Jay-Z has said his second album, ‘In My Lifetime, Vol 1’, “haunts” him in a rare tweet responding to Questlove.

The rapper released the record in 1997, with it placing at Number Three on the Billboard 200 chart in the US.

Questlove quote-tweeted a fan on Twitter earlier today (January 16) who assessed that one of the album’s singles, ‘(Always Be My) Sunshine (featuring Babyface and Foxy Brown)’ “got an unnecessarily bad rap”. “Actually holds up better now than it did then,” they added.

Questlove replied: “Our main argument is his hate for Vol 1. He is embarrassed for trying to make a monster & not putting numbers up. But ALOT of this lp contains his best moments. Fight me @sc.”

Our main argument is his hate for Vol 1.
He is embarrassed for trying to make a monster & not putting numbers up. But ALOT of this lp contains his best moments. Fight me @sc https://t.co/Sch3uD6BIq

— ahmir•quest• 5 letters only (@questlove) January 16, 2022

In a series of follow-up tweets, the musician, DJ and music historian added that the track ‘I Know What Girls Like’ “got shafted” and that ‘Imaginary Players’ “created HOV”. He also highlighted the tracks ‘Streets Is Watching’ and ‘Friend Or Foe ’98’.

When you hear Players you got two sides to choose….you wanna be the cat who who got leathers…..or you wanna be the cat asking the cat if you got leathers. I wasn’t thinking “big” then (I was living in my smallness in 97 lol) but I knew I was NEVER gonna be the latter

— ahmir•quest• 5 letters only (@questlove) January 16, 2022

Jay-Z replied hours later, saying that he agreed with Questlove’s analysis. “More so, I know what could have been, so it haunts me,” the rapper wrote. “Streets Is Watching was the first song made!”

Questlove responded: “Uh can I make this tweet an NFT?” See the conversation above.

Uh can I make this tweet an NFT?

— ahmir•quest• 5 letters only (@questlove) January 16, 2022

In December, Jay-Z said there wasn’t “a chance in hell” that someone could take him on in a VERZUZ battle. The rap battle series was started by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland and sees rappers, songwriters, producers and more go head-to-head with tracks from their back catalogues.

“No one can stand on that stage with me,” the rapper said. “It’s not a chance in hell that anyone can stand on that stage with me.

“You got to stand in front of the ‘Grammy Family Freestyle’ live?” he added. “No one has ever even seen me perform that, you got to stand in front of that? That ain’t never going to happen.”

Kodak Black later put himself forward as an opponent for Jay-Z, saying the rap icon could win 15 per cent of his catalogue of he won. If Black won, though, Jay-Z would have to make him Vice President of Roc Nation.