An Ether-filled Takeover ...

Yes, the break's over and I will not lose.

So I've been getting my fill of Jay-Z and Nas. I never really grew up that big of a fan of either one. Though I did have, I lose CDs like everybody else, the Life and Times of Sean Carter, Vol. 1, 2 and 3.

But I'm listening to the Blueprint, Stillmatic and The Black Album thoroughly for the first time ever, and I'm impressed. Of course, I'd heard both Ether and the Takeover when they first were released, but I still can't believe these cats were at each others throats like they were.

And then to find out that they're working together? What's the world going to come to next? Is Osama going to have dinner in the White House and call a truce with GWB? Doubt it.

But I find it quite hilarious, and quite ingenious, that these two are about to collaborate. They are honestly two of the best lyricists alive right now (You could throw Ludacris, Talib Kweli and Common in that mix as far as I'm concerned - the order is yet to be determined).

I just wonder what made them think now was the time to do it. Why join forces with somebody who claimed to have slept with your wife or somebody who said "I rock hoes, y'all rock fellas?" By the way, Nas pretty much destroyed Jay-Z lyrically with Ether.

I must admit, though, that I never saw this coming, a rap war ending with peace. But I never saw Kobe and Shaq shaking laughing with each other, much less looking at each other on the hardwood again unless they were trying to pulverize the other.

But they're even getting along, evidence by they're playful gestures throughout yesterday's all-star game.

This beckons a few questions: Are the beauty pageant contestants around the world getting what they long desired? Is that subliminal message just now starting to work?

No. We can't forget that GWB is still trying to find the weapons of mass distraction.

Anyway, I wish Hova and God's Son, get it?, well. I can't wait until I hear their first track together, I'm sure it will be deadly.