It wasn’t necessarily a shot at him but because the song was a shot at everybody, he fell into that. It’s not a shot at him but he inspired that line. It wasn’t a shot at Jay but it was just saying that’s the minimum you gotta have. I got rid of my Lexus at that point and I was looking for the next best thing. "I saw Jay-Z driving a Lexus with the TVs in them. Nas later confirmed that Jay-Z inspired that line, telling Complex: Plus, his "Dead Presidents II" video shows off a sweet Lexus GS. Recall that Jay likened his mind to a Lexus on "Can I Live" ("My mind is infested, with sick thoughts that circle like a Lexus").
#DEAD PRESIDENTS JAY Z VIDEO TV#
The album opener "The Message" includes the first of many perceived subliminal shots at Jay-Z: "Lex with TV sets the minimum." What does this line have to do with the Brooklyn rapper? Well, Jay-Z's first album sports several references to Lexus. Nas' second album, It Was Written, arrived a month later.
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Word on the street is that Nas was supposed to appear on Reasonable Doubt, but he never showed up to record his verse for "Bring It On." In the absence of the real deal himself, producer Ski Beatz samples a Nas line from "The World is Yours" (Pete Rock remix) on another Jay-Z song, "Dead Presidents II." Arguably Jay-Z's best song, "Dead Presidents II" prominently features the line "I'm out for presidents to represent me." Reasonable Doubt hit shelves in June '96. Nas is one of the hottest MCs in the country, thanks to his debut, Illmatic, released a couple years earlier. Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images