One of the greatest debates in Hip-Hop history is who won the JAY-Z and Nas beef. Many will point to “Ether” and state that gave Esco the victory, and perhaps Hov will agree?

On the 18th anniversary of Jay’s The Blueprint album, Def Jam published an oral history of the album and its impact and pulled in Lenny S for insight. During his section, Kodak Lens detailed not only how he felt about the moment happening while knowing Jay was the best, but also that Hov was accepting of the percieved L.

“The Blueprint showed me how selfless Jay was. This was the time when ‘Takeover’ was out and ‘Ether’ and everything. The energy was kind of crazy,” Lenny S. said. “I was so mad, I wanted to cry… I was angry. I knew Jay is the best, Jay’s the best rapper, he’s the best businessman, he’s the best entrepreneur. In my heart, I felt he was the best.”

After hitting both Hov and Kareem “Biggs” Burke on a two-way pager to express his feelings, Jay reached out to Lenny via phone.

“Jay’s on the phone with me, convincing me that this has to happen in life. We have to go through ups and downs… He just spent 15 minutes convincing me why this was necessary and that it’s alright. This man just took a loss. A public loss to a rival rapper. And he’s convincing me… of like why I need to be OK with this and let it go and not take it to heart… Jay took the time when he could have been selfish, or pissed off, and took the time to school me. And that’s from The Blueprint.”

The Blueprint would go on to be one of the best Hip-Hop albums in history, Jay’s “Loss” would be in the history books but followed by man career wins including eventual peace and friendship with Nas.

You can check out the oral history piece here.

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