Jay-Z and Nas spent years as embittered rivals, trading Titianesque blows in one of hip-hop's most evenly matched beefs of all time, only to bury the hatchet in 2005 during Jay's "I Declare War" tour. Since then the pair of moguls have linked up on a variety of tracks, including "Black Republicans" in 2006, "Success" in 2007, and "BBC" in 2013. Dedicated fans know there's still one that got away, a Just Blaze-produced banger called "The Scientist," which first surfaced back in 2009 -- a timeline that places Nas firmly in Untitled territory.
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Though the Jay-Z-assisted track never arrived in full (for reasons unknown), a snippet of Hov's verse recently surfaced. Over a nostalgic Just Blaze produced instrumental, itself a reminder of a lost era, Jay sounds comfortably in his mafioso bag. "Hovito Brigante, my own people that got me, that's what I get for snoozin', moving too sloppy," he spits. "I'm back brilliant, my brains is back in the building, the lights back on the fridge you dig?"
The news came as a surprise to Nas die-hards, many of whom heard snippets of "The Scientist" from a while back and assumed it was a solo joint. Though some speculate the track was meant for The Lost Tapes 2, others seem to think it's destined to arrive in full at one point or another, especially with news of both a Hov-heavy Jay Electronica album and a new project from Escobar himself. While we can't post the snippet on this page, you can check it out via YouTube or right here.