Swizz Beatz Dropped an Unreleased Jay Z, Nas, DMX, and Jadakiss Song Friday Night
Given the cultural impact of “Takeover,” “Ether,” and the reconciliation between Jay Z and Nas during the 2005 “I Declare War” concert, it’s pretty safe to assume moments involving the Jay and Nas move the needle. The proverbial ante is upped when DMX—who shared a now-infamous battle with Jay Z and co-starred with Nas in Belly—is added to the mix. Such was the case Friday night, as Swizz Beatz dropped a previously unreleased collaboration between Jay Z, Nas, DMX, and Jadakiss during his live beat battle with Just Blaze.
For a bit of brief context, before he was making headlines of the more unfortunate variety, DMX had a run during the ’90s of four consecutive albums debuting at the No. 1 spot. Jay Z truthfully boasted of having more No. 1 albums than Elvis Presley, and Newsweek confirmed the feat as Blueprint 3 gave Jay his eleventh top album. Nas and Jay are a handful of artists to earn the vaunted five-mic rating from The Source, and Jadakiss is closing in on 20 years in the game as a highly-respected MC.
[youtube ytid=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YaDNDpO7vfg&w=560&h=315%5D
Swizz hasn’t revealed when the song was recorded, and between Nas’ reference to the synthetic drug bath salts and Jay Z referencing Coming to America’s fictional nation of Zamunda (Hov infamously dressed as Coming to America’s Prince Akeem for Halloween in 2015) it’s unclear when the track was crafted.
What is rather clear is the reaction to the track, as fans have already attempted to filter the audio and upload it to YouTube as a standalone single. You can stream the entire beat battle via Hot 97’s YouTube channel.
Twitter lost its collective mind Friday night and early Saturday morning as both Just Blaze and Swizz Beatz began trending. Busta Rhymes, who was in attendance for the beat battle, had the classic crunch-face reaction upon hearing the track, and at least one viewer who shared the same feeling quickly turned Busta into a meme. Check out some of the more notable Twitter reactions below:
Busta Rhymes’ reaction when he heard Swizz Beatz drop the unreleased Jay-Z/Nas/DMX/Jadakiss track during his battle vs. Just Blaze: pic.twitter.com/cW9TAEDTgY
— AintNoJigga (@AintNoJigga) February 25, 2017
I’m a church kid who just stayed up past his bed time watching this Just Blaze Swizz Beatz battle. Hip Hop 101. I respect production.
— Kirk Franklin (@kirkfranklin) February 25, 2017
La battle de Swizz beatz & Just blaze pic.twitter.com/FNyfJKY2he
— Lobamcarter (@Jeunelio) February 25, 2017
we did it For the culture. @PharelI and @Timbaland up next. Cc @THEREALSWIZZZ pic.twitter.com/VlmUL7U1Mt
— Just Blaze (@JustBlaze) February 25, 2017
Just Blaze took to Twitter to suggest Timbaland and Pharrell be featured during the next battle. Twitter might figuratively erupt if such a pairing were to happen. In the meantime, we can hope for an official release of the track between Jay Z, Nas, DMX, and Jadakiss.
[youtube ytid=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXxaLIP0_4w&w=560&h=315%5D
