Steve Stoute insists he was like Switzerland when it came to the Jay-Z vs. Nas beef.
The music executive discussed the infamous feud during a new appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s Club Shay Shay show. Stoute, who had a business relationship with both Jay and Nas, said the hip-hop heavyweights had a unique dynamic and could’ve squashed their beef much sooner had they been more honest about their mutual respect.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation where two people had respect for one another, they just never shared it with each other,” Stoute told Sharpe. “And you’re sitting in between them thinking, ‘If they only knew what each other felt, this would go away.’ That’s what I felt.”
Stoute said it was mostly “easy” being friends with the former foes; however, things did get a bit tense once outsiders started to weigh in on the situation.
“The part of it that was difficult was the outside pressure of people thinking, ‘How could you be friends with both of them at the same time? You must be passing information on, something like that,’” he recalled. “There was no information to pass. They had known each other before. They knew each other before me, actually. They knew each other before me and the issues that they had had nothing to do with me. It was very unfortunate.”
Stoute went on to praise both Hov and Nas for the way they handled their feud and their decision to keep it strictly lyrical.
“When they had a beef, no guns, nobody got shit. Lyrical. Songs,” he said. “And you know what? They made up, as men, in front of everybody. That’s what it’s supposed to be. They had a conflict, it was handled through music, and they made up publicly. No one got hurt, no guns, none of that. That really did a lot. … Disputes can be handled [without violence]. And that was dope.”
Stoute, who previously worked as Nas’ manager, also took the time to praise the rapper’s lyricism and his business acumen. He recalled how he—along with everyone else in the biz—wanted to work with Nas following the release of his 1994 debut album, Illmatic. Stoute eventually connected with Nas and helped him create his sophomore project, It Was Written. Stoute said he had gained Nas’ trust and linked him up with a team of talented producers, including Dr. Dre and the Trackmasters.
“The first song that the Trackmasters—when I put them together—they made was ‘If I Ruled the World (Imagine That),’” he revealed. “Working with Nas was one of the greatest accomplishments I’ve ever had in my career. Nas is one of the greatest writers of all time, in any topic. And when you get the chance to work with that level of greatness—one of the best who ever did it—that just doesn’t happen. It’s a privilege to be able to say I did that.”
Sharpe questioned how Stoute convinced Nas to trust him after he'd had so much success with Illmatic. The music executive said Nas “believed in” him and understood his overall vision. He acknowledged that Nas’ debut LP is regarded as one of the greatest rap albums of all time, but it wasn’t a massive commercial success.
“We had to make money, which meant we had to expand and grow,” he continued. “There was a very clear line between the artist that was making successful music…and the artist that was underground, local, couldn’t get out of the local moniker. And he didn’t want [the latter] to be him. … He didn’t care about money, but he did care about being successful. So my interpretation of that was, ‘Let’s make bigger music. Let’s make bigger songs. And let's find the producers and the talent that can help us.”
You can check out Stoute’s comments in the video above. The Club Shay Shay episode, below, also found Stoute discussing his familial relationship with Jay-Z, as well as Hov’s fallout with Dame Dash, with whom he founded Roc-A-Fella Records in 1996.
Stoute described Dash as a "very very smart" man who got in his own way. He painted the label boss as an immature egomaniac who couldn't take Jay to the next level.
"Jay grew up. You know, Jay wanted more, I think Jay seen Dame's ceiling," Stoute explained. "I mean, I think that's really what it was. ... He wanted more, and everybody wanted more."
Dash responded to the comments in an Instagram post on Wednesday, writing, "This is the reason I had to smack the shit out of @stevestoute a couple years ago." He captioned a clip of Stoute's interview, "Because he’s always speaking on other men’s business. Good thing I’ve evolved."
