"Stillmatic, it's just telling you my mind state now, how it's grown," he continued, "and it is actually better than Illmatic, because it's taking hip-hop back to hip-hop, and that's everything. When Illmatic came, it did what it did, and I'm proud of that. I'm glad people can appreciate the art. With this new album, it's gonna be the same thing." 

Nastradamus, as he called himself on his last album, was right. Critics and fans hailed Stillmatic upon its release. He had another classic on his hands, almost eight years after he debuted.

"I'm real happy about the reception," he said in early February. "At first I thought people were going to turn away from it, because there wasn't no radio-friendly music on it. It was just straight-up real hip-hop underground. I thought it was going to suffer because of all the mainstream pop acts that are out, but people are waiting for the truth. People are waiting for true rhymes, tracks, beats put together for a perfect combination to take them on a [journey]. I think people got a chance to travel with the music and get into a zone." [RealVideo] 

Nas had good reason to be happy. His soon-to-be masterpiece was almost overshadowed not by the legacy of his own Illmatic, but by the controversial lyrical battle with Jay-Z that built into a December 11 song skirmish on New York radio station Hot 97. Nas' dis track "Ether" was pitted in a head-to-head battle against Jay-Z's "Super Ugly," with the most abrasive cut determined by fans' faxes and calls to the station. "Ether" won, 52 to 48 percent.

"I won by a landslide in New York, I'm good now forever," Nas gloated. "I know [Roc-A-Fella] puts out music all the time, and they're constantly doing things for radio and probably have better relationships than I have, because I'm not always out there with music," he said of the conflict. "But [winning] did surprise me, 'cause I didn't think I was gonna get the support from the radio station, but that's when I realized it wasn't about a radio station. It was about God. It wasn't about egos. It was about New York deciding on their own, and that's what happened. It's over." [RealVideo] 

While Nas says he's stepping out of the ring, Jay-Z, on the other hand, has been hinting that he's reloading his lyrical ammo. On the title track for The Best of Both Worlds, his collaborative LP with R. Kelly, Jay rhymes, "Don't you know I eat ether and breathe acid, weak bastards?"