Busta Rhymes Recalls Biggie Dissing 2Pac On Planned Collab With Method Man And Nas

The beef between The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac included a number of moving parts involving fellow Hip-Hop artists, some of which are still being unveiled to this day.

The latest revelation about the two late icons’ historic feud comes courtesy of rapper Busta Rhymes, who recently recalled being present for the creation of one of Biggie’s alleged rap verses taking aim at 2Pac.

During an appearance on All the Smoke, the Brooklyn native detailed an instance in which he attempted to get Biggie, Method Man, Nas, and himself on a track, but Biggie missed the first two studio sessions due to a broken elevator. Method Man and Nas, who attended the first two studio sessions, did not return to record their portions of the record, which was ultimately ill-fated.

Nas backstage during at the first annual Hip-Hop Youth Summit to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. and launch several programs for youth at York College in Queens, New York. 1/21/02

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“I got to Soundtracks [on] the third day. Elevators fine,” Busta remembers. “Big and [Lil’] Cease come. They pull up. Meth and Nas came two days in a row now. No Biggie. So, they was not coming on the third day.” The Flipmode Squad general then described Biggie’s notorious creative process, as the rapper was renowned for not writing down his lyrics on paper, but instead forming them in his head.

“We in the motherf**kin’ stu[dio] at the time, Branson is selling the most incredible bud in the hood and he would sell them in these jars that look like motherf**kin’ pickle jars… mason jars,” he recalls. “Cease would roll the blunts and Biggie would come with the Branson jars. He rolling weed. Blunt after blunt after blunt and Biggie just sitting in one of the studio chairs.”

The Notorious B.I.G.

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Busta added, “One hour, two hours, he just smoking. He ain’t writing nothing. About three hours in I’m like ‘My ni**a you ain’t going to do this verse my ni**a?’ That ni**a said, ‘I’m ready Buss.’” According to Busta, as Biggie recorded his verse, he quickly realized that Biggie’s lyrics included subliminal disses aimed at 2Pac, which he recited for the All the Smoke cohosts.

“Diamonds on my neck, chrome drop-top/ Chillin’ on the scene, smokin’ pounds of green/ Oooh-wee, you see, the ugliest/ Money-hungriest, Brooklyn Loch Ness/ Nine millimeter cock test, wan fi’ test?/ And the winner is, not that thinner kid/ Bandanas, tattoos, my skin never bruise/ Land still cruise, Frank White…,” the 51-year-old rapped while reciting the verse.

2Pac

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However, given his own friendship with 2Pac, Busta Rhymes initially opted not to release the verse commercially, as he didn’t want to increase tensions between the two artists. “I love these ni**as man. I get to be the mediator. I can’t add fuel to this fire. I ain’t put it out.”

As for the verses from Nas and Method Man? Busta says he never received them due to them waiting to record theirs after hearing what Biggie planned to say in his own verse. “I don’t know if anybody wrote their rhyme or even a piece of it. But, nobody laid their sh*t because motherf**kas wanted to see what Biggie was going to do,” Busta remembers.

Method Man At Basketball Game

Rapper Method Man watches the game between the New Jersey Net and the San Antonio Spurs during game five of the 2003 NBA Finals on June 13, 2003 at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The Spurs won 93-83.

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The verse The Notorious B.I.G. recorded during the aforementioned studio session would later be released on his first posthumous album Born Again in 1999. The alleged Pac diss was used on the song “Dangerous MC’s,” featuring Mark Curry, Snoop Dogg, and Busta.

See Busta Rhymes’ All the Smoke interview below.