In a recent interview with DJ Vlad, The Game tackled hip hop’s biggest rivalries, including the classic Nas vs. Jay-Z feud. Without much thought, The Game crowns Nas the victor in their specific beef. However, he shared his admiration for Jay-Z, declaring the Brooklyn rapper the greatest of all time.
“You know what’s crazy again man, Hov is for me, right now, right now… judging every rapper off everything, Hov’s number one, period. Around the board. He been around since I don’t know how long… the 80s and he been doing his thing.”
He went on to discuss Lil Wayne as another top contender, highlighting their strong catalogues and the challenge they pose to each other in terms of influence and musical legacy.
“I think that as far as the only person that is like challenging that number one for me is [Lil] Wayne. I think it’s Wayne and I think it’s Hov for me at the top. [in terms of] longevity… when I think HOV I think Wayne. Let’s think Verzuz wise, the only other person that can compete with Wayne is like Hov, the only person that can compete with Hov is Wayne as far as catalog longevity and just somebody where everybody gonna say ‘oh, I don’t know who to pick. I don’t know to pick Hov, I don’t know to pick Wayne.”
He continued, “You might get younger people that gonna say Wayne, but then veterans gonna say Hov, but I think they both go hand in hand.”
Despite his admiration for Jay-Z, The Game awards the beef victory to Nas, attributing it to the impact of Ether. He vividly recalls his excitement upon first hearing the song.
“let’s not get it twisted on how I feel about HOV and his pen, but Ether, Ether. Like the first time I heard ‘F*ck Jay-Z! You been on my d*ck… you 36 in a karate Class?’ like that sh*t, you see how f*cking excited I’m getting?”
“I was listening to Hov heavily, I was listening to Nas of course, but I wasn’t listening to Nas more than I was listening to Hov, because when the Reasonable Doubt album came out, I was young, I was selling dope, I was in the spot… [I wrote my first album] over Reasonable Doubt with the Jay-Z rapping. I just heard it so many times, so many times I was able to tune his voice out and just hear the beats.”
“So like I was a super Hov fan, and I’m still a fan of Jay-Z. But when Nas dropped Ether, the way that record came out, the impact that it had, no one can deny it. And Hov had takeover and he had dope shi*t, those songs were f*cking amazing… Hov did his thing but ether, ether to this day you put on ether right now that motherf*cker come on it just sounds like one of the best records ever made in all genres.”
He emphasizes that “Ether” transcended the beef itself, becoming a classic hip-hop record admired by a wide audience.
“I know that white people, white women, Indians, Asians, whoever the f*ck you want to say heard ether and was just like ‘this is f*cking amazing.’ It’s not just a dope beef record, it is a classic hip-hop record. so I got to give it to Nas.“
The beef between Jay-Z and Nas was one of the most infamous and long-running feuds in hip-hop history. The two rappers traded shots at each other in the 90s, while vying for the title of “King Of New York.”
The feud escalated with the release of Jay-Z’s diss track “Takeover,” in 2001 followed by Nas’ scathing response “Ether” released later that same year.
Fast forward to 2022, and it seems there’s no hard feelings. Nas even offers a playful nod to the past on his album “King’s Disease III,” rapping about “Ether” being played on Jay-Z’s streaming service, Tidal.
Watch The Game’s conversation with Vlad below.
