"The Message" is the third and final single from rapper Nas

Nas

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...

' second album It Was Written

It Was Written

It Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, released July 2, 1996 on Columbia Records in the United States. Following the moderate sales success of his acclaimed debut album, Illmatic , Nas chose to focus his efforts in a more mainstream direction...

. It is produced by the Trackmasters

Trackmasters

The Trackmasters are the successful production duo of Poke and Tone , sometimes credited as Poke & Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 90s and early 2000s. Throughout their career they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including R...

, who sample Sting's "Shape of My Heart" for the song's beat. The song features scratching

Scratching

Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...

 provided by Kid Capri

Kid Capri

David Anthony Love, Jr , also known by his stage name Kid Capri, is an American musician.He was born in the Bronx, New York City, New York, USA....

 and lyrics about the life of a thug. "The Message" was only released as a single in France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and did not manage to reach any music charts. A black-and-white

Black-and-white

Black-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...

 music video was made for the song. "The Message" also features vocal samples from Nas's 1994 classic "N.Y. State Of Mind" with Nas saying "I never sleep/cuz sleep is the cousin of death". And, "I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testin'". And "Halftime" after his second verse saying "There ain't an army that can strike back".

Feud with Tupac Shakur

It was released during the feud between the East and West Coast. West Coast

West Coast hip hop

West Coast hip hop is a hip hop music subgenre that encompasses any artists or music that originates in the westernmost region of the United States, as opposed to East Coast hip hop, based originally in New York alone...

 rapper 2Pac

Tupac Shakur

Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...

 viewed the first lyrics of the song "Fake thug, no love, you get the slug, CB4

CB4

CB4 is a 1993 comedy film directed by Tamra Davis, and starring Chris Rock. The film follows a fictional rap group named 'CB4', named after the prison block in which the group was allegedly formed...

 gusto, your luck low, I didn't know till I was drunk though" as a subliminal diss and responded in two songs from his last album whilst alive, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory

The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is the fifth and final studio album by Tupac Shakur, under the new stage name Makaveli, finished before his death and his first studio album to be posthumously released...

: "Bomb First" and "Against All Odds". Although the two rappers purportedly reconciled before 2Pac's death, 2Pac was never able to edit the lyrics against Nas due to his murder.

Feud with Biggie Smalls

Nas has confirmed that the song actually disses The Notorious B.I.G.

The Notorious B.I.G.

Christopher George Latore Wallace , best known as The Notorious B.I.G., was an American rapper. He was also known as Biggie Smalls , Big Poppa, and The Black Frank White .Wallace was raised in the Brooklyn borough...

 with the lines, "There's one life, one love, so there can only be one King." While the quote "there can only be one king" is attributed to Pablo Escobar

Pablo Escobar

Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria was a Colombian drug lord. He was an elusive cocaine trafficker and rich and successful criminal. He owned numerous luxury residences, automobiles, and even airplanes...

, a role model of Nas, this lyric challenged Notorious B.I.G.'s title of King of New York

King of New York

King of New York is a 1990 American crime drama film, starring Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Wesley Snipes, Victor Argo, and Giancarlo Esposito. It was directed by independent filmmaker Abel Ferrara and written by Nicholas St...

 at that the time of its release. He responded on the track "Kick in the Door" from his 1997 album Life After Death

Life After Death

Life After Death is the second and final studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released March 25, 1997 on Bad Boy Records. A double album, it was released posthumously following his death on March 9, 1997 and serves as his final studio album...

.

Covers & Remixes

R&B group Git Fresh

Git Fresh

Git Fresh is an American R&B and hip hop group based in Miami, Florida. They are currently signed to Island Def Jam...

chopped & screwed the instrumental for their song "I Remember".