A Timeline Of The Complicated History Between JAŸ-Z & Lil Wayne

Source: Taylor Hill / GettyThere may not be two rappers whose relationship better represents Hip-Hop’s complicated obsession with competition than JAŸ-Z and Lil Wayne. For nearly two decades, the two Carters have bounced between admiration, collaboration, and the occasional subliminal — or not so subliminal — shot, all while making it clear that there has always been a tremendous amount of respect between them. At the center of much of that tension was one of rap’s biggest questions: Who is the best rapper alive? By the early 2000s, JAŸ-Z had already established himself as one of Hip-Hop’s standard-bearers, and his 2003 retirement briefly made the title feel available for someone else to claim. Wayne was more than willing to volunteer. On 2005’s Tha Carter II, Wayne famously declared himself the “best rapper alive,” after previously qualifying the claim by saying he held the title only because “the best rapper retired.” But when JAŸ-Z returned to recording, there were suddenly two MCs who could reasonably view themselves as sitting at the top of rap, helping create a competitive dynamic that followed them for years. What makes their history so interesting, though, is that it never ...