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Infamous diss track produced by Kanye West, based on a sample of "Five to One" by The Doors. Jigga takes aim at fellow New York emcees Prodigy (of Mobb Deep) and Nas. At the time Nas was in a career nadir, having released several albums deemed mediocre when compared to his acclaimed debut LP Illmatic. Meanwhile, Jay-Z had a string of successful, well-reviewed albums dating back to his debut Reasonable Doubt and, with the release of the instant-classic Blueprint in 2001, was looking to establish himself as the de facto King of East Coast rap.
Bad blood between the rappers dated back to 1996, when Nas failed to show up to a recording session for the song "Bring it On" from Reasonable Doubt. In lieu of the Nas feature, producer Ski Beatz sampled a line from "The World is Yours" for Jay's "Dead Presidents II." Nas, who did not appreciate having the line "bit" for the song, started trading veiled shots with Jay-Z over the next couple of years. But "Takeover" represented a new level of disrespect by directly calling out Nas' perceived artistic decline.
Upon release, "Takeover" was praised by critics for its deft lyrical attacks on Nas' then-waning reputation. Fans thought Jay had just ended his career, but Esco came back strong with an even nastier diss track aimed at Jay-Z the following year. The success of "Ether" helped resurrect Nas' career with both critics and fans. Their beef went on for four more years, until it was finally squashed at a Jay-Z concert in 2005. Shortly afterwards, the two had their first official collaboration when Hov appeared on Nas' track "Black Republican."
The beef helped define both rapper's careers to that point. Gloria Carter, Jay-Z's mother, even got involved at one point, leading Jay to apologize for lyrics in his Ether-response "Supa Ugly" referencing an affair he had with Carmen Bryan (the mother of Nas' daughter Destiny). Ultimately, both rappers were seen as wanting to avoid tragic, violent example set by the even more infamous Notorious BIG-2Pac feud.
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