Jay-Z and Nas, former rivals and now friends. Photo: Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Proving that all can be forgiven if the sound and moment is right, Rihanna and Chris Brown are now reportedly in (musical) love again after they appeared on remixes of each other’s recent songs “Birthday Cake” and “Turn Up the Music.” Their new-found musical reconciliation isn’t without precedent though, as these five rap and R&B figures who went from mortal enemies to BFFs prove.
The early 2000s saw these two hip-hop powerhouses firing off a bunch of scathing, entertaining and often petty personal insults at each other, capped by Jay-Z rapping that he’d slept with the mother of Nas’s daughter Destiny on the song “Super Ugly.” But despite dis songs like Jay’s “The Takeover” and Nasir’s “Ether” providing hip-hop gawkers with a thrilling spectacle, money ultimately quashed the beef as Jay, all suited up as the president of Def Jam, invited Nas to sign to the label. Now the duo are frequent collaborators, with Jay even inviting his lil’ pal out on stage for his recent Carnegie Hall gig.
After guns went off inside Manhattan’s Club New York in 1999, the upcoming rapper Shyne reportedly took the wrap for Diddy and spent eight years in prison on an attempted murder charge. The spell in chokey gave Shyne a chance to mull over his relationship with the Bad Boy supremo, and last month he revealed that he’d been speaking to Diddy on the phone and the two had agreed to kiss and make up. Shyne also told MTV News that he planned to meet up with Diddy in Paris, possibly for croissants and coffee.
3. KRS-One and Marley Marl
Before there was the spectacle of Jay-Z vs. Nas, hip-hop had the Bridge Wars, which saw the two biggest crews of the golden era going no-holds-barred at each other. Up in the Bronx, KRS-One and his Boogie Down Productions crew took offense at Marley Marl and his Juice Crew‘s intimation that hip-hop started in Queens on the song “The Bridge.” Cue a series of almighty dis songs, epitomized by BDP’s bombastic “The Bridge Is Over.” Time being the ultimate healer though, nearly two decades later KRS and Marley collaborated on the Hip-Hop Lives album — although it was more the sound of two icons from another decade stumbling into the studio together than a revelatory creative collusion.
50 loves to get mischievous and talk slick about, well, pretty much any rapper out there, but his feud was Ja Rule is one of his longest-running hobbies. Dating back to the days when both rappers came up in Queens, the dispute has involved Fif’ at one point politely asking Ja “When your sweet lil’ ass gon’ come out of the closet?” (on the song “Hail Mary”). This being the digital world though, Ja recently made moves to finally bring the simmering beef to an end by, er, declaring that he is going to stop attempting to insult 50 via Twitter. Small steps!
5. Chris Brown and Odd Future
A modern odd couple beef, Chris Brown and Tyler, The Creator‘s Odd Future embarked on a series of insults via Twitter after the crew’s crooner, Frank Ocean, was video-taped being chased around Los Angeles by a bunch of Brown’s associates. Any ill will between the camps was soon extinguished though, as they batted tweets back and forth with Tyler concluding, “Shit got too real on both ends. I’m over it. We’re all over this shit. It’s stupid as fuck. Swag it out.” Look out for Brown tweeting that line to Rhianna before the week is out.
