Nas "Stillmatic" [Silver Vinyl]

Stillmatic would see release on December 18th of 2001, right as Nas was caught in the middle of a highly publicized feud with fellow New York rapper Jay-Z. As such, the record features one of the feud's most intense apexes in the form of its second track "Ether", a ruthless Ron Browz-produced diss track. A response to Jay-Z's own diss "Takeover", "Ether" savaged the Brooklyn-native, accusing him of brown-nosing to get ahead, of plagiarizing earlier rappers such as Notorious B.I.G. and KRS-One, and dismissing his street cred. To this day "Ether" is considered one of the best and most potent diss tracks ever recorded, a major turning point in the Nas/Jay-Z feud, a standout among the already critically acclaimed Stillmatic, and is even credited with boosting Jay-Z's career by proxy.