Tupac Shakur feuds

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Rapper Tupac Shakur had several well known feuds with rappers

Contents 1 Bad Boy Records 2 Nas 3 Jay-Z 4 Dr. Dre 5 Mobb Deep 6 LL Cool J 7 C. Delores Tucker 8 Notes and references

[edit] Bad Boy Records

Shakur's most prominent dispute was with his former friend The Notorious B.I.G. and Bad Boy Records. In 1994, the two young rappers from New York were garnering much attention. Biggie was a close friend of Shakur and they met up with each other everytime Shakur was in New York. The friendship would end on November 30, 1994 when Shakur showed up to the Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan with his sister's boyfriend, his manager, and fellow friend Stretch of the Live Squad and was shot five times while Biggie, Sean "Puffy" Combs and company were recording in a studio one floor above. - Shakur checked himself out of the hospital against doctors orders three hours after surgery and appeared in court the very next day where he was found innocent of sodomy in his sexual abuse case but guilty of other related charges. In interviews and his song on The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, "Against All Odds" Shakur threatened Bad Boy Records associate and head of the New York Black Mafia, Walter "King Tut" Johnson who has admitted to having directly ordered the 1994 shooting of Shakur. Shakur believed that Biggie and Puffy knew about the plans of the shooting beforehand but had not warned Shakur ahead of time.

In October of 1995 Shakur was let out of prison on appeal after the CEO of Death Row Records, Suge Knight posted $1.4 million bond. After the release of All Eyez on Me in February of 1996, Shakur got to work on a track entitled, "Hit 'Em Up". On March 29, 1996 words were exchanged and a gun was pulled when Shakur and Death Row employees Biggie and Bad Boy employees faced off after the Soul Train awards in Los Angeles. Although the song is one of the many tracks he disses an artist on, this is considered by many to be one of the most infamous diss tracks in hip hop. In the song he claims to have slept with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans.

[edit] Nas

Nas and Shakur first met at the House of Blues in Los Angeles, where they discussed the tension between the East and West Coast. Tupac told Nas that him and Death Row had nothing but love for him and the beef was not about him. Tupac later listened to some songs by Nas and believed that Nas subliminally dissed Tupac in "The Message". Tupac accused Nas of biting his style and stealing his life to use on his songs. Tupac insulted Nas on the intro to "Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply)","Against All Odds":

This little nigga named Nas thinks he live like me
Talkin bout he left the hospital took five like me
You living fantasies, nigga I reject your deposit
We shook Dre punk ass, now we out of the closet
Mobb Deep wonder why nigga blowed them out
Next time grown folks talk, nigga close your mouth
Peep me, I take this war shit deeply...

He then dissmisses It Was Written:

God don't like ugly, It Was Written
(ey yo Nas) Nas, your whole damn style is bitten
You heard my melody, read about my life in the papers
All my run-ins with authorities, felonious capers
Now you wanna live my life, so what's the answer Nas?
Niggas that don't rhyme right, you've seen too many movies
Load em up against the wall, close his eyes
Since you lie you die, goodbye...

He also insults Nas in the unreleased version of his song ""When Thugz Cry". In the outro (which doesn't appear on the Until the End of Time version), Shakur spouts: "Hey Nas remember that shit you said .../.. nigga you better really go to a record store and go check out some of the albums we have being putting out cause we have being doing this thug shit for a while now, I know you have being listening cause you have being biten this shit oh recognize and realize your ass getting rolled on" . Shakur settled his dispute with Nas after meeting up with him in New York for the MTV Music Video Awards^[1]. Although Shakur planned on removing the lyrics with references to Nas on The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory he died before he got the chance. Additionally, the pair were going to record together.^[2]

[edit] Jay-Z

Shakur criticized Jay-Z for appearing alongside Biggie on the track "Brooklyn's Finest". Shakur insulted Jay-Z on "Intro/Bomb First (My Second Reply)","All Out" as well as the unreleased version of his song "Hell 4 a Hustler". In the outro (which doesn't appear on the Still I Rise version), Shakur spouts: ".."Jay-z Gay-z die slow". Jay-Z has been known to show a great amount of respect for Shakur, though after his death (understandably, as Jay-Z's first album was released in 1996). He later said in a song "If I should die.../...[I'd] run into Pac ask him where we went wrong". At many of his concerts he often paid tribute to Shakur by having the crowd sing lyrics from his songs such as "Ambitionz Az a Ridah" and "Hail Mary".

[edit] Dr. Dre

After Dr. Dre left Death Row Records in March of 1996, Shakur claimed to have been responsible for having Dr. Dre kicked out. Shakur believed that Dr. Dre wasn't being a "true" friend, when he didn't appear in Snoop Dogg's shooting trial. During the trial, a key witness stated that Dr. Dre was in the car with Snoop Dogg during the shooting. Shakur said Dr. Dre had no excuse for not helping his friend. Shakur also stated that Dr. Dre didn't produce as many beats as he was accredit for. Death Row Records accused Dr. Dre of being a bi-sexual and cheating on his wife.2pac diss's Dre in a few songs such as "Fuck Friendz",Shakur spouts: "fuck Dre tell that bitch he can kiss my ass", To Live & Die in LA , Shakur spouts:"California Love part 2 without gay ass Dre" and Toss It Up, The final verse is a diss verse aimed at Dr. Dre for leaving Death Row. One famous line in the song is "Check your sexuality, as fruity as this Alize".

[edit] Mobb Deep

While in prison Tupac said in an interview he had given up 'Thug Life', a statement apparently retorted by Mobb Deep in their 1995 song "Survival of the Fittest", with the exclamation "Thug Life we still livin' it!". This angered Tupac, who sent some people to one of Mobb Deep's concerts to confront them; Mobb Deep allegedly feared for their lives and tried to avoid a conflict. Mobb Deep's appearance on the Dogg Pound-dissing and West Coast-baiting "L.A., L.A." with Tragedy Khadafi and Capone-N-Noreaga didn't help ease tensions either. After Tupac was bailed out of prison, he ban dissing them in interviews and numerous songs. The most notorious attack came in Tupac's 1995 song "Hit Em Up", in which he refers to Prodigy's sickle cell anemia. Mobb Deep responded with "Drop A Gem On 'Em", released weeks after Tupac's death but recorded while he was still alive.

[edit] LL Cool J

Shakur attacks LL Cool J on the original, unreleased version of his song "Lil' Homies". In the outro (which doesn't appear on the Until the End of Time version), Shakur spouts: "Hey LL! LL Cool J; Say what? Nigga, I'll rock your motherfucking bells" The insult is a reference to LL Cool J's 1985 song "Rock the Bells"and also Shakur diss him on the unreleased track " For my niggaz" in the last verse Shakur spouts: "Call me a muthafuckin' trouble maker, send me to jail, but watch me bust on L.L... now let me here you scream... "

[edit] C. Delores Tucker

C. Delores Tucker was a black politician who crusaded against Gangsta Rap and its violent, mysogynistic lyrics. Tupac, along with much of the 'rap community', was affected by this, and spoke his mind of her in the songs "Wonder Why They Call U Bitch" and "How Do U Want It". Tucker would later sue Tupac's estate after his death^[3], claiming his comments had adversely affected her sex life with her husband. The case was dismissed.

[edit] Notes and references