Unreleased Nas Freestyle Dissing Tupac Shakur Surfaces – Listen
Before Nas’ infamous lyrical feud with Jay-Z in the 2000s, the Queensbridge, N.Y. MC had to deliver some ether toward Tupac Shakur in the 1990s.
A 25-year-old freestyle featuring Nas called “Real Niggas” surfaced online last month, but appears to have began making its rounds on the ’net earlier this week (July 20). On the song, the Grammy Award-winning rhymer spits lyrical darts at Tupac.
“From tube socks in Timbs to blue rocks and Benz/Who got the ends, the type of nigga Tupac pretends/To all niggas who shine, guess who got revenge/I won’t showboat, my flow choke you,” Nas raps on the song.
Nasir then adds, "And if it don’t the .44 will smoke you, left ya seed reminiscing on ya/MCs, I'm pissing on ya/Shine because my chips are longer/These gremlins I'm sicking on ya/Shots ya dodging/While Esco could rock the whole fuckin' Garden/Real niggas are always gonna play this shit."
The freestyle also features a sample of Nas’ opening lines from his 1996’s song “The Message,” which initially sparked their purported beef. Apparently, Tupac thought the line, “Fake thug, no love, you get the slug, CB4 Gusto/Your luck low, I didn't know 'til I was drunk though,” was a diss towards himself.
Last year, Nas spoke to Hot 97’s Ebro in the Morning radio show and shared the story of a conversation he had with Tupac in 1996 about "The Message." “[Tupac] was in New York and there was a lot of tension flaring,” Nas said. “Where I was coming from really wasn’t an all love place ’cause there was a rumor Makaveli [was] coming out, so I really wanted to check the temperature with him." Nas revealed that he heard Tupac had been dissing him during performances at the time.
“It was necessary for us to address the situation," Nas continued. "We had to step to our business. We had a great convo ... He thought I was dissing him on the song “The Message.”
Additionally, as a result of Nas' affiliation with Mobb Deep, whom ’Pac was also feuding with at the time, the late rapper decided to take shots at the New York City-bred lyricist as well on "Against All Odds," a track off of The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
On that song, Tupac raps, "This little nigga named Nas think he live like me/Talking ’bout he left the hospital, took five like me/You live in fantasies, nigga, I reject your deposit."
According to Discogs, the song "Real Niggas" later appeared on a 2002 compilation album called, 2520 Unduplicated Unreleased Classics, Freestyles & Beats.
You can listen to Nas' unreleased track below.