Rakim Says He’s Cool with Nas

Published by Tyler Hakes on September 8, 2010 at 2:46 pm

Rakim and Nas Stand Side by Side Move along — nothing to see here. After a small exchange of words and some pseudo-beef that’s been fanned across the ‘net, hip hop legend Rakim says that him and Nas have smoothed out any animosity that’s been stirring over the past few years.

“[Nas and I] spoke briefly,” he said in an August interview with HardKnock.tv, “I still got love for him, but it’s just principle … I just felt violated that he touched on things that I never touched on.” The supposed beef between the two MCs has been hyped up in the media and on hip-hop blogs as of lately.

What originally started as a tribute to one of his inspirations, Nas’ 2004 track, “U.B.R. (Unofficial Biography of Rakim)”, wasn’t as well received as he may have hoped. In an interview last year, Rakim said he had “mixed feelings” about the track, and specifically about how Nas handled it. He said that Nas never approached him before or after releasing Street’s Disciple, the album that contained “U.B.R.”, which made him suspicious of the motivation behind the track.

Rakim also expressed some distaste for the use of his government name and the name of his children in the track. “I’m a conservative person,” he told The Urban Daily in 2009, “I speak about what I feel I need to.”

It seems that what transpired between the two was simply a miscalculation on Nas’ part, a dash of misunderstanding from Ra’s vantage point and a whole mess of media masquerading. Hopefully we can put any potential beef behind us and the two MCs can continue to do what they do best — bless the mic.