Ether vs Takeover

[ParasailingSaraPalin]

No one ever consciously includes Pac's posse imo lol.

it's the same for Eminem and D12 honestly

[Mathers]

Ether

I actually like ''Blueprint 2'' more than both of these songs.

[ParasailingSaraPalin]

Okay that I will agree with bigray, but I was thinking moreso about the gap from:

2pac to the Outlawz

and Eminem to D12

both have a massive gap between them in my opinion. But Proof was good at freestyling, and I felt some of Swifts and Porters stuff, especially their first Tim Westwood cypher from the early 2000's (when Eminem burped during proofs verse, still one of my favorite sessions of all time hahaha)

[CrashBand]

People definitely seem to be leaning more towards Takeover these days

[Cinderella Stan]

Ether no doubt.

[Cinderella Stan]

Ether no doubt.

Haha...I like your avi pic

Thanks man I decided to keep the tradition and use only Jessy avis haha.

[Slim Fiasco]

It's like this, as a song, I think Takeover is better, but Ether was the better diss.

Also, Takeover had a lot of lines that were exaggeration like:

Went from Nasty Nas to Esco's trash - He was doing the Esco thing on It Was Written which is far from thrash, and had decent verses on the Firm Album

Had a spark when you started but now you're just garbage - Illmatic is far from a spark, it's a fucking fire that has burnt down a hospital full of babies, and he wasn't garbage bad, in fact his comeback showed something dope.

I showed you your first Tec, on tour with Large Professor
Then I heard your album about your Tec on the dresser - Nas DID have a tec, which has been talked about in one of the Vh1 documentaries, just because the FIRST tec he saw was Jay's, doesn't mean that he didn't have one of his own later on.

So yeah, I sampled your voice, you was using it wrong
You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song - Yeah, right, expect that THe World Is Yours is one of the best HIp-Hop songs, and it's better than Dead Presidents (at the very least arguably)

That's a one-hot-album-every-10-year average - Again, It Was Written was fucking dope, so that's 2 right there. And it's not like Jay's Volume series were that good anyway. PLus Jay is older than Nas, so him being in it for longer kinda goes against Jay's favor.

I am the truest; name a rapper that I ain't influenced

^lines are like that are more powerful and with awesome ramifications

[dead prez]

Expected more jay z votes, where are the camel warriors when you need em. Do I need to break down both songs in detail to get the shit started.

[ronnie56]

ether was lyrically better in terms of rhyming so i give to ether.

[Trilla]

Takeover

Ether is petty insults from Nas.

"Dick sucking lips" doesn't sting as hard as it does today when Jay-Z is gladly pounding Beyonce.

The line about Nas only having one hot album every 10 year average DOES sting as hard as it does today, because when was Nas's last "hot album", Life is Good?

Oh great, can't wait till 2022 for Nas's next cut...

[dead prez]

Alright personally like Slim I can see why someone would like Takeover better as a song (mostly cause of the beat), but as a diss? It's one of the most uninspired and to be honest bland disses that could have been much more. First off Jay tries to go with the whole laidback type don approach and tries to kill two birds with one stone, when he really should have focused an entire song on Nas. And personally his diss towards prodigy is overrated and didn't bury Prodigy like so many people claim, that nigga was already on a downward slope career wise and he just got unlucky getting hit with that diss at the worst possible point. As far the ballerina diss, lemme just backtrack a sec and say why Takeover is horribly dated, maybe back in the 90s keeping it "real" was extremely important and any trace of fakeness was detrimental to a rapper's career. This applied to biggie (who rly wasn't from bedstuy), nas, and a whole fuckton of rappers where if you claim to "shoot shit" but are studio gangsta your career is in jeopardy. Nowadays I think we've moved past that, a rapper can talk about busting gats and shit yet be a completely docile person who merely creates an act to entertain the listener. I doubt most people really give a fuck if Game is in the bloods or not, 50 cent was the last "real" rapper in that regard (even though he's extremely mediocre as an mc). So basically what I'm saying is being a ballerina, going to art school, or not really living in a shack when you claim you do in your records is really not that big of a deal anymore, which is why the brunt of Jay's diss towards Prodigy is horribly dated.


As for Nas, let's break down it line by line shall we?

I know you missing Nas all the (fame)
But along with celebrity comes about 70 shots to your frame, nigga
You a (lame)

Oh wow another horribly dated line that WOULD sting if nas actually faded into irrelevancy post stillmatic, rather than resuscitate his career and even come back as a bigger legend pre stillmatic, lol.

You's the fag model for Karl Kani Esco ads

Dissing Nas for his looks cause he models?

Went from Nasty Nas to Esco's trash
Had a spark when you started but now you're just garbage

Honestly Jay z could have went at Nas in a much more creative way, maybe talk about how he jumped on the mafioso bandwagon when he repped hardcore grimy NY hip hop.... Oh wait.... lol.

As for the latter line, well Jay z and Nas honestly have neck and neck discographies. But at this point Jay was in no position to be throwing stones when he released that sack of shit the dynasty and most of his pre blueprint albums beind duds, other than of course Reasonable Doubt. Honestly they're pretty much the same career wise at this point except Jay z had more mainstream success, but I dare anyone try and argue the quality of his albums at that period.

Whereas Nas dropped illmatic and IWW, which has only grown in the public's perception as a classic, so yeah his disco at that point was pretty much half and half. Assuming you don't count the Firm.

Fell from "top 10" to "not mentioned at all"

Is that why Jay shouted him out in Where I'm From, lol

To your bodyguard's "Oochie Wally"'s verse better than yours
Matter of fact you had the worst flow on the whole fucking song
But I know: the sun don't shine, then son don't shine
That's why your (lame) career's come to an end

This is probably the most relevant line in the song and still holds up, but honestly how many people even heard that song or care about it. Now tell me of Ether's influence which practically ruined Jay'z shot of getting any props at all, because of Nas' line, a lot of people focus on Eminem's verses. When honestly I hold them of the same quality, Em's is just flashier.

Nigga, you ain't live it
You witnessed it from your folks' pad
You scribbled it in your notepad and created your life
I showed you your first Tec, on tour with Large Professor
Then I heard your album about your Tec on the dresser

Goes back to what I said about Prodigy, and how realness is valued a lot less now than it was than. I mean how many people actually are gonna get on G rap's case for Live and let die and call him a phony for his vivid descriptions of raping bitches and shooting niggas.

So yeah, I sampled your voice, you was using it wrong
You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song
And you ain't get a coin, nigga, you was getting fucked then
I know who I paid, God - Serchlite publishing

This is also one of the more hard hitting lines, I'll concede on that. But honestly it just comes off as jay z being a massive nas stan, who at the time constantly wanted a nas feature in his albums and felt pouty cause Nas gave him the cold shoulder.

You said you've been in this 10, I've been in it 5 - smarten up, Nas
4 albums in 10 years, nigga? I could divide
That's one every...let's say 2
2 of them shits was due
1 was "nah," the other was Illmatic
That's a one-hot-album-every-10-year average

Lol, Jay'z been in the game as long as Nas he just didn't drop his debut till he was much older, and why do people always go for the discography attack on Nas when at the time Jay arguably had a worse catalogue, barring the blueprint, loll.
Nigga, switch up your flow
Your shit is garbage

What you trying to kick, knowledge?

I honestly find Nas' refutation of this line underrated, and he flips it in such a fresh way.

You niggas gonna learn to respect the king
Don't be the next contestant on that Summer Jam screen
Because you-know-who did you-know-what with you-know-who
But let's keep that between me and you (for now)

Aaaannd if Jay could have honestly made the diss if he just threw out the allegations that he fucked his wife in this song rather than in supa ugly, which was a supa wack diss. If he threw it in this song it'd have more weight and be shocking, but doing it in retaliation to Ether after he's been atomized and incinerated was a desperate as fuck move and just made him look sleazy instead, tsk tsk.

I'm not gonna break down the third verse cause it's just blegh, some KTTer could do that. Will do Ether in a bit.

[ronnie56]

Tupac was into ballet school as well, its art i don't see the big deal tbh when Jay called out Prodigy on take over.

not that i care about it because the music is all the matters but the difference between pac and prodigy is prodigy claimed to be a cold hearted killer pac did not major difference.

with that said prodigy of mobb deep is a legned and a was a kid at the time of that picture so.

[Trimss]

Takeover

Ether is petty insults from Nas.

"Dick sucking lips" doesn't sting as hard as it does today when Jay-Z is gladly pounding Beyonce.

The line about Nas only having one hot album every 10 year average DOES sting as hard as it does today, because when was Nas's last "hot album", Life is Good?

Oh great, can't wait till 2022 for Nas's next cut...

Nas's last great album was in 2012.
Nas's last project before Life Is Good was Distant Relatives in 2010, which takes a huge shit artistically, and rapping wise on WTT.

Jay's last good album was in 2007.

[dead prez]

Pac was probably the most bipolar artist in that regard, lol. Prodigy was a studio gangster but honestly who gives a fuck it's the quality of the music not the "realness" of the rapper. If pablo escobar released a rap album would taht be good cause he's the "realest" lol.

Also the infamous is better than any pac album.

[dead prez]

The Infamous prelude is just him flexing his flaccid non existant penis.