Hate Me Now

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Lore & Background

In a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, Nas recalled the making of the song: "It was a track D-Moet produced for Foxy Brown, and she didn't want the record, she didn't like it. It fit with my album, *I Am...*, so I did the D-Moet track and it sounded perfect for Puff to be on, so I gave it to him, went to the studio, and he rocked it, knocked it out." "Hate Me Now" was released as a single in the U.S. by Columbia Records on April 6, 1999. Biographer Ronin Ro describes Combs's persona in the song as "the angry young rapper battling jealous critics," a theme that would influence Combs's 1999 album *Forever*. The beat samples "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff. In the second verse, Nas raps "Bill Gate dreams," dropping the final -s from Bill Gates's surname to fit the English noun-noun compound pattern.

In Their Own Story

The music video for the single, directed by Hype Williams and featuring Nas being crucified, was the subject of extreme controversy, as the original edit also featured Sean Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, on the cross. Puffy, who was a Catholic, had demanded that his crucifixion scene be excluded from the broadcast edit of the video. However, the wrong edit was incorrectly sent to MTV, which aired that version on the April 15, 1999, edition of TRL. Within minutes of the broadcast, Combs had barged into the offices of Nas' former manager, Steve Stoute, with several bodyguards, and struck Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. In June 1999, Stoute sued Combs, resulting in a $500,000 out-of-court settlement from Combs. Combs released a statement afterwards where he said: "I'm glad to get this whole incident behind me. And it's now time for me to do what I do best – concentrate on my album and give back to my fans."

Reader's Guide

For RapReviews.com, Steve Juon said that "Hate Me Now" was the "only truly overpowering song" from *I Am...*: "It may be yet another mad track about playa hating, but the rebuttal of the hate is crisp and well defined - owing little to cliche." In 2013, *Complex* ranked the "Hate Me Now" video no. 8 in its "50 Best Rap Videos of the '90s" list. The song was used as the entrance song for Nate Diaz at the finale of the 5th season of *The Ultimate Fighter*, for Marcus Aurelio at UFC 102, during a promo package for professional wrestler The Miz at WrestleMania XXVII, in *Skam* Season 3 Episode 6 "Escobar Season", in the soundtrack for basketball video game *NBA 2K14*, in a musical production in Episode 9 of *Dear White People* (TV series), and a remix of the song is featured in the first official trailer for the 2023 film *Gran Turismo*.

Did You Know?

• The backbeat is inspired by, and contains some samples from, Carl Orff's 'Carmina Burana'.
• The song was ranked 119 on XXL's 250 Best Songs of the 1990s.
• In the second verse, Nas raps 'Bill Gate dreams,' dropping the final -s from Bill Gates's surname to fit the English noun-noun compound pattern.
• The music video controversy led to Sean Combs striking Nas' former manager Steve Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle, resulting in a $500,000 out-of-court settlement.
• A remix of the song is featured in the first official trailer for the 2023 film *Gran Turismo*.