his massive collection of bootleg battle casettes by a wide range of MCs since the late 70s... apparently sometime in the next few months, he's going to do a special one-off show playing a bunch of them, for the most part being the first time anyone outside of truly hardcore collectors would be hearing this stuff...

I'll let you know if and when this happens, and the proper info and links.

No star here laces

21:50 / 31.01.02

You'll do more than that, boy - you'll record 'em and send 'em across the pond. Please?

I'm probably with the consensus here on 'Takeover'. I'm dead certain Nas would eat Jay-Z's ass for breakfast in a freestyle battle, but it doesn't matter because Jay-Z killed it with that song - particularly because he chose such a hot beat to do it with. It's a bit like when LL pissed all over Canibus on "Ripper strikes back" - it wasn't particularly subtle lyrically, but it was brimming with vehemence and felt like the King had handed the smack down, which was exactly the intention. Despite the fact that Canibus came back in a couple of freestyles, he just started looking sour because of it.

Nas's problem is that he needs a string of hits before he can even begin to come back on Jay-Z...

Matthew Fluxington

12:19 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by Lyra Lovelaces:
You'll do more than that, boy - you'll record 'em and send 'em across the pond. Please?

I get really poor WFMU reception up where I am right now, I mostly listen to the station online (which all of you can,
WFMU is broadcast online and has extensive realaudio archives on their site.) It is worth your time, for sure...it's one of the best freeform stations in the world, with some truly mindblowing specialized programming...

When it is eventually broadcast, it will be archived on the site...the interview with Cut Chemist can be found here.

15:44 / 01.02.02

Ok, since people here seem to think Jay took the prize with out a doubt (kind of surprising all feel this way since the article talks about how everyone thought Naz took it, but...)

What other battles do people remember with fondness? The dis tracks I've heard tend to be some of my favorite. So which should I be looking for?

And, side note: Has anyone ever tried to battle a Wu Tang Clan member? Would be interesting to see one of them set their sights on someone.

Matthew Fluxington

15:51 / 01.02.02

quote:Originally posted by I Am... tSuibhne:
And, side note: Has anyone ever tried to battle a Wu Tang Clan member? Would be interesting to see one of them set their sights on someone.

Funny you mention this: I was having a chat with a friend of mine last week about how the Wu are notable for their lack of battles, they tend to dis people in the abstract, but no one person/group in particular, they almost never name names. Think about Method Man in particular: the guy is pretty friendly and open to most everybody, even folks like Limp Bizkit.

The Wu certainly live in their own self-contained universe...it's part of their charm. I think they also are very fixated on keeping their music timeless, and battles certainly date music in a very obvious way...

14:37 / 07.05.02

At the recent Source Awards when Nas won something, (forgot what it was) he actually hugged JayZ on his way up and actually thanked him and said it was all about the "chedder" or something.....2pac did virtually the same thing to Biggie...Like Nas said, it's all about the benjamins, which i'm not complaining cause these "diss songs" are cool.

The winner of these were the most record sellers
EazyE vs Dre
2pac vs Biggie
Nas vs JayZ
Eminem vs The world

Matthew Fluxington

14:48 / 07.05.02

Oh come on, Eminem is far too cowardly to actually get into a battle with any major MC - the only people he ever disses in rhyme are easy targets like Britney Spears, N'Sync, Moby, Limp Bizkit, Vanilla Ice, and the Insane Clown Posse, people whom nobody in the hip hop world takes seriously. The most substantial battle Eminem's been in was with Everlast, and that wasn't much at all. I think Eminem is far too desperate for black MCs to like him to actually be critical of any of them.

14:52 / 07.05.02

He does try to pick on DMX and his "dogs", But you are right he won't verbally get into it with him for fear of getting his ass kicked.