Nas Addresses Planned Mock-Lynching of Jay-Z (VIDEO)

Nas vs. Jay-Z. A legendary rivalry that’s still on the minds of rap fans, even though nearly a decade has passed since the two kissed and made up. Still, a video released earlier this month of Nas’ plot to mock-lynch Jay-Z for Hot 97’s 2002 Summer Jam concert prompted some negativity, causing Nas to come out and down-play his unrealized stunt.

The YouTube video showed a behind-the-scenes look at the planned stunt in which Nas plotted to stage a mock-lynching of Jay-Z. “I really don’t even want to acknowledge it,” Nas said on MTV News Tuesday. “Everybody’s in a different place. I don’t even want to acknowledge it. I can’t acknowledge that. Jay’s my man, and that’s that, that’s all I’m gonna say.”

The subject is a tough one for Nas. In 2002, after Jay-Z debuted his own Nas dis-track “Takeover”, Nas plotted to return the favor in kind, though upping the ante. On Hot 97’s storied Summer Jam stage, he was going to perform the mock-lynching, but once word got out of his intentions, Hot 97 put constraints on the performance, causing him to pull out of the show.

The video documents the creation of the animatronic Jay-Z stand-in and the gallows from which the puppet would hang. Nas doesn’t appear himself, but his 2001 track “What Goes Around” plays in the background.

The story was huge at the time, but has since faded into obscurity. Nas and Jay-Z settled scores on Power 105.1’s Power House concert in New Jersey back in 2005. Since then, Nas signed to Def Jam Records under Jay-Z’s tutelage and the two have collaborated famously on tracks such as “Success,” “Black President” and Ludacris’ “I Do It for Hip-Hop.”

So they’re pals now, but take a look at the video below. Should Nas address it more fully or were his comments enough to put this beef to bed for good?

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