Rapper and music executive MC Serch was the most recent guest on NORE and DJ EFN's "Drink Champs" podcast. During the two-and-a-half-hour discussion, Serch detailed his life and career while sharing his most notable Hip Hop memories.
At one point, Serch was asked about his role in one of rap's most legendary battles. During Nas and Jay-Z's beef, Hov referenced Serch in a punchline on "Takeover." On the diss track, Jay-Z insinuated that Nas didn't control his publishing and it was MC Serch who benefitted from Jay-Z sampling his rival on "Dead Presidents II."
Serch cleared the air by explaining how negotiations between himself and Roc-A-Fella took place. According to Serch, he was approached by Dame Dash and Jay-Z to clear the use of Nas' line on "The World Is Yours." The former 3rd Bass member said he simply requested $2,500 and that the publishing company receive 25 percent of the song's publishing.
"That was it. He gave me a check for $2,500, I delivered it to Zomba," Serch said. "But, if you look at the liner notes on 'Dead Presidents,' Nas is one of the publishers. So I say yeah, that line can live as much as it lives, but Jay don't own a piece of Nas' catalog but Nas owns a piece of Jay's catalog."
Look above to hear MC Serch explain how the negotiation took place.
