Tweet
In the 1990s, if you paid attention to lyrics, Mase and Jay-Z beefed for a short period, subliminally, never saying each others' names. Why? Mase recently admitted it was over "a girl named Arion."
During an appearance on MTV's RapFix Live on Wednesday (December 12), the Harlem rap vet said many of his beefs were "over either some girl that went wrong." However, he said the issues with Jay actually originated with a problem that arose when he messed around with a girl from somebody in Jay's crew.
"It was somebody's girlfriend that was in [Jay-Z's] crew. Me and Dame get into it," Mase explained. "Dame wanna box with me, I tell him, 'Let's box.' We didn't end up boxing, everybody broke it up.
"I guess Jay inherited it because me and him never really had a problem," he continued.. "He said something, I said something back and that was about it."
Diehards may remember Arion from a skit off of Mase's 1997 debut, Harlem World, where the rapper confuses the names of his girlfriends in a dizzying phone exchange. One of the names was Arion... which was apparently real, and sparked a short-lived beef between both rappers, who are both beyond it today.
On 112's 1998 single "Love Me," M-A-Dollar Sign tossed subtle shot at Hov, spitting: "All we hear is platinum that, platinum this / Platinum whips, nobody got no platinum hits."
Hov would respond with "Ride or Die" from his 1998 LP, Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life. "You see the respect I get every time I come through / Check ya own videos you'll always be #2 ," Jay rapped, making fun of Mase for playing second fiddle to Diddy in the "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down."
14 years later, Mase still can't believe how small the issue was. "Do you believe that though? That was over a girl," he said in amazement.
