In a new interview with The Art of Dialogue, Lil Cease addressed rumors that the Notorious B.I.G. intended to drop a diss track aimed at 2Pac.
While Cease acknowledged that Biggie was aware of the shots ‘Pac threw at him on his 1996 song “Hit ‘Em Up,” the Junior M.A.F.I.A. member contends that the late Brooklyn rapper never wanted to give much energy to the beef between him and his West Coast rival.
“Big wasn’t gon put forth a full effort into a whole full song dissing 2Pac. Big was kinda more like just sprinkling on it,” Lil Cease explained. “On the Jay-Z Record: ‘Faith had twins, she probably had two Pacs. Get it?’ He was kinda like, ‘Yeah I’m letting you know I’m aware of it, but I’ma have fun with it and I’m not gonna say too much,’ ‘cause Big didn’t really want to make it that. He didn’t want to add to much fuel to it.”
Cease added, “That wasn’t Big’s energy but he would definitely tap into some lines sometimes just to let him know, I hear you. And if it comes down to just a rap battle and things like that, Big was all up for that.”
That being said, Cease admitted that Biggie threw some subliminal shots at ‘Pac on “The Ugliest,” an unreleased track that was initially set to appear on Busta Rhymes’ 1996 debut album The Coming. When asked about the song, he revealed that Big tried to recruit Nas to rap a verse on the track.
“It was supposed to be Busta Rhymes, Nas, and Big,” Cease recalled. “Nobody did their verse after Big did his. Nobody laid their verse on it. The song just got pushed away.”
Cease’s comments arrive nearly a year after Busta Rhymes revealed in an interview with The Ringer that he planned to also have Nas and Method Man on the track as well.
“Me, Method Man, and Nas was in the session, and nobody wanted to lay their verses until Biggie came in the session,” Busta told The Ringer. “When Biggie did eventually come—because Nas and Meth showed up for two sessions and Biggie didn’t—Nas and Meth didn’t come back.”
It also isn’t the first time Cease has opened up about Biggie never responding to “Hit ‘Em Up.” Back in December 2020, during an Instagram Live conversation with Fatman Scoop, the Junior M.A.F.I.A. member explained why Biggie remained silent.
“At the very beginning, Big didn’t rush in and make a diss track. He was like, ‘Nah.’ He told everybody, ‘If you make a record, I’m not fuckin’ with you. Don’t call me, don’t fuck with me. If you respond to anything, you will be cut off,’” Cease said.
“So none of us could do it — Junior M.A.F.I.A. was ready to respond, Kim was ready to respond,” he added. “But Big was like, ‘Nah, we not doing that.’ I just think Big was tryin’ to leave it open, so he could really just, ‘Yo, what’s up dawg? Like come on nigga, you talkin’ to me. What’s up?’”
