“Rockefeller died of AIDS, that was the end of his chapter”

Contrary to the beliefs of the good people at Dead End Hip-Hop, “Ether” is the greatest diss song ever. Much respect to Ice Cube‘s “No Vaseline“, Cube probably put the nail in the coffin in which N.W.A.‘s reign laid. 2Pac‘s “Hit Em Up” was vicious; and as a Biggie fan I refuse to listen to it, but The Outlaws ruined that song like they ruined “Hail Mary” and “Only God Can Judge Me“. As vicious as 2Pac’s “Hit Em Up” was the fact that it never affected Biggie’s status and Biggie never truly responded took some value away from it nut Nas’ “Ether” changed the way people viewed Jay-Z. Jay-Z was almost looked at as untouchable in the rap world before “Ether” but afterwards the walls around him began to fall. Everyone from 50 Cent to Joe Budden to Jim Jones dissed and took numerous shots at Jay-Z. “Ether” also put to the forefront that Jay-Z was “killed” by Eminem on his own song “Renegade“.

2Pac called out Biggie for being fat and letting Puff dance in all his videos but Pac could not knock Biggie’s lyricism. Nas almost made Jay-Z greatness questionable by pointing out how he bites all of Biggie’s lyrics and Nas opened peoples ears and for awhile people believe Beanie Sigel was better than Jay-Z. “Ether” also stands out more than any other diss track because Jay-Z started it with “Takeover“, Jay-Z responded with “Superugly” while “Ether” still reigned supreme, and Jay-Z’s mother made him walk away. Nas won the beef because Jay-Z threw punches but Nas hit harder while in every other case previously mentioned there were no responses and I believe that takes a lot away from those songs.