What Episode of Beef Is Mobb Deep in

Here's The Story Behind Mobb Deep's Feud With 2Pac

Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy died Tuesday at 42

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Prodigy of Mobb Deep died in Las Vegas — the same place as a rapper he battled in life, the late great Tupac Shakur. His death came just four days after Pac's June 16 birthday, which this year coincided with the release of Lionsgate's biopic about the rapper, "All Eyez On Me."

The feud peaked in 1996, when Tupac called out Mobb Deep in the diss track to end all diss tracks, "Hit 'Em Up," in which a take-no-prisoners Tupac brought up Prodigy's lifelong struggle with sickle-cell anemia.

"Oh yeah, Mobb Deep: you wanna f— with us?
You little young-ass motherfuckers
Don't one of you n—s got sickle-cell or somethin'?
You're f—' with me, n—
You f— around and have a seizure or a heart attack"

Also Read: Mobb Deep's Prodigy Dies at 42

According to possibly apocryphal hip-hop lore, Mobb Deep, the duo Prodigy formed with partner Havoc, raised Pac's ire when his crew, the Outlawz, told him about the hook to Mobb Deep's "Survival of the Fittest," which had the refrain "Thug life, we still living it." Pac, in jail at the time, reportedly took that as a personal affront — he did, after all, have "Thug Life" tattooed on his stomach.

Mobb Deep responded to "Hit 'Em Up" with "Drop a Gem On 'Em" from their 1996 album, "Hell on Earth." It referenced a longstanding rumor that Shakur was sexually assaulted while serving a stint at New York's Rikers Island jail.

"Drop a Gem On 'Em" was the first promotional single from the album, but in an annotation on lyrics site Genius, Prodigy said the duo pulled the song off the radio once they got word Shakur had been shot dead in Las Vegas in September 1996.

Also Read: How Mobb Deep's Prodigy Saved 'Shook Ones,' Hip-Hop's Most Mysterious Masterpiece (Video)

But Mobb Deep didn't remove the song from the record itself.

"We still put it on the album," Prodigy said in his annotation.

Mobb Deep never actually met 2Pac in the flesh before he was gunned down — not that that prevented Pac from going all in on Prodigy's blood cells. But Mobb Deep didn't care — they knew that mention would help their bottom line.

"I was happy about it," Havoc told Jack Thriller of ThisIs50 last year. "The n— saying our names. I didn't know what the f— the beef was about. I didn't even care. I was like damn, did you hear that? 2Pac dissing us. We about to sell some records."

10 Songs to Remember the Greatness of Mobb Deep's Prodigy (Videos)

• Prodigy, whose gravelly monotone helped make Mobb Deep one of the iconic hip-hop duos of the 1990s, died Tuesday in Las Vegas at the age of 42. The rapper, who burst on the scene alongside partner Havoc with their 1995 album "The Infamous," suffered from sickle-cell anemia his entire life. "The One and Only" was one of his final songs.

• The lead single from Mobb Deep's 1995 album "The Infamous," "Shook Ones Pt. II," helped put the Queensbridge, N.Y. duo on the national map -- and years later, its iconic instrumental was featured during a pivotal scene in Eminem's "8 Mile."

• "Survival of the Fittest" may have been overshadowed by fellow "Infamous" track "Shook Ones Pt. II," but its classic mid-90s cadence and raw beat deserves plenty of love on its own.

• Mobb Deep dropped "Hell on Earth" one year after making a massive splash with "Infamous." The first single from the album, "Drop a Gem On 'Em," took aim at Tupac Shakur, who was feuding with the group before his death -- which came before the album's release.

• Legendary beatmaker Pete Rock, who gave the world the horns on "They Reminisce Over You," enlisted Prodigy and the Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah and Raekwon for "Tha Game" on his underrated "Soul Survivor" album.

• "Quiet Storm" did not live up to its title, as the first single off Mobb Deep's certified platinum "Murda Music" quickly became the talk of hip-hop radio and TV shows. Its cinematic instrumental and Prodigy's gritty monotone flow made it an instant '90s hip-hop classic.

• And because "Quiet Storm" was so popular -- and the '90s was the era of remixes -- Lil' Kim joined Havoc and Prodigy for one of the few that lived up to the original, especially with the Queen Bee adding her own style to the hook.

• Fellow Queensbridge native Nas lent a memorable verse to "It's Mine," the second single off of "Murda Muzik." The video is classic '90s, too.

• From Prodigy's 2000 solo debut "H.N.I.C.," Alchemist-produced banger "Keep It Thoro" reminded plenty of tough-talking younger rappers exactly what Mobb Deep's frontman was all about.

• Prodigy's second solo album, "H.N.I.C. Pt. 2" -- sense a them? -- didn't get as much love as its prior effort, but it still had plenty of moments where the rapper showed off his clear talent, such as "Represent Me."

The Queensbridge rapper died Tuesday at 42

Prodigy, whose gravelly monotone helped make Mobb Deep one of the iconic hip-hop duos of the 1990s, died Tuesday in Las Vegas at the age of 42. The rapper, who burst on the scene alongside partner Havoc with their 1995 album "The Infamous," suffered from sickle-cell anemia his entire life. "The One and Only" was one of his final songs.

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Source: https://www.thewrap.com/heres-the-story-behind-mobb-deeps-feud-with-2pac/

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