[1] "Halftime" was produced by Large Professor, Remixed by Joe "The Butcher" Nicolo and features samples of drums and vocals from "Schoolboy Crush" by Average White Band, horns from "Soul Traveling" by Gary Byrd, and the bassline from "Dead End" from the Japanese cast recording of the musical Hair.

[2] "I went over [to Large Professor's house], and he made the "Halftime" beat in front of me, and he was gonna give it to me at the time.

After hearing the instrumental, Rapper Busta Rhymes wanted to use it and tried writing to it but ultimately struggled with writer's block.

Then in Nas' first own studio session he "had his weed ready, he had the crew coming through, his books [of rhymes], the fresh gear, sittin' back with a freshly rolled, and another one being rolled, like, ‘Yo, play the beat... Nah yo, play the other beat.'"

Memorable lines include "You couldn't catch me in the streets without a ton of reefer/That's like Malcolm X, catchin' the Jungle Fever" and "I'm as ill as a convict who kills for phone time.