The murders of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. were two defining moments in the story of ‘90s hip-hop and though they’re usually lumped together into one tragedy, rapper Ghostface Killah claims that one was more painful than the other. In a recent interview with XXL, the Wu-Tang MC says that he was more hurt by Biggie’s death than by Tupac’s, for deeply personal reasons.
“Before Biggie died I wanted to work with him,” Ghostface told XXL of the fellow New York rapper. “I shook his hand. Me and him, because I had said a little something on Raekwon’s Cuban Link album.”
The “little something” Ghostface is referring to is his diss track “Shark N***as (Biters)” from Raekwon’s Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, in which he accused Biggie of ripping of his style, as well as stealing Nas’ iconic Illmatic album cover for his own debut Ready To Die. However, Ghostface recalls how he and Biggie reconciled in 1997, shortly before Biggie was shot dead.
“I liked B.I.G.,” Ghostface admits, “It’s just that we was coming in wild so a lot of things that I say was out there, like, ‘Oh s--t you talkin’ about B.I.G.’ I wanted to just be like, ‘Yo, let’s clear the air and let’s go ahead and just do a joint.’”
“The next day…They got to him,” Ghostface goes on to say. “And I was more hurt over his death than Tupac’s death because it just felt like, we’re from the same city and…I don’t know. Maybe because I didn’t see ‘Pac that much or whatever the case may be…Don’t get me wrong, I love his music, but I wasn’t hearing it like B.I.G.”
You can check out the entire XXL piece right here.
Check out Raekwon and Ghostface Killah's "Shark N***as (Biters)" right here:
