PT Entertainment
Nas and 21 Savage quickly settled their mini-beef with “love, respect and unity” by collaborating on a new track titled “One Mic, One Gun.”
The surprise single comes weeks after 21 Savage questioned the Illmatic legend’s relevance during a conversation with Jay-Z. “I don’t feel like he’s relevant,” 21 Savage said of Nas, Jay-Z’s old “Ether” sparring partner before those two rappers ended their feud decades ago. “I just feel like he got a loyal fan base. He still makes good music.”
The remark was misconstrued, in 21 Savage’s opinion, as a slight toward Nas, with the Atlanta rapper later clarifying on Twitter, “I would never disrespect nas or any legend who paved the way for me y’all be tryna take stuff and run with it.”
Just over two weeks later, the duo linked up for the HitBoy-produced “One Mic, One Gun,” a one-off single that follows both Nas’ new album King’s Disease III as well as 21 Savage’s Her Loss with Drake. The track is a nod to both Nas’ Stillmatic classic “One Mic” as well as 21 Savage’s own 2018 track “asmr,” where he noted, “I just need one Glock, Nas need one mic.”
21 Savage touches on the controversy he stirred in the track’s opening bars, “When you turn to legend, no such thing as relevance / They must’ve forgot that I’m a new rapper that got integrity / All of the media and blogs, that’s just a place I don’t care to be.”
Prior to the single’s release, Nas noted the collaboration on Instagram, saying, “Only way we moving is with love, respect and unity. The foundational principles of hip hop. Excited to collaborate with my young brother and I hope more artist use turbulent moments and turn them into a time to make new art. That’s what it’s about.”
