I have been a fan of Nas for a long time now. Remember the whole Jay-Z and Nas beef? The feud between the hip hop artists received public attention beginning in 2001 and ended in 2005. Supposedly the tension between Nas and Jay-Z arose after the death of The Notorious B.I.G., which created a vacancy for the “king of New York rap.” I just saw the trailer for the new Biggie movie coming out on the 16th (below) and it’s funny that it has taken more than a decade after the rapper’s death to come out with a movie about him.

“Ether Interlude (Exclusive)” and “Ether:”

“You Know My Style:”

“Destroy and Rebuild:”

Anyway, Nas beats Jay-Z in my book any day. I really can’t wrap my mind around the fact that Jay-Z has the immense popularity that he does. I can understand why Jay-Z is arguably talented, but his voice is really just kind of annoying to me for some reason that I can’t quite put my finger on. Oh, it’s also pretty obnoxious that Jay-Z announced his departure from hip hop so many times on The Black Album but then came back to making tracks just the same. This is arguably a common trend with famous musicians though: something they do as a deliberate attempt to get their egos stroked by having lots of friends and fans beg them to continue making music. So, just like his thirst for money, Jay-Z proved that he loves attention too. Whatever though, it’s the music business, is a desire for money and ego-stroking really so surprising?

“Virgo (Feat. Doug E. Fresh):”

“U.B.R. Unauthorized Biography of Rakim:”

“Hero (Feat. Keri Hilson):”

“Thief’s Theme:”