NFL
By: Mark T. Wilson
When Biggie was alive, he was touted as the person who brought Hip Hop back to the East Coast. He crowned himself the King Of New York and he had every right to do so. However, there is still one thing that Big didn’t accomplish in Hip Hop. He never acknowledged Tupac.
Yes, their friendship and beef were highly publicized. While Pac took every chance to come at Big by calling out him and those around the Brooklyn MC in public and in songs, Biggie never acknowledged Pac on a record. Go back through their history and in no rap did he ever mention Tupac’s name.
Now, that’s not to say that interviews, verses, or lines were not directed at his once friend but to never call him out had to have Pac feeling some type of way.
Look at all the diss records now. There really are no more hidden treasures. As an MC, you know when another rapper is dissing another rapper. With Biggie, it’s like we knew he was coming at Pac but he never gave us or him the satisfaction of saying or hearing his name.
Hit ‘Em Up will go down as a top 3 Hip Hop diss ever. There is no way a Brooklyn kid like Bigghie could let that slide in that era. Hell no. A few months later Biggie dropped Who Shot Ya. And while he says it wasn’t aimed at Pac and that the song was recorded before their beef, Biggie knows that story was a crock of shit. You can hear Puffy steadily screaming 95 in the background but if the song was recorded in 94, why scream another year?
The Hidden Tupac and Biggie Beef
I don’t care who he gets to tell that story, they know what it was. Hit ‘Em Up was on a level that you couldn’t ignore. There is no way a Bedstuy hood dude could let something like that slide, especially when Pac was not only coming after Big but his crew, and his wife.
According to reports, it was Puffy who decided to market the song as a response to Tupac. Even if he didn’t want to, Biggie was caught up in something and despite the relationship, he let Puff get away with that. Big knew what was going on and he knew what would happen if that song hit the streets.
Bumps and bruises, blunts and Land Cruisers
Big Poppa smash fools, bash fools
Niggas mad because I know that cash rules
Everything around me, two Glock nines
Any motherfucker whispering about mines (And I’m)
And I’m Crooklyn’s finest (Crooklyn’s finest)
You rewind this, Bad Boy’s behind this (Bad Boy’s behind this)
But then it doesn’t stop there. There were other songs, most notably on the Life After Death album where Big was coming at Pac’s head, he just did not say his name, again. But on Long Kiss Goodnight you could hear the hunger and venom in his voice and then it was Puuffy at the end of the song that let it be known who Big was talking about.
While Pac won in the court of Hip Hop, Biggie did his damage by not even mentioning Pac’s name. Hit ‘Em Up and countless other Pac songs aimed at Big were great, and while Big can say he wasn’t coming at Pac or Lil Cease can sit in front of Vlad TV and echo the same thing, listening back, we all can hear it in his music.
Big was not innocent here. He took his shots at Pac but not in the same fashion that Pac came at him. Big was smart, he just kept baiting Pac. Pac’s disses can’t be touched. It was that raw. But take a few minutes and listen to Who Shot Ya. Big went off on that song. And this was released right after Pac was shot outside of Quad Studios.
While the finger-pointing is directed at pac and the media for overhyping their beef, Biggie sat quietly in the corner as if he did not play a major role in this. He was not as innocent as he and those around him were making it seem.
