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Lay

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The lines about Jay stealing lines from Biggie imo hit harder that that one line from takeover, then the subsequent tracks... well lets say Jay was subpar, tbf it was a made up commercial beef imo, both benefited from it in the end.
You don’t think the track Blueprint 2 was dope?
 

villain

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Nas slapped Jay-z silly. Anyone thinking Takeover > Ether is only saying that now to be contrarian, imo.
Jay needed Supa Ugly as a follow up because Ether was still killing him.

Plus Ether is now a verb used to describe killing someone's career, that's legendary in its own right.
The "eminem murdered you on your own shit" line actually turned into it's own debate, that's still debated to this day.
Same thing with the Biggie-lines, Jay-z has had to say he only takes Big's verses to big up his brother in like 3 different songs since :lol:

The idea that because of it's childish jabs back and forth, it's less factual and therefore there's less damage dealt, is Guardian-esque critique.
Battle rap isn't meant to be highbrow, it's meant to be entertaining and give you good quotable lines that become colloquial.
Ether is filled with them.

On another note, I'm looking forward to listening to Tyler & Meg thee Stallion today
 

OL29

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Nas slapped Jay-z silly. Anyone thinking Takeover > Ether is only saying that now to be contrarian, imo.
Jay needed Supa Ugly as a follow up because Ether was still killing him.

Plus Ether is now a verb used to describe killing someone's career, that's legendary in its own right.
The "eminem murdered you on your own shit" line actually turned into it's own debate, that's still debated to this day.
Same thing with the Biggie-lines, Jay-z has had to say he only takes Big's verses to big up his brother in like 3 different songs since :lol:

The idea that because of it's childish jabs back and forth, it's less factual and therefore there's less damage dealt, is Guardian-esque critique.
Battle rap isn't meant to be highbrow, it's meant to be entertaining and give you good quotable lines that become colloquial.
Ether is filled with them.

On another note, I'm looking forward to listening to Tyler & Meg thee Stallion today
IMO, Ether won the battle but retrospectively, I have to say I prefer Takeover. The production is better for me and lyrically it gets the edge too. Ether was harder hitting but Takeover did seem more personal to me. The lines about Nas' baby mother, the breakdown of Nas' career etc. was crazy. It's also important to remember that Takover wasn't just a Nas diss, he took apart Mobb Deep too. Nas had some killer lines too though to be fair, the line about Jay's friend stabbing Un and the reference to the battle between The Rocafella camp and the Lox/Jadakiss were interesting.

It's a strange one for me because I always preferred Ether until the last couple of years or so, but I kind of have to give it to Jay now. A shame because I rate Nas higher than him (both are in my top 5).
 

2mufc0

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I agree with @villain I find it strange how someone can think Takeover was better, Ether is the gold standard of disses, to this day the lines are re used and referenced whenever rap battles are brought up. But each to their own I guess, Jay imo got totally bodied in the track, there's nothing Jay could do to respond on the same level.
 

Lay

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IMO, Ether won the battle but retrospectively, I have to say I prefer Takeover. The production is better for me and lyrically it gets the edge too. Ether was harder hitting but Takeover did seem more personal to me. The lines about Nas' baby mother, the breakdown of Nas' career etc. was crazy. It's also important to remember that Takover wasn't just a Nas diss, he took apart Mobb Deep too. Nas had some killer lines too though to be fair, the line about Jay's friend stabbing Un and the reference to the battle between The Rocafella camp and the Lox/Jadakiss were interesting.

It's a strange one for me because I always preferred Ether until the last couple of years or so, but I kind of have to give it to Jay now. A shame because I rate Nas higher than him (both are in my top 5).
I preferred Ether when it came out but over time, nah.
 

OL29

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I agree with @villain I find it strange how someone can think Takeover was better, Ether is the gold standard of disses, to this day the lines are re used and referenced whenever rap battles are brought up. But each to their own I guess, Jay imo got totally bodied in the track, there's nothing Jay could do to respond on the same level.
I think Hit em' up and No Vaseline are slightly more iconic although lyrically, Common's Ice Cube diss, The Bitch in Yoo is the best although not quite as fierce.
 

villain

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IMO, Ether won the battle but retrospectively, I have to say I prefer Takeover. The production is better for me and lyrically it gets the edge too. Ether was harder hitting but Takeover did seem more personal to me. The lines about Nas' baby mother, the breakdown of Nas' career etc. was crazy. It's also important to remember that Takover wasn't just a Nas diss, he took apart Mobb Deep too. Nas had some killer lines too though to be fair, the line about Jay's friend stabbing Un and the reference to the battle between The Rocafella camp and the Lox/Jadakiss were interesting.

It's a strange one for me because I always preferred Ether until the last couple of years or so, but I kind of have to give it to Jay now. A shame because I rate Nas higher than him (both are in my top 5).
I have Takeover as a better song than Ether definitely, but as a diss track Ether takes it and I think it hit Jay harder than it did Nas, hence him needing to do follow up responses in various songs over the years.

I think the Eminem & Biggie lines were more cutting than anything Jay said about Nas' career or baby mother personally, considering years & years later Jay still had to keep justifying taking Biggie's lines, and telling everybody that Eminem didn't murder him.
Then you have the lines where he dismisses Jay's image & street cred like Nas giving him his style, Jay blowing up his phone, getting chased out his building, wearing other people's chains & being broke etc.

it's a lot to dissect. Hell even the childish lines 'you tae bo hoe' are hilarious :lol:
 

villain

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calling someone a tae bo hoe is definitely part of my insult vocabulary
 

Lay

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I have Takeover as a better song than Ether definitely, but as a diss track Ether takes it and I think it hit Jay harder than it did Nas, hence him needing to do follow up responses in various songs over the years.

I think the Eminem & Biggie lines were more cutting than anything Jay said about Nas' career or baby mother personally, considering years & years later Jay still had to keep justifying taking Biggie's lines, and telling everybody that Eminem didn't murder him.
Then you have the lines where he dismisses Jay's image & street cred like Nas giving him his style, Jay blowing up his phone, getting chased out his building, wearing other people's chains & being broke etc.

it's a lot to dissect. Hell even the childish lines 'you tae bo hoe' are hilarious :lol:
Eminem definitely got Jay, but it was originally an Eminem and Royce track anyway.
 

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calling someone a tae bo hoe is definitely part of my insult vocabulary
There was actually a hilarious meaning behind that line :lol:
, so was surprised the karate line was seen as a playground diss.
 

2mufc0

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I think Hit em' up and No Vaseline are slightly more iconic although lyrically, Common's Ice Cube diss, The Bitch in Yoo is the best although not quite as fierce.
No vaseline is my favourite he destroyed a whole group by himself. I woud put ether in a similar tier.
 

lsd

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I have Takeover as a better song than Ether definitely, but as a diss track Ether takes it and I think it hit Jay harder than it did Nas, hence him needing to do follow up responses in various songs over the years.

I think the Eminem & Biggie lines were more cutting than anything Jay said about Nas' career or baby mother personally, considering years & years later Jay still had to keep justifying taking Biggie's lines, and telling everybody that Eminem didn't murder him.
Then you have the lines where he dismisses Jay's image & street cred like Nas giving him his style, Jay blowing up his phone, getting chased out his building, wearing other people's chains & being broke etc.

it's a lot to dissect. Hell even the childish lines 'you tae bo hoe' are hilarious :lol:

The fact Jay went on radio after and literally cried proves Ether hit him hard .

I think the real problem for Jay were his disses didn't bother Nas .
The lines about going with his ex wife backfired when the wife said Jay was crap in bed compared to Nas and it just fed into Nas saying how obsessed with him Jay was .

Then when talking about Mobb Deep as Nas's homies when the truth was Nas and Moby Deep were beefing as well something Jay should have known with all his claims of being the Godfather of the streets
 

villain

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There was actually a hilarious meaning behind that line :lol:
, so was surprised the karate line was seen as a playground diss.
He was referring to Jay saying he knows Tae-Bo on 'girls, girls, girls' right? & taking other martial arts classes, so it's true and funny :lol:


The fact Jay went on radio after and literally cried proves Ether hit him hard .

I think the real problem for Jay were his disses didn't bother Nas .
The lines about going with his ex wife backfired when the wife said Jay was crap in bed compared to Nas and it just fed into Nas saying how obsessed with him Jay was .

Then when talking about Mobb Deep as Nas's homies when the truth was Nas and Moby Deep were beefing as well something Jay should have known with all his claims of being the Godfather of the streets
That's true.

I think the main thing that hit Nas was the '1 hot album every 10 year average', as a Nas stan I disagreed, but for the objective listener, the consensus on Nas' discography after Illmatic up to Nastradamous was largely 'ehh...' with a few hot tracks in between.
 

OL29

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I have Takeover as a better song than Ether definitely, but as a diss track Ether takes it and I think it hit Jay harder than it did Nas, hence him needing to do follow up responses in various songs over the years.

I think the Eminem & Biggie lines were more cutting than anything Jay said about Nas' career or baby mother personally, considering years & years later Jay still had to keep justifying taking Biggie's lines, and telling everybody that Eminem didn't murder him.
Then you have the lines where he dismisses Jay's image & street cred like Nas giving him his style, Jay blowing up his phone, getting chased out his building, wearing other people's chains & being broke etc.

it's a lot to dissect. Hell even the childish lines 'you tae bo hoe' are hilarious :lol:
Yeah I can see where you’re coming from. Ether definitely has more quotablea. Tae bo hoe was hilarious. The disrespect :lol:
The funny thing about the Renegade diss is that I actually prefer Jay’s bars, even though it’s tight. Jay’s flow is too smooth, The way he came in on that song is undefeated for me. Who did you prefer on Renegade?
I wish we had still had battles like this in hip hop. Two rap titans going at each other, no holds barred. The closest we’ve had in recent years was Meek vs Drake and that was too one sided. Would love to see a Kendrick Drake beef but doubt it would happen, both have too much to lose, we’d end up with endless subliminals but nothing of substance which is a shame. Although the Meek vs The Game beef produced some good moments.
 
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OL29

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No vaseline is my favourite he destroyed a whole group by himself. I woud put ether in a similar tier.
Yeah that was impressive from Cube and the fact that NWA disbanded before being able to reply only adds to the song’s legacy, especially given that the reason they split up was as result of Dre having the same complaints as Cube regarding money.
 

lsd

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Yeah that was impressive from Cube and the fact that NWA disbanded before being able to reply only adds to the song’s legacy, especially given that the reason they split up was as result of Dre having the same complaints as Cube regarding money.

Wasn't Dre pretty much gone anyway at that point ?

I remember how big a deal it was when Cube appeared in Dre's Let It Ride video.

I always though hit them up by 2pac was so overrated as a diss track you need more than just calling a guy fat
 

villain

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Yeah I can see where you’re coming from. Ether definitely has more quotablea. Tae bo hoe was hilarious. The disrespect :lol:
The funny thing about the Renegade diss is that I actually prefer Jay’s bars, even though it’s tight. Jay’s flow is too smooth, The way he came in on that song is undefeated for me. Who did you prefer on Renegade?
I wish we had still had battles like this in hip hop. Two rap titans going at each other, no holds barred. The closest we’ve had in recent years was Meek vs Drake and that was too one sided. Would love to see a Kendrick Drake beef but doubt it would happen, both have too much to lose, we’d end up with endless subliminals but nothing of substance which is a shame. Although the Meek vs The Game beef produced some good moments.
Yeah Jay is one of the few rappers who's lines age quite well, his cadence & delivery probably the most consistent in hip-hop, definitely derivative of Biggie in that respect.

I think Eminem's energy can't be denied on Renegade though, just the way he delivers his lines packs a punch and i'm not an Eminem fan at all but he made that song what it is (imo)
If it was just 3 verses from Jay, it would've been a good song, but the contrast of Em's delivery really brought that song to a different level.

We just had Drake v Push this time last year that was a pretty decent sized battle - I doubt we'll see any legitimate beefs like back then, rappers have too much to lose these days.
 

OL29

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Wasn't Dre pretty much gone anyway at that point ?

I remember how big a deal it was when Cube appeared in Dre's Let It Ride video.

I always though hit them up by 2pac was so overrated as a diss track you need more than just calling a guy fat
Not sure to be honest, he was on 100 Miles and Running which really ignited the beef but he might have departed before No Vaseline dropped.
And I think the outro is what made Hit em up. Never heard anything like that, Pac is unrivalled when it comes to putting to put emotion into a track, even though I've come to believe that his whole issue with the Bad Boy camp was contrived and a gimmick to sell records. I do rate the song though, even the Outlawz were impressive on that track. It did have some hard hitting lines too to be fair. The stuff about Faith Evans is rumoured to be true and pretty much destroyed hers and biggies marriage. The ‘you tell me who won, I see them, they run’ bar was about a real-life event too apparently. The line about Prodigy having sickle cell had him ready to fight Pac also.
 
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OL29

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Yeah Jay is one of the few rappers who's lines age quite well, his cadence & delivery probably the most consistent in hip-hop, definitely derivative of Biggie in that respect.

I think Eminem's energy can't be denied on Renegade though, just the way he delivers his lines packs a punch and i'm not an Eminem fan at all but he made that song what it is (imo)
If it was just 3 verses from Jay, it would've been a good song, but the contrast of Em's delivery really brought that song to a different level.

We just had Drake v Push this time last year that was a pretty decent sized battle - I doubt we'll see any legitimate beefs like back then, rappers have too much to lose these days.
Yeah I think that’s it with Jay Z, his bars really stand the test of time, some of the songs from Reasonable Doubt still sound fresh to this day.

Funnily enough, I’m a big fan of Eminem and he was great on that song too, I think I just preferred the content of what Jay Z was talking about. You’re right though, the contrast is what makes Renegade a classic, Jay on his own would’ve just been another in his long list of classics.

I completely forgot about the Drake Pusha beef, that was exciting to be fair, event though I’m still waiting on that Drake reply ffs.
 

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I completely forgot about the Drake Pusha beef, that was exciting to be fair, event though I’m still waiting on that Drake reply ffs.
Drake knows he can't beat him in battle rap after he killed him in The Story of Adidon. I don't think we will see a full song response maybe a few lines here and there in future releases.
 

villain

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Yeah I think that’s it with Jay Z, his bars really stand the test of time, some of the songs from Reasonable Doubt still sound fresh to this day.

Funnily enough, I’m a big fan of Eminem and he was great on that song too, I think I just preferred the content of what Jay Z was talking about. You’re right though, the contrast is what makes Renegade a classic, Jay on his own would’ve just been another in his long list of classics.

I completely forgot about the Drake Pusha beef, that was exciting to be fair, event though I’m still waiting on that Drake reply ffs.
Drake isn't gonna respond :lol:
There's literally nothing he can say to Push.

It'll be interesting to see where it progresses from here though in terms of their next releases, will the beef continue, will one party sneak diss, or will both move on.
 

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Drake knows he can't beat him in battle rap after he killed him in The Story of Adidon. I don't think we will see a full song response maybe a few lines here and there in future releases.
Yeah I agree, Drake's ego won't be able to let it go so we might see a few subliminal here and there but I don't except anymore explicit bars from either side.
 

OL29

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Drake isn't gonna respond :lol:
There's literally nothing he can say to Push.

It'll be interesting to see where it progresses from here though in terms of their next releases, will the beef continue, will one party sneak diss, or will both move on.
I think this is most likely, with Drake being the guilty party. Can't see his ego letting that go.
 

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IGOR definitely feels like a grower. It's definitely not a rap album but I enjoyed it. Tyler's production is so good.

Liked Injury Reserve as well. Three Man Weave is a great closer.

Also really enjoying Slowthai's album. Doorman made me want to blast my speaker as loud as possible.
 

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Eminem definitely got Jay, but it was originally an Eminem and Royce track anyway.
In retrospect, although Eminem wins, Jay more than holds his own.

It can't be understated how important The Blueprint was for Jay from a critical perspective. He dabbled with the introspective stuff on the compilation album (This Can't be Life for example), but The Blueprint was such a breath of fresh air in that bling era. The beat selection didn't hurt either!
 

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I wish he'd put the blueprint on other streaming services, one of my favourite albums and it's nowhere to be seen outside of tidal
 

villain

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The Rick Ross verse on the DJ Khaled album has reminded me how much I need him to release his next project. His voice & delivery is so buttery.

Whole album is decent, a few stand out tracks but not much replay value for me personally.

I wish he'd put the blueprint on other streaming services, one of my favourite albums and it's nowhere to be seen outside of tidal
Buy it?
 

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How highly do you guys on here actually rate Nas? I won’t lie, ‘If I ruled the world’ is my choice for #1. Masterpiece of a track. If I had to play a track to someone who dislikes hip hop I would play that track to change their warped mindset. Plus it has Lauryn Hill.
 

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How highly do you guys on here actually rate Nas? I won’t lie, ‘If I ruled the world’ is my choice for #1. Masterpiece of a track. If I had to play a track to someone who dislikes hip hop I would play that track to change their warped mindset. Plus it has Lauryn Hill.

Only put Kendrick on his level . Nas has so many real hip hop classics he has to be rated by any true hip hop fan .

Personally New York state of mind, world is yours , Nas is Like , Ether , black bond, thieves theme . There's so many you never get tired of listening too .

When you hear to much mumble crap or whatever passes for hip hop today and instead put on your phones and play illmatic there's nothing better .

Nas is hip hop
 

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How highly do you guys on here actually rate Nas? I won’t lie, ‘If I ruled the world’ is my choice for #1. Masterpiece of a track. If I had to play a track to someone who dislikes hip hop I would play that track to change their warped mindset. Plus it has Lauryn Hill.
Have you heard The Lost Tapes?
 

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Only put Kendrick on his level . Nas has so many real hip hop classics he has to be rated by any true hip hop fan .

Personally New York state of mind, world is yours , Nas is Like , Ether , black bond, thieves theme . There's so many you never get tired of listening too .

When you hear to much mumble crap or whatever passes for hip hop today and instead put on your phones and play illmatic there's nothing better .

Nas is hip hop
Agreed. It doesn’t get any better than Illmatic. I wish I could see how many times I’ve played a specific song on Spotify, because I’m sure so much of it would be Nas.

I still get goosebumps when he starts his verse on Eye for an eye. That might just be my favourite song.
 

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How highly do you guys on here actually rate Nas? I won’t lie, ‘If I ruled the world’ is my choice for #1. Masterpiece of a track. If I had to play a track to someone who dislikes hip hop I would play that track to change their warped mindset. Plus it has Lauryn Hill.
I rate him as one of the best, not the best though.

My favourite tunes would be:

Life's a bitch
One mic
Made you look
 

Loublaze

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Have you heard The Lost Tapes?
Doo rags are back, fitted hats, snorkels and furs...

I loved the Lost tapes, I was hungry for more Nas after the classic Stillmatic and it dropped at the perfect time. Every joint on there was John Blaze