Thats crazy cause I was literally JUST thinking about this this morning cause I remember reading or hearing one of the stories about the Quad shooting was that they stole everything he had EXCEPT the watch Jimmy Henchmen had gifted him. Kind of like to send a message.

And I was listening to What's Beef today and when that part came on I was like lol

Though tbf it came out after Pac had already died so maybe it's about someone else. But it's about someone--BIG was the king of subs. I go back and forth on it all time time.

I would love to believe BIG was totally innocent, a close friend turned rival due to misunderstandings and that he never really wanted beef with Pac and always had love for him like he said at the time...but then I read about BIG's past, watch a few interviews and, more importantly--listen to his music a part of me is like "that mf really was "the most shady, Frankie Baby" The amount of times he calls himself "the most shady" in such a short time span alone gives me pause lol

We'll never know....but there was a wedge in the path and they could've gone through a path together. Instead many different things had to happen to drive them to take different paths. It's insane to think about, really. Rap and music was changed forever due to a handful of small incidents.

It's tough to tell who was wrong and who was right. Thats why it's such a great beef and you could make 20 movies and shows about it. Pac said he taught Biggie about the type of music he should make to make it big in the industry. He told BIG he needed to rap for the b****es, "cause the b****es buy records and the n*ggas like what the b****es like".

But then he got mad at BIG upon hearing RTD...because he was..."biting my whole style". On one hand, biting was the worst thing that you could do as a rapper back then and BIG didn't even thank him our shout him out anywhere on the album. Pac felt like he deserved A LOT of credit for RTD. But on the other hand...BIG was just doing what you told him to. You told him to rap about b****es and not be so hard core rap. He just did what you told him to do lol

So you can see it from either perspective. Puff also played a bit role and was trying to separate them two because he knew they were very close and that BIG was interested in joining Pac and Thug Life before Diddy finally founded Bad Boy.

Pac also felt like BIG stole a ton of ideas from the OG 4th Pac album, titled "R U Still Down", which turned out to become Me Against The World. Few songs off initial album by Pac leaked, but he showed BIG a lot of that album and according to Pac it sounded a lot like a mix of Doggystyle and Ready To Die. He said he had a lot more East Coast sounds on that album and that it had a theme of death. So when he heard Ready To Die--he had to scrap a lot of songs originally intended to be on that album, because he felt BIG stole the concept and the sound and he didn't want to look like a biter.

He said a few songs ended up making Me Against The World like "Lord Knows" and "Death Around The Corner". BIG obviously used the death theme on RTD and said "sometimes I feel death knocking on my front door" on "Everyday Struggle"...so maybe

Real

BIG was a f***ing animal man lol smh

Biggie associates to this day say BIG was robbed by the same people that robbed Pac, a month prior. Supposedly they kept it quiet so that it wouldn't hurt Biggie's image. IF that is true, it would lend a lot of credibility to BIG trying to warn Pac about hanging around Henchmen and Haitian Jack.

Some say Pac was too proud and had too much of an ego to admit BIG was right about the whole situation and instead bunkered in, got paranoid and adopted the whole "me against the world" attitude.

But thats just one version of the story lol we'll never really know

According to DJ Clark Kent the second verse of "Who Shot Ya" was for Jay Z. Cause he told BIG Jay was "the illest" and BIG decided to add a second verse and supposedly even gave a cassette tape of the song to Jay and told him "you can keep that" lol

After BIG died, Jay said Who Shot Ya inspired him more than any hip hop song.

Most direct verse Biggie ever had for Pac. Didn't come out at the time because Busta didn't want beef with Pac. Dilla said BIG came in the studio, did this verse in one take and left

Was Cube really in talks to sign with Death Row in the 90s?

BIG openly dissed Pac on Long Kiss Goodnight

Yeah he was in talks in late 93 and early 94--when he reunited with Dre and they were making the collar album "Helter Skelter". Only one song from that supposed album was released---Natural Born Killaz. Cube was in talks to join Death Row and reunite NWA but a few things happened.

Eazy died and the real NWA reunion was shelved. And more importantly---Cube still had that huge ego. He thought he was the best, even if others had surpassed him in terms of popularity. And he did not like collabing with artist that were as popular or more popular than he was. That's why in the mid 90's all you see him working with are rappers/groups he signed and discovered like Da Lench Mob & Westside Connection. He wanted to shine on each track and did not want to feature any rapper near his level on the same songs as him. Late 90's he started working with David Bowie and Trent Razor lol and finally in 98 he reunited with Ren and Dre and they recorded a few NWA reunion songs--including the highly underrated "Hello".

Funny enough--I didnt include it in OP. But a cool little fact is that in the Natural Born Killaz video--Tupac makes a cameo as a sniper that takes out Ice Cube's character. Thing is--they never were in the same location during filming. Cube filmed his parts in LA, Pac filmed his part I believe in NY or Jersey. By then they were already not on the best of terms. Pac appears at the very end

Yeah and the Dilla song I posted a few posts up. Definitely dissed him but was he a part of the Quad set up and killing him? That's another question imo

This verse is so nasty bruh. To do this in one take is absurd. Will never be another like him

One of BIG's last international performances. Shortly after getting into a car accident. Mf was in a wheel chair

Who Shot Ya live in Chicago 1995. This performance was featured in the Notorious Hollywood movie.

Busta talking about this verse being recorded and why he didn't release it. What a time

Somehow forgot to put this in OP lol

Pac wanted to use a sample from Ice Cube and vocals from a female artist called Yoyo on his upcoming single "Dear Mama". Cube heard of this and rejected the clearance. That was one of the first incidents that started this beef. It was a sample from Cube's song "Its A Man's World" and Pac felt the song would not succeed if it didn't include the sample.

Actually a good thread

90s really the best era

Oh, man, any Yo-Yo mention does take me back…

Good info, bro.

To this day, i've always wondered whatever happened to the highly anticipated "Helter Skelter" collab album that Cube and Dre were gonna do. I guess you pretty much answered my question and gave the details as to why it never came to fruition. "Natural Born Killaz" was my s***.

"Should I peel eeem? (Yeah), should I pilla, am I illa? (Hell yeah) then a natural born killa"

I remember there was a Helter Skelter thread on here a few years ago

Yeah fr growing up "you got a problem? I got a problem solver, and his name is revolver" blew my mind like no lyric had before

found it:
ktt2.com/lost-classicsvaulted-dre-projects-of-the-90s-119644

seems like Cube just had a huge ego tbh DOC stuff is interesting

Great thread