Not so long after the drop of King’s Disease III, 21 Savage shared his sentiments regarding Nas, that he felt he wasn’t “relevant” anymore. Now, misunderstandings in the rap game have been, for the longest time, the yeast responsible for inflating conflict to the point of it being too big to keep in one room. And after Nas’ relative silence, it made more sense when he brought out 21 on a joint with him on 30 November 2022. “One Mic, One Gun” addresses any speculation about his feelings and whether or not there’d be “another Ether” on the way as bloodthirsty, warmongering bystanders were cheering for.
The Hit-Boy-produced track is a brief two-minute-and-fifty-second song featuring ol’ school trumpets and a bouncy thumping bass prevalent in the King’s Disease run and 21’s own discography. There’s something oddly poetic even in the production. Its old feel and modern aesthetic make it a suitable meeting spot for both rappers from two different eras to converge without compromising the integrity of each other’s styles.
The song is a thing any healthy family would like to see from a grievance between a younger and older brother: shaking hands and meaning their praises for each other. Before Nas’ verse, 21’s goes like a public speech, which he caps off with: “When you turn to a legend, no such thing as relevance”, setting the record straight on his stance regarding Nas, something he reaffirms later in another verse where he raps: “I ain’t goin’ against no legend, nigga, I’m tryna be next in line.” Nas himself chips in, calling the song “a conversation”, that it’s “no back and forth”, a mature gesture from the iconic NY emcee, given his colourful history with beef that has earned his “Ether” mythical status.
“Only way we moving is with love, respect and unity. The foundational principles of hip hop. Excited to collaborate with my young brother, and I hope more artist[s] use turbulent moments and turn them into a time to make new art.”
“One Mic, One Gun” is a joint retort from two grown men, a subtle rebuke to those who’ve been egging Nas on to show 21 his ugliest side and to the naysayers who misconstrued the words of the latter. With the release of “One Mic, One Gun”, Nas has come to the fullness of his big brother position and understanding the function of that status. This is not something he’s new to, by the way. Think back to “Made Nas Proud”, the response to J. Cole’s “Let Nas Down”, a 2013 dedication to him from Born Sinner detailing how disappointed he felt at the revelation that the Queens mainstay, his childhood idol, had frowned upon his breakout single, “Work Out”. After the release of Kendrick Lamar’s ground-breaking good kid, m.A.A.d city, Nas, who had released Life Is Good in the same year, came out and knighted Lamar’s album as the best of 2012. Nas has habituated himself to lifting up the younger generations of the game as an old head, as heard in the lines: “Two kings / We’re sendin’ love to the whole culture.”
With Nas having seen how senseless beefs resulted in premature coffins – like the Tupac-B.I.G. war of attrition, which culminated in their eventual untimely murders – there’s an urgency in “One Mic, One Gun”. That urgency suggests how much he respects how easily things can get blown out of proportion. That “your interpretation” line encapsulated everything well, bringing to the forefront that the problem was never 21’s words (perhaps his poor word selection drew the sharks his way), but what was the issue was the way the people twisted his comment.
In a macho-man sport like rap, where every player is a marionette at the mercy of the strings of their egos, “One Mic, One Gun” is a refreshing approach to squashing a simple misunderstanding. Where other rappers could’ve taken 21’s commentary as a deliberate sub, Nas opted to take the big brother route, making his little brother eat humble pie by eating each piece alongside him at the same table. And he did this without turning his nose up at him and accusing him of spitting on the same canon that paved the way for him.
Listen to “One Mic, One Gun”:
