It was last year at New York City radio station Hot-97 FM’s annual “Summer Jam,” that the highly touted beef between two of Hip-Hop’s longtime living legends, Jay-Z and Nas, first began. Unlike the beef between Biggie and Tupac which unfortunately escalated into violence, the feud between Nas and Jay-Z is strictly bangin’ on wax, and at the highest level.

Within the short history of Hip-Hop there have always been lyrical battles. The beef between Bronx-based MC KRS’ONE and Queens-based MC Shan provides one prime example. KRS’ONE proclaimed that “Da Bridge is Over” referring to the failing success of queensbridge MCs as measured against the rise of rappers from the South Bronx. The issue at hand was true ownership of Hip-Hop culture. Each wanted to settle the score and claim that Hip-Hop Culture began and thrived on their home turf, when in fact both places probably had the same amount of youth on the street developing the culture that we know today as Hip-Hop.

This battle, however, was quite innocent, particularly as compared with the horrible battle between Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. that ended up in both of their deaths.

Tupac and Biggie emerged at a time when Hip-Hop was shifting towards tales of street life rather than the aimless bragging rhymes that pervaded the lyrics of many artists in the past. N.W.A and other west coast rappers began the trend of so-called “gansta rap,” whose individual based accounts of ghetto life were marketed heavily once their immense profitablity was seen.

Tupac and Biggie raised the standard of “gansta rap” by providing what it truly takes to connect with urban culture. Tupac is best remembered for his singular talent at maintaining a balance between his raw/wild/thuggish side and his deep/passionate/poetic side. Biggie, whose carreer was substantially shorter than Tupac’s, will be remembered for his ability to cleverly capture the essense of Hip-Hop culture through witty lyrics. Unfortunately for both MCs, the end result of their beef was death. They live as martrys in the lyrics of many present day artists who repeatedly seek to analyze the importance of the two legends.

Since the murder of Biggie and Tupac, glorification of feud amongst rappers has been minimal. While many MCs like Big L and Freaky Tah of the Lost Boys have died becuase of violence unrelated to Hip-Hop, things have been relatively quite on the feud front until today’s lyrical storm. Jay-Z started the feud by publicly roasting many MCs at “Summer Jam,” among them Nas and Mobb Deep. Jay-Z mocked Mobb Deep by displaying a blown up childhood picture of lead rapper Prodigy in a ballet outfit, and took it directly to Nas’ career calling his lyrical skills “garbage” and adding that he averages “one hot album every ten years,” giving credit only to Nas´ debut Illmatic.

Nas came back by recording “Stillmatic,” a freestyle calling Jay-Z “H to the izzo, M to the izzo” and insulting his record label. Nas’ rebuttal initially received airplay on New York’s premier radio station Hot-97, but was eventually banned after the station allegedly gave in to complaints from Jay-Z’s constituents claiming the freestyle could be detrimental to Jay-Z’s career.

After Jay-Z recorded “Takeover” (his official shot at Nas on wax), I admit to thinking Nas’ career would soon be over. Faced with humiliation and legions of non-believers, Nas emerged to release “Ether,” an effective retaliation against Jay-Z and his constituents. In it Nas says to Jay-Z “You’re a fan, a phony, a fake, a p****y, a stain/ I’ll still kick your ass/ you 36 in a karate class?” This diss prompted Jay-Z to record a freestyle glorifying his affair with the mother of Nas’ child.

In my opinion Nas has emerged so far as the more intelligent MC, and claimed the title of current Hip-Hop king. Nas adamantly opposes the concept of feuding but feels he was left no other choice but retaliation in the wake of the blatant disrespect Jay-Z showed towards him. The caliber of this feud is taking Hip-Hop to another level artistically, and hopefully the end results this time around won’t involve any real-world violence.