Nas is clearing the air about his lyric on the single "Ultra Black" that was perceived as a Doja Cat diss.
On Friday (Aug. 21), Esco sat down for an interview with Power 106 where he said he meant no disrespect with the name-drop. "I just was really saying a rhyme that rhymed with 'Ultra Black,'" Nas relayed. "I didn't even think of it, you know what I'm saying? It's all love. It was just like, 'Michael Blackson, Black,'" he added referring to the line that followed up the Doja bars. "It's bars, it's lines. We play with words. The song is fun. It's about having a good time."
Nas made headlines after the song was released because of the bars in question where he raps, "Sometimes I'm over-Black, even my clothes are black/Cash Money with the white tee and the soldier rag/We going ultra Black, unapologetically Black/The opposite of Doja Cat, Michael Blackson Black."
Many people believed it was a slight directed at the South African and Jewish rhymer because of her past controversy with allegedly participating in racist chat rooms and making a song mocking Black people's complaints of police brutality. She later denied being involved with racists and apologized to anyone who she offended.
Following the release of the Nas track, which is the lead single off his new album King's Disease, Doja sarcastically responded to the name-drop on TikTok saying, "I'm so offended and upset by this song." On Thursday (Aug. 20), she revealed she will be dropping a song called "N.A.S.," an apparent response to the Queens legend's lyrics about her.
See the Best Surprise Hip-Hop Albums of All Time