Who won? Jay Z or Nas

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

We don't have enough rap talks on here so let's bring back an oldie but a goodie

Who won the battle Jay Z or Nas. We can get into the history and all that but in your opinion did either win or did they both come out of this even?

[BrodietheSlayer]

Jay Z....by far. When you end up being the Boss of the guy you were beefing with....there's no higher winning than that.

[Mozenrath]

Jay Z, since he got all that sweet Rachel Ray loving.

[Deleted]

Obviously DMX.

[sfvega]

Lyrically, at the time, Nas probably won. But Jay always seemed to not only not lose anything from that feud, but he seemed to gain significantly more momentum from it than Nas at the time. And obviously, where they are now, Jay leads. It's weird. Nobody really lost. Nas gained rep, Jay gained a lot of steam. They both won.

[Magic knows Black Lives Matter]

Depends on what you mean, pimp.

Long-term? Easily Jay Z. Nas made a lot of poor business decisions during his peak years while Jay adapted and turned himself into his own business.

Music-wise? Again, Jay Z since Takeover, from a technical standpoint, is far superior to Ether.

Who actually won the war of words? Well, Nas wasn't the one crying on the radio after hearing Ether so he won in that area.

[Deleted]

To me when rappers go back and forth like that the words are the most important thing, so I give Nas the win there. Ultimately Jay won the war, but in that particular battle I'm giving it to Nas.

[abjordans]

I used to think Ether was a knockout blow, but Takeover has aged SO much better and is just a way better song. Plus, Superugly was just so mean, I am of the opinion Jay not only won, but kinda sorta tuned Nas up.

[Stu]

I had the hardest time keeping track of rappers during that period. I was always confused between Jay Z, Nas, 50 Cent and Ja Rule. Given recent events, I'd say the latter has fallen the furthest.

[Cela]

Yes, but who won between Eminem and Chris Kirkpatrick?

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

May 12, 2017 15:07:05 GMT -5 Cela said:

Yes, but who won between Eminem and Chris Kirkpatrick?

Eminem feuded with Chip Skylark? 

[Fade]

May 12, 2017 11:57:07 GMT -5 Magic knows Black Lives Matter said:

Who actually won the war of words? Well, Nas wasn't the one crying on the radio after hearing Ether so he won in that area.

Wait, literally? Or just like, whining?

[Aboutreika18]

Nas had the greatest hip-hop album of all time in Illmatic, so for me he's a clear winner, even though he never reached the pinnacle of mainstream hip-hop like Jigga.

[S-Chrome]

At the Time: Nas. To me, Ether was a good diss song but not on the levels of a Hit Em Up, Real Compton City G's, or The Ripper Strikes Back (LL Cool J.). But since it was a rapidly ascending Jay versus a rapidly fading Nas, hip-hop heads billed it as Nas resurrection. You also had "Super Ugly," which was a desperate comeback that left Hov with the biggest L in his career to this point.

You also had fans in NYC frustrated with Jay's direction at the time and was hoping for his downfall, influencing Hot 97.

Historically: Jay-Z. Most rappers would've suffered a big hit after Nas threw his best shots at him. But he continued to ascend, retired for ten seconds, came back to bigly fanfare with Kingdom Come (A "C" album but the hype pushed it into "B" territory.) in '06 and all of the other successful ventures he's made outside of rap music. Nas, OTOH, has essentially been on autopilot since Street's Disciple.

Also Blueprint 2 was a pretty damn good an accurate diss post-Ether. Far better than Super Ugly.

[chazraps]

May 12, 2017 8:16:02 GMT -5 sfvega said:

Lyrically, at the time, Nas probably won.

I wholly disagree. "Takeover" was ONE verse that was line-for-line all facts. Nas' was a handful of barbs between projected homophobia and barstool hearsay.

"Superugly" didn't have to come out and probably lost Hov some steam in the moment, but "Takeover" is by far the better song than "Ether."

Nas just had the advantage of coming off of the two career-low singles ("You Owe Me" and "Oochie Wally") so the bar was so much lower for him to knock it out of the park.

[chazraps]

May 13, 2017 12:52:19 GMT -5 S-Chrome said:

Also Blueprint 2 was a pretty damn good an accurate diss post-Ether. Far better than Super Ugly.

Too bad "Blueprint 2" suffers from even the poor-choice-for-its-time Austin Powers impression.

[chazraps]

This is Jay's "Takeover" verse on Nas. What on "Ether" is superior to this?

I know you missing Nas the (fame)
But along with celebrity comes about 70 shots to your frame n****
You a (lame)
You's the f** model for Karl Kani, Esco ads
Went from Nasty Nas to Esco's trash
Had a spark when you started, but now you're just garbage
Fell from top 10 to not mentioned at all
To your bodyguard's "Oochie Wally"'s verse better than yours
Matter of fact, you had the worst flow on the whole f***ing song
But I know: the sun don't shine, then son don't shine
That's why your (lame) career's come to an end
It's only so long fake thugs can pretend
N****, you ain't live it, you witnessed it from your folks' pad
You scribbled it in your notepad and created your life
I showed you your first TEC (me, that's who)
On tour with Large Professor
Then I heard your album about your TEC on the dresser
So yeah, I sampled your voice, you was using it wrong
You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song
And you ain't get a coin n****, you was getting f***ed then
I know who I paid, God – Serchlite publishin'
Use your (brain)
You said you've been in this 10
I've been in it five – smarten up, Nas
Four albums in 10 years, n****? I could divide
That's one every... let's say two; two of them shits was due
One was "nah," the other was Illmatic
That's a one-hot-album-every-10-year average
And that's so (lame)
N****, switch up your flow
Your shit is garbage; what you trying to kick, knowledge?
You n****** gonna learn to respect the king
Don't be the next contestant on that Summer Jam screen
Because you-know-who did you-know-what
With you-know-who, but let's keep that between me and you

[Urethra Franklin]

May 12, 2017 14:36:36 GMT -5 abjordans said:

I used to think Ether was a knockout blow, but Takeover has aged SO much better and is just a way better song. Plus, Superugly was just so mean, I am of the opinion Jay not only won, but kinda sorta tuned Nas up.

We were just talking about what early 2000s hip-hop has aged well at the office the other day. We all kinda agreed that Jay-Z's stuff can be really hit-or-miss from Vol. 3 through The Blueprint 2. Some stuff has aged exceptionally poorly, but, yeah, I listened to Takeover for the first time in a long time and it holds up.

[Deleted]

Didn't even Jay Z say Nas won?

Stillmatic was one of the albums I listened to a lot when I was a teen.

[Deleted]

May 12, 2017 14:49:24 GMT -5 Stu said:

I had the hardest time keeping track of rappers during that period. I was always confused between Jay Z, Nas, 50 Cent and Ja Rule. Given recent events, I'd say the latter has fallen the furthest.

How? They have all very distinct voices and styles. That's like saying I had a hard time of keeping track of Blink 182, Slipknot, Nickleback, and Linkin Park during that time period. I don't even listen to a lot of hip hop but if I heard a Jay Z song I never heard of before I can recognize his voice.