On “Destroy & Rebuild,” Nas pledges to save Queensbridge from every weak rapper to restore its legacy. At the time Nas made this, he feuded with several rappers, including a couple from his own hood. From start to end, he takes aim at Cormega, Prodigy, and Nature.

Nas' feud with Cormega dates back to the recording of his 1996 studio album, It Was Written—Cormega was featured on the album posse cut, “Affirmative Action,” with AZ and Foxy Brown. The trio would later be known as The Firm, managed by Nas. However, Cormega was ousted from the group due to financial problems, which led to a decade long feud between the two—Cormega released several diss tracks aimed at Nas, most notably 1998’s “Never Personal” and 2001’s “Thun & Kicko,” which featured Prodigy and led to the feud between Prodigy and Nas. Nature, who replaced Cormega in The Firm, had a strained relationship with Nas following the group’s separation in 1999.

The song title likely refers to The Five-Percent Nation, specifically their belief in a numerical system called Supreme Mathematics, where every number is assigned a meaning. Eight is “Build or Destroy,” which ties in with the tracklist—this is the eighth song if the intro is excluded. During a 2005 interview, Nas said that The Five-Percent inspired him when he was growing up in Queensbridge.

For the instrumental, Nas enlisted the help of New York’s Baby Paul of Da Beatminerz. It’s also worth noting that Nas interpolates the chorus from Boogie Down Productions‘ 1987 diss track, “The Bridge Is Over,” aimed at the borough of Queens and Queensbridge’s Juice Crew.