1) Ether – Nas
Takeover would have taken out 99.9% of other rappers and ended their career. But what this did to Nas was wake the sleeping giant and moved him to make the greatest diss record of all time, Ether. In fact, the term Ether has become a fixture in the Hip Hop lexicon and is used when somebody is badly dissed at the highest level (ex: He just got Ethered).
The genius of Ether starts from the very name of the song itself, as Jay-Z was seen as a rapper who was linked to cocaine and the epitome of a drug dealer. Ether is used to cut and breakdown cocaine, so in essence Ether was going to be the song that breaks down Jay-Z. And that it did.
Starting off with a slowed down rant of 2Pac saying “Fuck Jay-Z”, Nas begins to son Jay as it is widely known that he was a in awe of Nas and reached out to him several times to make songs (I know you ain’t talking about me dog. You, what?? You been on my dick ni—a, you love my style).
While Takeover had a serious tone, Ether has the tone of kid snapping jokes at an over matched opponent during recess. Nas mocks Jay with a barrage of insults ranging from changing his rapping style because of him (all I did was give you a style for you to run with/smiling in my face, glad to break bread with the god), Jay’s sexual exploits with Foxy Brown (Foxy got you hot cuz you kept your face in her puss/what you think you’re getting girls now because of your looks, ne-gro please), getting overshadowed on his own song (Eminem murdered you on your own shit) , mimicking Jaz-O’s name (Shawn Carter to Jay-Z, damn you on Jaz’s dick), his frequent use of the Notorious B.I.G.’s lines in his songs (how much of Biggie’s rhymes is going to come out your fat lips), and him having to act contrite to Jadakiss (you pop shit, apologize ni—a, just ask Kiss).
Both Hip Hop icons have since buried the hatchet and have become friends, but their epic battle was one for the ages.
