The Nas and Jay-Z feud has generated revenue for radio stations nationwide and has caught the attention of many, even those not interested in rap. Many people in urban communities are hoping that this won't be another Tupac vs Biggie Smalls situation. Others are probably hoping it will. Trust me, It WON'T!

Yes there are some similarities w/Pac vs Big and Nas vs Jay-Z. (1)Tupac slept (allegedly) with Faith Evans who was then Biggie's Wife and Jay-Z slept with Carmen the mother of Nas's daughter. (2)Both artist have a horde of groupie fans capable of acting alone in violent bliss, all in the name of ridin' for their favorite artist. 3.Both have diss songs that include gun talk. Any other comparisons are minor.

This feud is not close to creating a murderous environment like the one that hosted the tragic events that happened with 2pac and Biggie. Nas already said that he wont respond to Jay-Z after this. Nas said, “In the beginning I told Jay-Z we shouldn't [argue] ...that the streets obviously wanted us to clash. Nowadays brothers are getting hurt, and he agreed even before I got the words out of my mouth”. Honestly at this point, neither is absolutely sure why this came to the point it is now. Nas is constantly reminding FANS on the radio that he tried to squash this beef but he just had to respond after Jay-Z recorded the "Takeover" diss track, but what we are witnessing isn't SERIOUS its part of hip-hop.

For example, Jay-Z can diss Mobb Deep and other MC's on his album but those other mc's have little general public interest. In the past 2pac dissed Mobb Deep, Prodigy and others on wax also but most listeners cared little about that. To the general public, it's 2pac vs Biggie only, just as the public views this as Nas vs Jay-Z. To have this level of interest one artist must be at the height of their fame and be publicly outraged(Jay-Z).

This beef levels off somewhere between the old classic L.L. cool J vs Kool Moe Dee and the more recent L.L Cool J vs Canibus beef. The only thing at stake is probably Jay-Z's ego. Although there is a danger that overzealous fans of each artist could escalate tensions. That's part of the American groupie culture, which happens in music, sports, and anything that carries a fan passion. This may have been exacerbated by the fact that Jay-Z opens up his "Super Ugly" song with a call for Brooklyn to STAND UP. A sly attempt to regionalize the beef as Queens vs Brooklyn. Luckily nobody is buying into that nonsense. Most fans recognized the ignorant damage once done by East Coast vs West Coast separation. The appeal of this is, two strong public personalities battling. The biggest danger is a few stupid ass fans fighting in clubs etc because of this.

The key difference, that most people don't know is that Biggie and 2pac's problems were rooted in a very real and personal conflict with all the markings of a Greek tragedy. The beef didn't stem from the music. Music was the platform used to push their conflict to a level, which engulfed them. Neither Nas nor Jay-Z is as caught up in the energy of this beef as 2pac was. Robbery and murder attempts made on 2pac's life had shady, controversial circumstances surrounding them. Events that seemed to point at Bad Boy artists (in Pac's eyes). As far as 2Pac knew he was robbed and shot on the streets of NYC, and of course rappers take pride in having all the street connections, yet there was silence and claims of ignorance from these same "bad boys" who claim a inseparable status from "the streets". Pac thought Biggie was his 'road dawg' but Big was silent when Pac was asking him "yo what happened?" Pac felt like, "Yo, you supposed to be my ace, a gangsta w/ a ear to the streets get to the bottom of this". Especially since 2pac had semi-mentored Biggie to the status of Big Papa. 2pac misjudged the extent of their friendship. In fact Pac had actually spent time in jail because he took a gun charge for Biggie. Biggie and other members of his crew left 4 dirty guns (serial numbers crossed out, etc) in Tupac's hotel room cause they heard police were down in the hotel lobby, and then broke out. Pac served jail time for that case and never mentioned that the guns were the property of Mr. Smalls and his peeps. While in jail he said “Biggie never came to see me or gave me any loot all he did was radio shout outs talking about keep ya head up”. This treatment represented serious betrayal to Pac and was the genesis of there personal beef. Later, when Snoop and some other members of Death Row were shooting the video for New York, New York in NYC. Biggie thought Tupac was there for the video also and called the radio station where Snoop was supposed to be interviewed at and over the airwaves said, “I cannot believe New York is allowing Snoop, Tupac and the Dog Pound to shoot a video in Times Square. What kind of shit is this?” Biggie thought 2pac was present at the video shooting but he wasn't. Biggie made it clear that people in NYC shouldn't allow that to happen and shortly after that Death Row trailer was riddled w/automatic weapon fire and shotgun bullets with Snoop, Daz and the Death Row artist inside. Miraculously nobody was killed. The NYPD was right there and made no arrest. The history of Pac/Big was etched in violence and built up over a few years. Luckily in the Nas/Jay-Z case there is no Suge Knight type boss figure that might revel in this drama. Russell Simmons (Jay-Z's Boss) is trying to become an elected politician real soon; he can't afford to have Jay-Z tarnish Def Jam and thus him.

On the other hand Jay-Z and Nas have history of having been "friendly to each other" but to say they were "friends" is stretching the definition of the word. When people perceive a friend as having backstabbed them. They come harder at them, than they would an enemy, we all know that hurts more. Therefore there's less intensity with Jay-Z and Nas's.

Jay-Z vs Nas has none of this drama. This is not about anger but instead EMBARRASSMENT and public humbling. Nas comes off with some lyrically "controlled rage" and he comes off with some real sly condescending snaps calling Jigga, J.J. (from Good Times), we all know that J.J. Evans aka Jimmie walker was not a handsome brotha. Nas scolds Jay as a father would a son on 2 tracks. Nas assaults Jigga on many fronts. His personality as a misogynist, physical appearance, known history and speculative reputation. Nas has been continuing the assault on radio highlighting all of Jigga's flaws like his narcissism and his re-naming himself Jay Hovah read Jehovah. (Check the playahata.com satire) Nas is tighter lyrically than Jay-Z who is now essentially a pop rapper. This battle episode may cause Jigga to rethink his pop rap career. Nas can't hate on that, cause he was trying his hand at pop rap also remember that Oochie wali song/video or his prior Album. But because of this beef he returned to his "Illmatic" roots and captured that authentic rap spirit before he was written off.

As of today Jigga is embarrassed by his reply song to Nas called "Super Ugly". Even Jay-Z's biggest groupie, Funkmaster Flex has shied away from him as of press time. This says a lot because most of the time that mic flex holds to his mouth can be mistaken for something else. It can be be said that Jay-Z is on "da low" In fact his mother insisted that he apologize about dissing Nas's baby mother. His mother was quoted as saying "it was in poor taste". Big up to momma Jigga.

Jay-Z was mature about it and did follow his mom's advice. He appeared on HOT97 radio station and publicly apologized to Nas's baby mother (Carmen) the next day. The embarrassment was due too him revealing to the world through his lyrics that she slept with Allen Iverson and he got quite graphic about how he boned her also. The lyrics that his yes men should have told him to leave out goes /Me and the boy A.I. got more in Carmen (common)/ than just ballin and rhyming/get it/ more IN Carmen/ . Then he got graphic with it.

Allen Iverson is now a married man and he probably got problems at home because of that damn song. Iverson probably heated about being included in all this drama!

Jay-Z wasted too much time attacking Carmen's indiscretions and not Nas. The court of public opinion says deal with another man like a man, why you attacking his baby mom? Yes, she's a groupie but this ain't about her. Nonetheless Jay-Z jumped straight into that baby momma drama which made some lose respect for him and totally humiliated her. The man has the mindset of a woman beater and woman beaters get no props! After Jay-Z in the "Takeover" attacked Nas, Nas didn't come up with a reply diss immediately, he fired back months later when he was recording his album. No rush thou. But Jay-Z was so mad and embarrassed at Nas's "Ether" that he came back with a reply the day after it aired for the 1st time on the radio. Nas said when he worked on "Ether" he was too involved so his friends decided which things that he initially wanted to put in there would stay. Some lyrics being too "over the top" or "too soft". His friends decided yeah or nay. Right now the Jigga man needs an advisory board of friends not DickRiding groupies and yes men. Right now he just needs a friend.

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.- Marlon Brandon as The God Father(1972), Nuff Said!

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