Rapper Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest hung out with Math Hoffa on the My Expert Opinion podcast and talked about battling Ol’ Dirty Bastard from the Wu-Tang Clan when he was in the 11th grade.
Back then, young emcee did not go by the moniker that made him famous. He went by the slick handle of “J-Nice.”
The Abstract shared on the episode that because he had garnered a reputation for rap battling people would seek him out to catch wreck. One of the people tracking him down was Ason Unique, the name the “Brooklyn Zoo” rapper received when he discovered knowledge of self in the Nation of Gods and Earths.
He says, “My man from my school said that this n####’s gonna get you.”
“My man Rob, we were in the lunchroom. It was seven period. He was outside.” He says that his friend told him that the guy is outside waiting on him. Tip continues telling the story, “ ‘Where’s J-Nice? Where’s J-Nice?’ and so I just said let’s go.”
He shares that everyone in the school followed him outside … old school style. Either it was going to be a battle or a fight. Whichever way it was diced, people were there for the show.
“It’s classic s###. We go outside, right in the front and its Ason, the Ol’ Dirty Bastard,” he reveals.
Mocking the iconic rapper, he barks, “Where’s J-Nice at?” He further states that RZA was there. “That’s how I first met them. So, we battle and s###.”
He says that he went first and actually spit his rap from the lyrical contest.
“MC J-Nice that is my title …”
And then Ol’ Dirty burst in and said that he needed his beatbox to go. It was RZA.
The rapper and producer responsible for so many classics in the Hip-Hop lexicon said that ODB was on his style “early” — meaning back when they were kids.
Q-Tip, who just celebrated the 30th Anniversary of his legendary album Low End Theory, said that he took the “L.” Still in losing, we all won. We got a great story about two legends and a glimpse into what the Golden Age of Hip-Hop looked like.