Nas & Jay-Z
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Beef
The feud between rap artists Nas and Jay-Z received public attention beginning in 2001 and ended sometime in 2005. Due to the influence and success of the artists involved, it is one of the more popular recent feuds in hip hop.
Nature of beef
The feud between these hip hop legends is widely considered the most captivating of recent times. Tension between the two supposedly dates as far back as 1996, when Nas refused to make a guest appearance on Jay-Z’s debut album Reasonable Doubt (ironically, Nas did “appear” on the song “Dead Presidents II”- his vocals from “The World Is Yours” were sampled for the chorus). However, the relationship between the two rappers remained peaceful (Jay-Z even giving a shoutout to Nas in his album liner notes), and the tension did not escalate to full-blown rivalry until after the death of the Notorious B.I.G. The position of best rapper in New York (also known as the King of New York) seemed vacant after the death of Biggie, and fans were eager to see who would take over.
In 1997, Jay-Z, who had collaborated with B.I.G., released a song titled “The City Is Mine” which seemed to many people to be making a claim to the empty throne.
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