An unreleased freestyle from Nas dissing 2Pac has surfaced more than 25 years after the two hip-hop titans clashed before ultimately settling their differences prior to 2Pac’s tragic death in 1996.
The song, titled “Real N–gas,” is preceded by a sample of Nas’ opening bars from his It Was Written cut, “The Message,” as a makeshift hook before Nas attacks the track, rapping: “I got dreams of ganja trees and fronto leaves / Honda bikes, diamond dikes rubbing me, loving me.” Midway through the verse, he takes aim at Pac, rhyming “From tube-socks in Timbs to blue rocks and Benz / Who got the ends, the type of n–ga 2Pac pretends / To all n–gas who shine, guess who got revenge / I won’t showboat, my flow choke you,” the first time fans have heard Nas on wax disparaging the late icon.
From there, Nas continues on his warpath, dropping the threat-laden couplets, “And if it don’t the 44 will smoke you, left ya’ seed reminiscing on ya’ / Emcees I’m pissing on ya’ shine ’cause my chips are longer / It’s gremlins I’m siccing on ya, shot, ya’ dodging / But Esco could rock the whole f–king Garden” before closing out the track.
While 2Pac called Nas out by name on his posthumous album Makaveli, most notably on the song “Against All Odds,” on which Pac barked, ‘This little n–ga named Nas think he live like me / Talkin’ bout he left the hospital, took five like me / You live in fantasies, n–ga, I reject your deposit.”
In the end, although tensions were brewing between the Queensbridge faction and Death Row, Nas and Pac were able to make peace. Esco recalled, “He was like, ‘Yo Nas, we brothers, man. We not supposed to go through this’ and I was like, ‘That’s what I’m saying.’ We had a plan to squash it in Vegas, so I was out there when he was in the hospital and praying for him to come through. Rest in peace to ‘Pac.”