Certain people are just right for one another. Two individuals who click no matter their surrounding circumstances. Soul mates who come together from different walks of life to form an unstoppable dynamic duo, capable of magical things they couldn’t achieve without the other.

In the music industry, these mutually beneficial relationships rarely last, but when they do, the results can form a union that impacts its surroundings substantially. Think Beyonce and Jay. Snoop and Dre. Drake and 40.

One duo that never had a chance of falling into this category was Amy Winehouse and Nas.

Although the two old souls shared song credits a few times, Winehouse’s world-shattering death in 2011 concluded the pair’s brief but strong bond before they truly got to know one another. The sad part is, that’s exactly what was happening during the singer’s final months.

The unlikely duo was ultimately connected by their mutual friend and producer, Salaam Remi, who knew the Back to Black singer had been hoping to work with Nas her whole career.

“When I’d just met Amy, I was doing ‘Made You Look’ for Nas’ God’s Son album at the time,” Remi told The Hollywood Reporter. “I was just starting to work on Amy’s Frank album, so there are Nas songs where Amy did adlibs on them that we never put out…backgrounds that she was just singing on. She was really inspired by him.”

Furthermore, rumors swirled that Winehouse had a crush on Nasty Nas and her 2006 single “Me and Mr. Jones” was actually about the famed Queens rapper. This was later confirmed by Nas to XXL, who found out via Remi. “I don’t really remember if Salaam, who was really close to her, if he told me about it or not. But I heard a lot about it before I even heard the song.”

Eventually, Nas and Amy were formally introduced and immediately hit it off.

“A lot of times if I had my computer on in the studio,” Remi told The Hollywood Reporter, “my Skype would ring and Amy would be there, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ And then she’d end up talking to Nas or whatever, then they got each other numbers and they would talk.”