Nas Recalls Joking With Jay-Z About Diss Tracks “Ether” and “Takeover” Over Text

On his new song “Thun” from King’s Disease III, Nas revealed that he and Jay-Z still joke about their past beef over text messages.

The third entry in his King’s Disease series of albums, which are produced by Hit-Boy, sees Nas reflect on his feud with Hov throughout the ‘90s up to 2005, when they officially squashed their issues.

"No beef or rivals, they playing ‘Ether’ on TIDAL/Brothers can do anything when they decide to,” he raps on the track. “In a Range Rover, dissecting bars from ‘Takeover’/Sometimes I text Hova like, ‘N***a, this ain’t over,’ laughing."

The two rappers notably clashed both on and off record for years, which eventually led up to their now legendary tracks “Takeover” and “Ether.” They last directly dissed each other with “Last Real N***a Alive” and “Supa Ugly” in the early 2000s, the two sorted out whatever issues they had when they performed together at a surprise concert. Nas then joined Def Jam Recordings when Jay-Z was at the helm.

They’ve since collaborated a number of times, most recently on DJ Khaled’s “Sorry Not Sorry.” In an appearance on Rick Rubin’s Broken Records podcast last year, Nas said that he was “honored” to have been part of such an iconic rap beef.

"The art of emceeing was right there on full display," he told Rubin. "It was like, if you're in the rap game, this could happen, a battle. It was like, 'This rap thing is real. A battle could really happen.' So I was honored to have that part of my life happen because that's how I saw the greats do it coming up. I saw some of the greats do it."

Check out “Thun” below, and listen to the full King’s Disease 3 album here.