Irv Gotti Says Nas Was Almost Featured On Jay-Z's “Can I Live"

Irv Gotti says that Nas was originally planned to appear on Jay-Z's "Can I Live" off of "Reasonable Doubt."

BYCole Blake
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Irv Gotti says that Jay-Z originally intended to have Nas featured on his Reasonable Doubt track, "Can I Live," but the Queensbridge rapper never showed up to the studio session. The former Def Jam executive recalled the incident during a recent appearance on Drink Champs with N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN.

“We was waiting for Nas to get on ‘Can I Live,'” Gotti said. “N***a, no one knows [this] — yeah, they know now. We was waiting for Nas to do the second verse! … He didn’t show. That’s the end of the story!”

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When asked whether he was certain that it was "Can I Live" and not “Dead Presidents," Gotti confirmed, “I’m sure, n***a. I was there, I was in the studio.”

Dame Dash has previously said that it was "Bring It On," on which Nas was supposed to be featured.

While the collaboration didn't come to fruition, the two rappers later engaged in one of the most infamous New York rap beefs in hip hop history. In the 2000s, both rappers released several diss songs aimed at each other including “Supa Ugly,” “Takeover,” and “Ether.”

The two eventually made amends on the I Declare War Tour in 2005 and have worked together numerous times in the years since.

Check out Gotti's appearance on Drink Champs below.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.