Nas's second album
It Was Written was released on July 2, 1996. Nas' lead single
"If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" (Track # 14) was released on June 4, 1996, and the music video was released on the week ending on June 16, 1996, on 2Pac's 25th birthday. The music video featured an intro with a modified verse from the song "The Message" (Track # 2) which was suspected of having subliminal disses towards 2Pac and the
Notorious B.I.G. even more than the album version: "You weak cats are played out, get robbed and laid out", referencing 2Pac's shooting and robbery at the New York
Quad Studios on November 30, 1994. Nas would later repeat the move when he released the
Jay-Z and
Roc-A-Fella diss track
Ether (Track # 2 on
Stillmatic) on Jay-Z's birthday on December 4, 2001. The song
"Street Dreams" (Track # 3) used the same sample as 2Pac's
"All Eyez On Me". The songs "Take It In Blood" (Track # 6) and "Silent Murder" (Bonus track # 15) were produced by
Stretch and the
Live Squad, 2Pac's former friends who 2Pac accused of setting him up at the Quad Studios shooting. Stretch was killed exactly a year later on November 30, 1995. The song "Nas Is Coming" (Track # 7) was produced and featured
Dr. Dre who recently left Death Row records. 2Pac premiered his song "Troublesome '96" on July 4, 1996, at the House of Blues starting with words for Nas, taking the same sample from the Whodini song "
Friends" as Nas used for "If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)" like Nas did with "Street Dreams". 2Pac and Nas confronted each other in New York at the
1996 MTV Video Music Awards on September 4, 1996, and allegedly squashed their beef. Young Noble was with 2Pac and spoke about in his last interview. 2Pac was shot and
died on September 13, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada. His posthumously released album
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (under the alias Makaveli) featured the song "Against All Odds" (Track # 12) which was a response to Nas' "The Message". Later in 1996 Nas recorded a song "Real ******" which sampled "The Message" in the intro: "Who got the ends, the type of a ***** 2Pac pretends", confirming that "The Message" really was directed at 2Pac. Nas again dissed the late 2Pac on a
DJ Clue mixtape
Cluemanatti Pt. 2: The Rematch on the song "Freestyle Intro": "Black Pirellis rolling over this Makaveli". Mobb Deep released their single featuring Nas "
It's Mine" on August 31, 1999. It featured a hook and a Nas verse suspected of having subliminal disses towards the late 2Pac. 2Pac and the Outlawz's album
Still I Rise was released on December 21, 1999, and the Outlawz freestyled on
Rap City soon after, responding to "It's Mine": Young Noble rapped "You sayin' Thug Life yours, betta act a clown, Cause when you see us, dawg ain't no backin' down" and
Napoleon saying "Thug Life is yours... SIC! You gone see boy... Get it right!". After years of subliminal disses and commentary from Nas, Young Noble exploded on him on January 3, 2025, in the song "EUTHANASIA". == Death ==