Jay-Z Had To Look In The Mirror & Question Himself After Lil Wayne’s “Dough Is What I Got” Freestyle

After a three-year retirement, JAY-Z returned in late 2006 with Kingdom Come, his comeback album featuring the lead single, “Show Me What You Got.” It wouldn’t be too long before Lil Wayne freestyled over the song’s beat on “Dough Is What I Got,” rapping with such dexterity that the Brooklyn rapper questioned his place in the rap game.

During Wayne’s recent appearance on REVOLT Drink Champs, host N.O.R.E. shared a series of texts from Jay, who remembered his response to the freestyle.

“When he rapped on ‘Show Me What You Got,’ I had to take a long walk and look at myself in the mirror,” Jay wrote. “I said, ‘Are you sure you still got this?’”

Wayne said that he never heard this story directly from Jay before. “He didn’t say that part,” Wayne said. “He just let me know, ‘Boy, you’re coming for me.’”

On “Dough Is What I Got,” Wayne uses NBA references to compare himself to Jay. He likens Jay to Michael Jordan and himself to players considered as Jordan’s heirs, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant:

And when it comes down to this recording
I must be Lebron James if he’s Jordan
No, I won rings with my performance
I’m more Kobe Bryant of an artist
Same coach, same game, been starting
Same Triangle Offense

The freestyle first appeared on the New Orleans rapper’s December 2006 mixtape, Lil Weezy Ana, before becoming more well-known for its inclusion on Da Drought 3 the following year.

Wayne followed up with comments about being “better than Jay-Z” in a Complex interview, sparking a beef between the rappers. They would mend fences when Jay recruited Wayne for “Hello Brooklyn 2.0,” a cut from 2007’s American Gangster—widely regarded as Jay-Z’s return to form.

They went on to collaborate on songs like “Mr. Carter,” and “Swagga Like Us."

Read all the lyrics to Jay-Z’s “Show Me What You Got” and Lil Wayne’s “Dough Is What I Got”