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“Ether” lives forever.
Some fans have been lightheartedly reviving the Jay-Z vs. Nas feud as the pair of rap deities face off with opposing NYC casino bids.
Resorts World’s casino bid — which Nas partnered with — was approved by the Community Advisory Committee to bring an expanded $5.5 billion casino project to Queens, while Roc Nation’s proposal for a Times Square casino was shot down by the CAC.
Fans leaned into the former rivals’ battle when pitting the pair of opposing casinos against one another, with Nas taking the win, as Resorts World’s proposal just needs approval by the State Gaming Commission while Jay’s alongside SL Green and Caesars’ bid is all but dead.
Nas sat down with Rolling Stone earlier this week, where he reflected on fans bringing his feud with Jay-Z back up with the pair of rap legends as part of the bidding for casino licenses in NYC.
“It is just a thing that some people are going to talk about,” he stated. “No one has any control over things like that. I still study Rakim and Big Daddy Kane. Some rap fans just like to go off on those things from time to time. That’s it.”
Even Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. took a shot at Jay-Z following the Resorts World bid approval.
“There’s a theme in Queens, and I know that Nas was a part of this: Queens get the money. Sorry, Jay-Z, we win again,” Richards quipped. “You can let the Brooklyn borough president know that I send my regards to him.”
Of course, Jay and Nas have long squashed their beef. Tensions in the ’90s reached a boiling point in the early 2000s with the Queensbridge native’s “Stillmatic Freestyle,” which was followed by Hov’s “Takeover” and Nas’ “Ether.”
As for the casino, Resorts World NYC received unanimous approval with a 6-0 vote from the CAC on Sept. 25. Resorts World officials are looking to open the revamped Southeast Queens casino by July 2026, and the Aqueduct Park project is slated to be one of the largest in the U.S. at 350,000 square feet.
Resorts World is set to also open a brand new 7,000-person capacity entertainment venue, while NBA champion and Queens native Kenny “The Jet” Smith will assist in bringing a sports complex to the Resorts World campus.
The ambitious project hopes to bring 24,000 new jobs to Queens and $1 million in new revenue during its first year of operation.
