Hit ’Em Up

Hit ’Em Up

2Pac (Ft. Outlawz)

Arguably the most memorable diss track of the East Coast–West Coast rivalry, 2Pac and The Outlawz hit up Biggie Smalls, P. Diddy, and Mobb Deep, with direct threats of violence.

2Pac’s feud with Biggie and Bad Boy was rooted in the 1994 shooting at the Quad Recording Studios. Shakur believed that Bad Boy Records were involved in his shooting because Biggie and Puff Daddy were at the studio the same night he was robbed and shot in the studio lobby. Months after the incident, Biggie released “Who Shot Ya?” while Tupac was incarcerated for sexual abuse allegations. Shakur was aggravated by the song and saw it as an insult, as noted in a 1995 Vibe interview.

In a June 2017 interview with DJ Vlad, Outlawz rappers E.D.I. Mean and Young Noble revealed that 2Pac planned this track while he was still in prison. He began recording in May 1996 at the Cam-Am studios in Los Angeles and enlisted the help of Johnny J, who had worked on several songs on both Me Against the World and All Eyez On Me. On this track, Johnny sampled the bassline from Dennis Edwards’s 1984 song, “Don’t Look Any Further,” and ‘Pac purposefully interpolated two songs from The Notorious B.I.G.’s group, Junior M.A.F.I.A.: 1995’s “Player’s Anthem” and “Get Money.”

On June 3, 1996, Shakur recorded a music video for the song with The Outlawz. The video was filmed inside a warehouse and featured satiric impersonations of Biggie, Puffy, and Lil' Kim.

This song spawned controversy and exacerbated the East Coast–West Coast rivalry even further. Biggie never responded directly but he took jabs at ‘Pac on “Long Kiss Goodnight.” Mobb Deep retaliated with their 1996 track, “Drop A Gem On ‘Em.”

2Pac extended his beef with the East Coast on tracks such as “Bomb First (My Second Reply)” and “Against All Odds” off of his November 1996 posthumous album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.