Jadakiss has lived through a legendary career, so much so that he's become associated with the expression: Top 5 Dead Or Alive. Recently, Mr. Raspy connected with Bootleg Kev and DJ Hed for an insightful interview, in which some of his biggest feuds go addressed. Around the 33-minute mark, Jadakiss admits that battling Beanie Sigel in 2001 was the most emotionally difficult of his duels. As far as origin, the reason for the beef remains up for debate, but the intensity ramped up with every minor shot. Some speculate that Jay-Z felt some type of way about his New York competition, and Beans was acting on his behalf.
"It really caught me off," admits Jada. "I really didn't see that coming. But then after him, they kinda made him do it. That made me feel better than it just happening out of nowhere. Once he let out what was the nature of it." When asked for further clarification as to why Beanie would be pressured into a feud, Jadakiss chalks it up to the publicity. "His album was coming out. A lot of times, dude will tell you go fight the bully to take the heat off the other guy."
The host inquires whether or not Kiss and Jay-Z had animosity leading up to the Sigel war, which Kiss affirms. "Remember he was throwing...he was doing everything," says Kiss. "I'd do the original, he'd do the remix. The R. Kelly 'Fiesta," he did a remix. There was a lot of little stuff going on!" He laughs. "I can listen to some Hov shits and be like 'I know he was talking about me.' He might have not been, but that was the good part of hip-hop back then though. That's what's missing now...Back then you had to go in the stu. You had to come out of the studio, everyone was waiting fresh off the presses."
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You may recall Jadakiss and 50 Cent exchanging words back in 2005, culminating in Jada's scathing retaliation "Checkmate." The beef originally started when Jada hopped on Ja Rule's "New York," during the height of the G-Unit/Murder Inc war. Naturally, Fif took Jada's perceived "loyalty" to hear. Bootleg Kev asks whether the 50 Cent beef ever crossed the line, citing "Piggy Bank" as a particularly disrespectful track. "I thought the Sigel one, the State Property one could have got more hands-on," replies Jada. "It was different times. Gun carrying, everyone was gripped-up crazy. It hurt me. Philly's like our second home. 50, I made a lot of money off the 50 thing. It was a different era. "Checkmate" actually charted. I was going on tour off that. Then I went to see Jimmy [Jones], Jimmy made sure I was good...I appreciated the Fif thing more than the Sigel one. The Fif thing was beautiful."
"He was selling that next album, that was out of nowhere too," continues Jada, circling back to his original theory. While Fif was eager to blame the Ja Rule collaboration "New York," Jada isn't quite buying it. "We came in the game with Ja," explains Jada, even though Ja's camp warned there might be Fif-related repercussions. "They mentioned it, but I liked the song! It was a good song, it was representing New York. I don't have to answer to nobody."
For more game from the legendary Jadakiss, be sure to check out the full interview below.