Nelly Denies Starting Beef With KRS-ONE

[bigted]

Grammy-winning rapper Nelly has finally laid rest the speculation that his "#1" 2002 record was directed at hip-hop pioneer KRS-One.

According to Nelly, the track was a shot aimed at all of his haters, not KRS.

"Your music reflects a lot of how you feel on certain things. Having the type a success that I was having and all a that you still find that there's people that basically still try to sh*t on you anyway you try to look at it so... and it just got to a point where you were just like, Man, regardless or whatever the f*ck y'all saying, I'm still No. 1 right now and that's kinda like how we felt... I'm winning and n*ggas is pissin' and sh*ttin' on me and I'm feelin' like, 'C'mon, man, like my city, let us get our shine... Why can't we have ours, everybody else get theirs, why we can't have ours.' You know, so at that time I didn't give a f*ck whoever said something, I felt like I was pissed off about it but the whole thing with Kris [KRS-One], was nothing. Why would I pick him of all people to come out the blue at, at the time? ...I took a lot sh*t personal that I found out you shouldn't take personal 'cause that's just the nature of the world, not even the business." (XXL Mag)

Further interpretation suggest Nelly went at KRS on his "Roc The Mic" freestyle with Freeway.

Davey D reports KRS One has answered the volley that Nelly threw which his appearance on the Freeway remix of 'Roc The Mic'. In the track, Nelly implies that KRS is "an old emcee trying to make a come back" and that he's the "first old man to get a rapper's pension." In KRS' recording 'The Real Hip Hop Is Over Here', he says that unlike Nelly, he's not "universal" and adds that Nelly's rap style sounds like an "*NSYNC commercial." (Rap Dirt)

Around 2002, Nelly's St. Lunatic partner Murphy Lee denied the beef.

"Nelly is humble as hell, it would be something to just tick my man off," said St. Lunatics member Murphy Lee, who also rhymes on the "Roc the Mic" remix. "It was like KRS-One said something first. It was never Nelly come out and just [dis him]. The man is just tired. He had to defend himself. He's like, 'My career probably wouldn't be here if it wasn't for KRS-One,' that's what Nelly is on. My man got tired of critics and made a song '#1.' He wasn't specifically talking about nobody, but if the shoe fits, wear it." (MTV)

However, following the song's release, KRS released records going at Nelly.

KRS-One's latest battle was in 2002, when he launched several diss tracks ("Ova Here," "The Real Hip-Hop," and "You Don't Really Want It") at Nelly over a perceived slight on the St. Louis rapper's "Number 1" song. (All Hip Hop)

[JumpinJack AJ]

Why is all this hype around "feuds" that were going on nearly 10 years ago important again? U can tell that the commercial state of rap is so dead and so boring that they are bringing up old resolved feuds.

[Turntable]

Duh.. KRS was plain crazy going at Nelly

[bigted]

i don't think that a battle was necessary for people to know that krs is a better mc than nelly but it seems over the years that nelly has looked like the more mature person 'cause as much as i like krs one's music his personality annoys me sometimes, nelly might not make any greatest mc list but i could respect that he could make a good song occasionally and that he does his own thing, you can't say that about a lot of today's radio rappers, and with all this talk about feuds from 10 years ago maybe the
next time eminem's interviewed they'll ask him about what he
said about will in the "real slim shady"

Edited November 19, 2010 by bigted

[VIsqo]

I agree on Nelly being the more mature person. But ofcourse nobody should mess with KRS. I dont think that even Eminem would ever try to mess with him or Rakim.

[bigted]

krs is like many of the pioneers that shouldn't ever be dissed on songs 'cause lyrically they can't be touched, today's rappers like nelly and eminem should just do their thing and only give props to the legends that paved the way for them....

[Turntable]

I do not agree. If they find a reason to diss him, why shouldn't they, this is Hip Hop we are talking about, it's also competition. They can still give him respect.

[bigted]

they could be competitive in a more creative way by working on coming up with strong verses when doing collaborations and having the fans debate who did the best job on the songs

[Turntable]

They could, but they could also make battle tracks against each other. I mean that is one of the essences of Hip Hop.

[Big Willie]

Nelly deserves way more credit that he gets, he may not make top 10 lists, but he's one of the more original/versatile artists to enter the mainstream over the last decade.

I'm cool with dissing/beef/battles as long as it stays lyrical, when it turns into more than a verbal exchange, just makes everyone involved look idiotic.

And, I think Eminem would be more than willing to go at KRS if he had a reason to do so. It'd be hard to call a winner too, in my opinion. No-one is untouchable.

[Turntable]

Word at everything you said.

[VIsqo]

I agree. Nobody is untouchable.