To The Maxx

Jay Z vs. Nas: Is the battle really over?

"The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand."- Sun Tzu

Everyone knows the story: from 2001-2005, the biggest rivalry in Hip Hop was Nasir Jones vs. Sean Carter so I won't go into details. But what I will say was that in 2006 it seemed apparent that the riff was ended when then president of Def Jam, Jay Z signed the artist Nas to a reported 10 million dollar deal. Beef over? Or was it?

Fast forward to 2011; and three albums later (one a collaboration with Damian Marley) Nas is embroiled in a contract dispute with Def Jam. A contract he signed with then president Jay Z. Now before some people think I'm stretching a bit here... All one has to do is take a look at how Jay Z handled another rival he had that was signed to Def Jam: Joe Buddens, who to this day is still unable to record under his own name with a major label; hence Slaughterhouse, but at best, some will say this is all circumstantial. Just like it's circumstantial that in 5 and a half years as a Def Jam artist, Nas has been cleared to release songs with just two other artist commercially outside of his own projects; one is Jay Z, the other is his ex.

"Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like." - Will Smith

The quote from above refers to the popular idiom that is seen in the African American community consistently; " keeping up with the Joneses", pun intended except in this case, having Mr. Nasir Jones keep up with the Jay Z's.... Unbeknowst to much of the hip hop community power couples were being formed from 2002, to early 2006. It all started with success of Will Smith a Jay Z friend who was married to Jada Pinkett in 1997; Jay Z started dating Beyonce in 2002. Around the same time as another Jay Z associate Jermaine Dupri started dating Janet Jackson. In 2005 Dupri mentee Bow Wow started dating R&B singer Ciara.... Now I write all this to say, that it only makes sense that if Jay Z can get everyone to get rid of throwback jerseys and give X-5's to their baby mammas, that he could suggest that Nas should court future ex wife Kelis at the time to fit in after his signing at Def Jam. Now at the time this in itself didnt seem like a big deal. Until you factor in that Kelis was represented by high powered and highly priced lawyer Laura Wasser during her divorce proceedings. Court documents show that Kelis pulls in about 13k a month, while Ms. Wasser charges about 10k a week for her services.... Now even this might not raise eyebrows until you factor in the Jay Z connection to Ms. Wasser, who reportedly represented another Jay Z associate in a high profile divorce. Again now some may say its all circumstantial that Jay Z didnt nescessarily foot the bill for Kelis, or even connect Ms. Wasser and Kelis together, so then I'll move on to my third point.

"....This is chess not checkers, these are warning shots. After your next move I'll give you what I got..." -50 Cent

I inserted the above quote from 50 Cent, Jay z's on again off again business associate for a few reasons. The main one being the mentality of those who exude power versus those who don't. (please insert Sean P Diddy Combs here, you don't think so, ask any Bad Boy artist) but the secondary reason was to also show how these two, and again you can put Puffy in this, work "together". To those not in the know, it seems that 50 Cent and Jay Z are always at odds with each other... But for those who watch carefully have noticed that these two have brokered numerous deals amongst each other, again throw in Puffy, in order to maintain their staus quo / keep the peace / cross their opponents. And here is where my third point lies within. Jay Z had beef with Jadakiss... so did Puffy and so did 50 Cent. Jay Z had issues with Camron... so did 50 Cent. Jay Z had problems with the Game... so did 50 Cent. Fat Joe? yep Jay Z and 50 Cent both feuded with the Bronx native. Oh did I mention Joe Buddens? yep you guessed it. And finally Mr. Escobar himself.... Bottom line, broke people talk to broke people, rich people talk to rich people and it seems as if Jay Z and 50 Cent have been playing chess with rappers careers.

And finally, as if I havent pointed out enough truths to make you at least wonder.... How do you think Nas fealt seeing Jay Z's "Empire State of Mind" receive all the accolades it did? Or did y'all forget " New York State of Mind"?