Prodigy speaks about when he first had to battle Cormega and Nas in QB. Interesting shit. (via)
Damn, I hate talking bout all this but I know its necessary so people can have a clear and factual overstanding of what’s really going on. When I first came back to Queensbridge in 1990 (my moms used to work in qb in the early 80’s and during the summers I went to reese day camp on the hill), I met the Twins, Noyd, Godfather, Gotti, Nitty and every other person that was relevant in the hood. These were all Havoc’s boys. They didn’t really like me at first cause I was new to them. I never met none of them when I was in day camp except for my nigga Nice (Deeky). He was the only one I remembered from back when. So the Twins made me battle every rapper there was in the projects. I did it and I was killing shit, Then the Twins told me – “p you good but you gotta battle cormega and nas last and if you can get threw that you can be down wit us.” I can’t front, I was shook to battle Mega and Nas cause the whole hood would talk about how good they were and they would say quotes from their verses that sounded incredible. When Mega came home from jail back then, I battled him first and got threw it good. Then we walked over to Vernon on Nas block and it was his turn. I spit my shit and he spit his, And when we were done he told Twin Gambino (without me knowing) “p is wack, havoc need to just be a solo artist.” After we walked back to 12th st. Twin told me what Nas said and it made me so tight I started writing the best shit I ever wrote. Twin would say – “fucc nas you better then him p trust me” and I would respond by saying – “na, i dont feel im better then nobody, nas is ill.” I can truly say Nas helped me get better cause I wanted to be part of Havoc’s team. I was feeling how these niggas was living and I wasn’t gonna let nothing or nobody stop me from gettin down. So truthfully speaking, Nas never liked me from the door. But since it was Nas that put the fuel on my fire that made me a better rapper, I had nothing but love and respect for him. I never held a grudge and I never felt no kinda way towards him. As time went on and we started going gold and platinum, Twin came up to me one day and said – “how’s it feel to be better then nas now? i told you you was better then him!” And still I would say – “na, he is ill, i don’t feel i’m better. i just feel we both good.” I started noticing that Nas was always on some high horse shit. That’s exactly and the only reason Mega was mad at him. The whole hood noticed it. Nas never owed me anything and I wasn’t expecting him to do nothing for us. But it was obviously a real problem. Niggas even set Nas’ Nautica van on fire and blew his shit up in the hood. And trust it wasn’t me or any of my crew. It wasn’t until after we sold a shit load of records when Nas started wanting to hang out with us and put us on his album. So the problem really is Nas and not Prodigy or Mobb Deep. We get along fine with everybody so why is it only a problem with a select few? The answer is jealousy and envy. I love Nas but it’s sad that it will never be the same cause I’m older now and I can’t deal with fake shit. Stay sucka free!!!