Jay-Z: "I Declare War!"

[CBright7831 0]

I looked to see if there was a topic on this, but I couldn't find one, so here's the story.

 

'I Declare War!' Jay-Z Says He's Going To Air Some Rappers Out Onstage

09.19.2005

 

Jay tired of rappers talking greasy about him.

Jay-Z

Photo: Alberto Tamargo/Getty Images 

 

Some people have rubbed the president of Def Jam the wrong way — and we might just be hearing another "Takeover" in a little over a month. Jay-Z was on New York radio station Power 105.1 on Thursday afternoon and said that he is ready to take it to the battlefield.

 

"I declare war!" Jay said. Hov told radio personality Ed Lover that he's been hearing some rappers talking greasy about him and he is going to "air them out" onstage.

 

Doomsday — at least for some — is scheduled for October 27 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. That's when Power 105 is staging its Power House concert, for which it's turned the reins over to Jay for another Jay-Z and Friends outing. Last year, as the Best of Both Worlds tour with R. Kelly crumbled (see "Jay-Z, R. Kelly Part Ways as Best Of Both Worlds Tour Collapses"), the rapper called on some of his homies, like Diddy, Ja Rule, Busta Rhymes and Mary J. Blige, to perform with him on a string of dates.

 

"I got a lot of records," Hov told Lover. "I'm getting the itch. I need to see the people. It's time for a good show in New York City ... I gotta flip on some people."

 

Jay said that despite his track record, some rappers are "hard-headed" and "not too many people make it out of the figure-four leg lock. I gotta put 'em in the choke hold, the Boston crab. I gotta smash a couple of people. ... Everybody better make up and be my friend."

 

Hov was sure to note that his battle raps are just going to be the icing on the cake — his first priority is to give the fans a great show.

 

Jersey's Power House isn't going to be Jay's last stage stop. One day later, radio station Power 99 in Philadelphia is throwing its own Power House show, which is going to be another Jay-Z and Friends concert. Hov isn't letting it out of the bag just who will be on his guest list for either show, but Young Jeezy says we shouldn't be surprised if he pops up. A couple of sources close to Jay also say that the two Power House shows may not be the last Jay-Z-headlined concerts we see this year.

 

— Shaheem Reid

 

So who do you think is on Jay's shitlist?

 

Dame Dash?

The Game?

50 Cent?

Cam'ron and Diplomats?

Eminem?

 

All of these names have come up.

[BUTT 0]

Why would Jay have problems with those guys? Help me, I'm ignorant as to the latest rap feuds.

[CBright7831 0]

Why would Jay have problems with those guys?  Help me, I'm ignorant as to the latest rap feuds.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Game and 50 Cent have dissed Jay acouple of times, whether it be live (Game in concert @ Amsterdam) or on a diss record (50 Cent on How To Rob). Cam'ron recently said that he would retire Jay if he went after him. And as for Eminem, well, I don't know why people are speculating Em might get dissed.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Cam's a lunkhead. He mentions having beef with Nas and retiring people in the same breathe. Is he trying to imply that he put Nas into some sort of fictional retirement?

[Fökai 0]

Cam'ron 'retiring' Nas is hilarious. Someone needs to do that gimmick in the industry...might as well be him.

[Special K 0]

If someone tries to dis J, he should just put on his mean face and spin the grey album. you can't even talk shit about the grey album.

 

Jay-Z has nothing to prove. He's an incredible rapper who had a killer single, and backed it up with decent albums. You know how rare that is?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

That's fairly common, actually. A rapper getting as much praise for releasing as much fluff as Jay has done is rare, though.

[Annabelle 0]

Jay is great. but he hasn't been vicious on the mic for a long long time. like, listen to da graveyard with big L. man, he was so hungry then. he coulda buried nas at that time with his rhymes. but now? ha - well, actually, take it back, nas woulda served him. anyone else? jay could probably handle it. just stay away from nas - JIGGA. you got served. yea i said SERVED.

[UZI Suicide 0]

He said on Power 105.1 that he's not going at The Game. He can easily handle 50 Cent, and I hope he doesn't go after DipSet - as corny as they are, I love their music, but at this stage in their careers they don't want it with Jay. Cam would have to go back to his "Confessions of Fire" days to even have a chance.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Jay is great.  but he hasn't been vicious on the mic for a long long time.  like, listen to da graveyard with big L.  man, he was so hungry then.  he coulda buried nas at that time with his rhymes.  but now? ha - well, actually, take it back, nas woulda served him.  anyone else? jay could probably handle it.  just stay away from nas - JIGGA.  you got served.  yea i said SERVED.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's irrelevant whether Nas had the best dis track; Jay-Z sells more records and has higher cred, so he "won." Shit like this is only a popularity contest.

 

Plus, yeah, Jay-Z is such an attention whore. But, then, that's a rapper for you.

 

EDIT: In response to the Banky post below, I wasn't saying sales anything to do with the beef itself.

[Slayer 0]

When I read he was going to "air rappers out", I thought he meant with bullets

[Annabelle 0]

Jay is great.  but he hasn't been vicious on the mic for a long long time.  like, listen to da graveyard with big L.  man, he was so hungry then.  he coulda buried nas at that time with his rhymes.  but now? ha - well, actually, take it back, nas woulda served him.  anyone else? jay could probably handle it.  just stay away from nas - JIGGA.  you got served.  yea i said SERVED.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's irrelevant whether Nas had the best dis track; Jay-Z sells more records and has higher cred, so he "won." Shit like this is only a popularity contest.

 

Plus, yeah, Jay-Z is such an attention whore. But, then, that's a rapper for you.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

i don't think selling records had ANYTHING to do with the beef between those two. it was who was the better emcee, who is more respected, and who is the king of nyc. record buying suburban white boys in nebraska weren't going to decide the issue. jay has more cred? to whom? mtv? sure. but i want to know if he does to the actual emcees & rap community.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Can't they all just get along?...

[Bruiser Chong 0]

Popularity-wise, Jay is the clear-cut winner. Really no argument about it. If you get your opinions from the likes of MTV, Jay is the better emcee, too. But anyone able to form their own opinions with access to both of their works, it's obvious that Nas is the superior emcee, no doubt.

[Annabelle 0]

jay markets himself better than anyone else, too. he's a business man first & formost. he's been boasting about that for years. this guy has enchanced his popularity in two ways

 

1. relationship with beyonce

 

2. faux-retirement

 

i can't fault the guy. i really do enjoy his work. but i think his popularity, like puff daddy, doesn't have as much to do with music than other avenues they have persued. nas is all about the music (minus belly). atleast since stillmatic he's been stronger & more prolific than any emcee in the game - minus maybe mf doom. but i don't like him, so whatever.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

And really, that's how people in any walk of life get noticed. Not necessarily because they're the best at their craft, but because they are great at promoting themselves. You need to know how to promote yourself, otherwise, all the talent in the world isn't going to make you the most recongnizable guy in your trade.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

Few people outside of hardcore hip hop heads care that Nas is technically better; in the minds of the average rap fan—who look to MTV, BET, commercial radio, etc.—Jay-Z won, which is only due to his being much more prominent in those venues than Nas.

 

Anyway, "The Takeover" is a better track than "Ether." Nas' track is little more than him saying "Jay-Z sucks" over and over again (albeit with clever wordplay); "The Takeover" is a far more thorough evisceration.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

For further proof of popularity always beating skills, see LL Cool J vs. Canibus.

[Bruiser Chong 0]

I've heard "Ether" far more times than "The Takeover," so I could be biased since I still prefer the former. "The Takeover" has better production values and there are a few lines where you can't help but say, "damn!" Still, Ether, as one-dimensional as it may be, does a better job at its purpose: dissing Jay.

[UZI Suicide 0]

Ether is definitely better than The Takeover. The best lines in The Takeover weren't even to Nas, they were the disses to Mobb Deep.

[Papacita 0]

I dunno. They're two of my favorites, But I think Jay got him. Other than the "You seem to be concerned with dissing women" line in Ether and *maybe* the Biggie line, Nas didn't really get at Jay with anything substantial IMO. Like Inc said, it was a tight song lyrically, but the bulk of the it was name calling. Jay came at him with mostly real stuff that Nas really didn't have a comeback for. I think Nas is probably the better lyricist of the two, but if you're going strictly by the songs I'd have to go with Jay.

[Annabelle 0]

diss tracks are supposed to be immature & vulgar. ether had that. he was just downright dirty in it. takeover? c'mon inc - the hook was "you are laaaaaaaaaame". its got kanye's glossy production. it was just a pop song. nas laid it down. he was mean. takeover started the fued, ether ended it. jay couldn't take that any more. besides, takeover was more of a promotion of rockafella than a real diss. jay never dissed mobb deep again. ether is like the first chapter of the second book of nas's career.

 

regardless, people will use their own personal bias to say who won the battle. thats the only way i can see people say jay won.

 

i bet jay attacks fifty, g unit, mobb deep, & m.o.p.

 

the latter two sold out to g unit. can't blame them, though. now they'll actually get their music marketed.

[UZI Suicide 0]

Jay even knew Ether was better, because he rushed out and made that "Supa Ugly" diss song after Ether came out, which was terrible.

[Ripper 0]

I still say that Takeover was better, but whoever has the last hot diss is the winner, thus Nas won.

 

Ether, while I liked the flow and such, didn't have the real disses like Takeover. Takeover was full of shit that would make a person want to fight you if you said it in person. While ether sounds like a battle rap in between two people that don't even know each other.

[Giuseppe Zangara 0]

diss tracks are supposed to be immature & vulgar.  ether had that.  he was just downright dirty in it.  takeover? c'mon inc - the hook was "you are laaaaaaaaaame".  its got kanye's glossy production.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't like the hook, either, but I like West's production just fine. And I like an insult to have a little more insight than "you suck," so I prefer Jay-Z's. (And yeah, Nas' line about Jay's misogyny was good, but hypocritical.)

[The Czech Republic 0]

Remember the song where Duke Ellington called out Count Basie?

[Edwin MacPhisto 0]

Don't say my car's topless; say the titties is out.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Can't they all just get along?...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

See, this is what I'm saying.

 

^^ Edwin's source for the post above has always made me laugh, even though it's retarded.

[Brett Favre 0]

Can't they all just get along?...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

See, this is what I'm saying.

 

^^ the above line has always made me laugh, even though it's retarded.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

What would that sell?

 

I don't like Jay-Z, but i'd like to hear him diss 50.

[Art Sandusky 0]

I dunno, they could try and sell based on good ol' quality and marketing, even though this is sort of a marketing tool I guess.