Takeover (song)
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| "Takeover" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Song by Jay-Z | ||
| from the album The Blueprint | ||
| Released | September 11, 2001 | |
| Recorded | 2001 | |
| Genre | East Coast hip hop | |
| Length | 5:13 | |
| Label | Roc-A-Fella/Island Def Jam | |
| Writer(s) | Jay-Z | |
| Producer(s) | Kanye West | |
| The Blueprint track listing | ||
| The Ruler's Back (1) |
"Takeover" (2) |
Izzo (H.O.V.A.) (3) |
"Takeover" is an album track recorded by Jay-Z for his 2001 hip hop album The Blueprint. The song is also a diss track aimed at rappers Nas and Prodigy of Mobb Deep.
This song was the first official LP diss track to directly publicize the hip hop rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z (although there exist several other rap records prior to this featuring subliminal disses from both Nas and Jay-Z towards each other).
In the second verse, Jay-Z alleges that Prodigy (member of Mobb Deep) took ballet classes as a child and mocks Prodigy's small stature. Jay-Z further dismisses Mobb Deep as competition in the hip hop industry by pointing out that his career had more commercial success than they ever would. Mobb Deep replied to Jay-Z in a subsequent LP diss trick, but their rivalry has more or less been overshadowed by the rivalry between Nas and Jay-Z.
In the third verse, Jay-Z ridicules Nas's discography (at the time consisting of four albums) and claims Nas has a "one hot album every ten year average." Jay-Z referred to a widespread feeling from many hip hop critics and purists that Nas's subsequent albums after his legendary Illmatic debut were mediocre follow ups. Jay-Z also questions Nas's street credibility and claims Nas has lied or exaggerated about his past in songs, with the lines, "Nigga, you ain't live it you witnessed from your folks' pad/Scribbled in your notepad and created your life/I showed you your first tec, on tour with Large Professor (Me! That's who!)/Then I heard your album 'bout your tec on your dresser." Jay-Z also ridicules Nas's style, flow, and career decisions, with lyrics like, "Nigga switch up your flow, your shit is garbage/But you try and kick knowledge? (Get the fuck outta here)" and "Fell from top ten to not mentioned at all/To your bodyguard's "Oochie Wally" [from Nastradamus] verse better than yours/Matter fact you had the worst flow in the whole fuckin' song..." The song initiated one of the biggest and most hyped hip hop rivalries within the industry, and the song was generally well-received by fans. At the time, the song's hard-hitting caliber was such that Jay-Z and many hip hop fans had felt that this song could have potentially ended Nas's career. On the contrary, however, the track merely served to reinvogorate Nas' career as he responded to "Takeover" with a diss track of his own, entitled "Ether".
Jay-Z responded to "Ether" with a freestyle entitled "Supa Ugly". Jay-Z and Nas would release other subsequent diss tracks and records referencing the feud, including "Blueprint 2" (from Jay-Z's The Blueprint 2: The Gift & the Curse) and "Last Real Nigga Alive" (from Nas's God's Son.)
"Takeover" is produced by Kanye West and samples The Doors' "Five to One."
The song also references Fame by David Bowie where Jay-Z imitates Bowie's call of "Fame" replacing it with "Lame".
Rapper 50 Cent acknowledged "Takeover"'s insults towards Mobb Deep, whom ironically he signed a mere few months later to his G-Unit Records imprint, in his own diss song "Piggy Bank", by telling his rival Jadakiss "Jada don't fuck with me if you wanna eat, 'cause I'll do your lil' ass like Jay did Mobb Deep"
