I had him screaming a whole bunch of wild s*** on here, and cats were slam-dancing to it in New York. I wanted him to talk that s*** on there, because that “Victory” record was my favorite record, with him and B.I.G., and I just wanted him to talk some of his s*** on there. 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. “It was a track D-Moet Produced for Foxy Brown, and she didn’t want the record, she didn’t like it.
Nas later related the making of the song and the subsequent incident: Stoute later sued Puffy, the suit was settled out of court.
A Catholic, Puffy had demanded that his crucifixion scene be excised from the broadcast edit of the video, but the wrong edit was incorrectly sent to MTV and TRL, and aired on April 15, 1999.Within minutes of the broadcast, Puffy had barged into the offices of Nas’ manager Steve Stoute with several bodyguards, and struck Stoute over the head with a champagne bottle. 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 Puff Daddy on the cross. It was ranked 119 on XXL’s best songs of the 1990s. The backbeat is inspired by, and contains some samples from, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. “Hate Me Now” (featuring Puff Daddy) is the second and final single by Nas from Nas’ third studio album I Am….