“So yeah I sampled your voice, you was usin’ it wrong / You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song”. - Jay Z

The inspiration for this series dates back to 1996, when Nas reportedly failed to show up to record a verse for JAY-Z’s track ”Bring It On” from his debut album Reasonable Doubt.

When the album dropped later that year, JAY-Z sampled the now infamous line, ‘I’m out for dead president’s to represent me’ from Nas’ single “The World is Yours”.

Killa Villa is a brand that has a shared passion for Hip Hop culture, sports and lifestyle.

They look to combine the global appeal of football (soccer) and the growing influence of the football shirt culture with the biggest names in Hip-Hop. Using football fabrics as their canvas to creatively showcase and celebrate these definitive figures.

The two jerseys in the release pay homage to the line and the songs upon which they are featured. The font used on Nas’ jersey was inspired by the original typeface featured on the ‘Illmatic’ album cover released in 1994.

The JAY-Z jersey takes the same cues from the Reasonable Doubt album, whilst working on top of the Nas graphics, along with the release year in Roman numerals, almost mirroring how the track was comprised.

The crests for each jersey also draw inspiration from each artist. The crest on the Nas jersey features the title of the song and a globe symbol along with ‘40 side north’ which was where Nas grew up. The JAY-Z crest meanwhile features the diamond symbol and the all seeing eye.

The limited edition jersey is available now from the KILLAVILLA website.

Credits:

Photography from by Matthew Stith (@bystith)