Alchemist Says His Relationship with Mobb Deep 'Probably' Prevented a Jay-Z Collaboration

Although he’s produced multiple diss tracks over the years, Alchemist insists he’s completely neutral when it comes to rap beefs.

He addressed the topic during a recent appearance on The Breakfast Club, saying his working relationship with Mobb Deep may have hurt his chances at collaborating with Jay-Z.

As many fans know, Mobb Deep’s founding member, Prodigy, had a years-long feud with Hov that included the latter’s scathing diss track “Takeover,” a Kanye West-produced cut that also took shots at Nas.

“It was tricky when P and Mobb Deep and Nas had beef with Jay-Z,” Alchemist said, claiming the beef sometimes led to “awkward” situations. “It was always a weird thing. It probably stopped me from doing work with Jay back then. But that’s the past.”

While he created the beat for Jay Electronica’s “The Neverending Story” featuring Jay-Z, he has never produced a track specifically for the Brooklyn legend.

But it wasn’t for a lack of trying. In fact, the Grammy-nominated hitmaker said on NFR Podcast last year that a Jay collaboration was on his “bucket list.”

“Jay always been on my list. I’ve been saying it for 100 years,” he said at the time. “I still keep the faith … I feel, at this point, it would have to be, hopefully, a mutual thing, like, I would want to work with somebody that would wanna work with me. There’s a couple that’s brewing that’s like bucket list shit for me that I hope happens. I still have hopes like that.”

Alchemist said he and Jay “spoke” numerous times after they were introduced through DJ Premiere. He said he even played Hov the beat for “We Gonna Make It,” which ultimately went to Jadakiss.

Elsewhere in the interview with The Breakfast Club, the Alchemist shed more light on his involvement with “Meet the Grahams,” Kendrick Lamar’s diss track aimed at Drake.

Alchemist said he had sent the beat to Kendrick well before the song was released and was unaware of the lyrical content.

“I had sent a record to Dot months before that happened. I heard it when everyone else heard it,” he said. “It was one of them situations where I was like, don’t like getting involved in stuff. But sometimes it happens.”

Alchemist’s production has been used in numerous diss tracks over the years, including 50 Cent’s “I’m an Animal” and Capone-N-Noreaga’s “Bang, Bang,” in which Foxy Brown took aim at Lil' Kim.

“It happens a lot to me,” he said. “I want to be Switzerland, really. I try to tell the other rappers, ‘Hey, I’m Switzerland. Leave me out of it.” But they end up making me the battleground. I’m indifferent to it. I don’t have a dog [in the fight]. I make beats.”

While he has no interest in picking sides in a rap beef, Alchemist said he has to be considerate when accepting collaboration opportunities.

“I actually had to ask [Prodigy] when he was beefing with Nas to go work with Nas on ‘God’s Son,’” he recalled. “That goes back to the beef thing. I respect P. During their beef … P was like, ‘Ah, I know you’re going to give [Nas] some heat, but go out there.’ He gave me the blessing to go do it, which I always appreciated him for that.”

You can check out Alchemist’s full interview here.