See Elizabeth Warren's takedown of Michael Bloomberg at the Democratic debate set to Nas' 'Ether'

Marcus Jones
·2 min read

On Wednesday night at the Democratic Debate in Nevada, primary candidates Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg had a tense moment in which the Massachusetts senator firmly listed major concerns about the former mayor of New York City.

Warren started by citing Bloomberg’s reported history of calling women names such as “fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” and added that “Democrats are not going to win if we have a nominee who has a history of hiding his tax returns, of harassing women, and of supporting racist policies like redlining and stop and frisk.”

Warren’s read of Bloomberg was thought to be so thorough, concise, and devastating that it got paired to a battle rap, leading to Twitter user @AyoTristan to set Warren diatribe to the iconic diss track “Ether,” by Nas. The clip has since gone viral.

“Ether” stems from Nas’ beef with fellow rapper Jay-Z at the turn of the millennium. The Queens rapper traded subliminal shots with the Notorious B.I.G. pupil through the 90s, largely over who would be crowned the next King of New York, until Jay-Z finally premiered a diss track called “Takeover” at Summer Jam 2001, a major annual rap concert in New York.

Nas responded with the nearly five minute song that, among many other things, questioned Jay-Z’s sexuality, accused him of copying rappers like KRS-One, and claimed that Eminem “murdered” him on his own song “Renegade.”

Much like Senator Warren’s callout of Bloomberg, “Ether” was considered a mic drop moment, with none of Jay-Z’s responses reaching the level of notoriety as Nas’ 2001 track from the album Stillmatic. The feud officially ended in 2006, and the rappers have collaborated with each other on multiple songs since then.

Related content: