In December 2001, Nas sent shockwaves through hip-hop with the Ron Browz-produced “Ether,” his scorched earth response to JAY-Z’s diss track, “Takeover.” According to the Queensbridge MC’s close collaborator Large Professor, an earlier version of the track produced by Swizz Beatz featured lines about late R&B singer Aaliyah’s fatal plane crash.
During an interview with Vlad TV, Large Pro gave his recollection of the lines in which Nas dissed Jay by referencing Aaliyah, who was engaged to the Brooklyn rapper’s business partner Dame Dash at the time of her death:
Sorry Aaliyah
I’m sorry it was you in the plane crash
It should’ve been Jay… Dame Dash
In August 2001, Aaliyah was returning to the US from a video shoot in the Bahamas when her twin-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff. Aaliyah was a close friend of Jay, who later memorialized her on the remix of her track “Miss You.”
Large Pro said Swizz’s beat was faster and noisier than Ron Browz’s version, resulting in “Ether” going through different stages before it was released. “[Nas] took the crux of the idea of that first one he did with Swizz, and then kind of did a re-edit with the Ron Browz joint,” the “It Ain’t Hard to Tell” producer said.
Despite containing watered down lyrics, Nas gets personal on “Ether” with homophobic insults referencing the Brooklyn hustler after which Roc-A-Fella Records is named:
Rocafella died of AIDS, that was the end of his chapter
And that’s the guy y'all chose to name your company after?
Put it together: I rock hoes, y'all rock fellas
And now y'all try to take my spot, fellas
Elsewhere in the interview, Large Pro said “Takeover” was better musically and featured Jay using history and facts to take down Nas, whereas “Ether” was purely driven by rage.
While Jay focuses primarily on the decline of Nas' career on the diss track, the Roc-A-Fella founder does end “Takeover” with lines alluding to his affair with the mother of Nas' first child:
Because you-know-who did you-know-what
With you-know-who, but let’s keep that between me and you
Jay also mentions Large Professor on “Takeover” when he raps:
I showed you your first TEC on tour with Large Professor
Then I heard your album about your TEC on the dresser
Roughly a week after “Ether” dropped, Jay debuted “Supa Ugly” on Hot 97 using Nas' “Got Ur Self A…” instrumental. On the last verse, Jay goes into further detail about the affair:
Me and the boy A.I. got more in common
Than just balling and rhyming; get it? More in Carmen
I came in your Bentley backseat, skeeted in your Jeep
Left condoms on your baby seat
While “Supa Ugly” was the official end of the battle, Nas and Jay would trade subliminal insults on tracks such as “Last Real Nigga Alive” and “Blueprint 2” before mending fences at an October 2005 Power 105.1 concert which would be labeled as “I Declare War.” In 2006, they collaborated on “Black Republican” from Nas' 2006 album, Hip Hop Is Dead.
Watch the Large Professor’s Vlad TV interview above, and catch up on all the lyrics to Nas' “Ether” on Genius now.
