Nas’ verse on Raekwon’s song “The Omerta” off his new album The Emperor’s New Clothes has only been out for a few days but has already been adorned as one of the best rap verses of the year; however, a little controversy has followed that verse. Many Hip-Hoppers have murmured that the original verse Nas spit was removed because he took shots at his rap rival, Jim Jones.
A leaked version of the verse that didn’t make Raekwon’s final cut has fans declaring that it was changed because Nas was taking shots at Jim Jones and Rae didn’t want to be involved in any shenanigans between his two rap peers, but now, the Chef is clearing the air and declaring that Nas was not dissing Jim on the leaked version of the verse.
Taking to social media, Raekwon touched on the subject and proclaimed that “Nas did not write that verse for Jim. That was a stray shot Jim got hit with. Y’all made it seem like it was for Jim. Nas wasn’t dissing Jim. He wasn’t dissing him.”
Further explaining the situation, Rae stated that the reason Nas changed the verse wasn’t because it was a subliminal diss toward Jim Jones, but because it was a months-old verse and he knew that’s how people would perceive it telling Rae “I’ma do another verse my ni**a because I don’t know, for some reason I think that this rhyme right here is gonna make ni**as feel like I’m dissing Jim and I’m not.”
Admitting that the rhyme was laid down way before Jim reignited his decades-old rivalry with Nas, the Queensbridge King didn’t want to fan the flames and have the beef between the two continue to sizzle when that wasn’t his intention.
While we’ll never know if Nas intended to take a swipe at Jim Jones on the original verse and thought better of it later on, we do know that the original verse went hard as well and heads will always assume what they want to regardless of what the artist may say.
Check out the original verse to Raekwon’s “The Omerta,” and let us know your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.