Two artists who became legends in the rap game before even reaching their fullest potentials are Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. They were both taken from the world far too early due to gun violence, and while neither of their cases have been officially closed, there are plenty of conspiracies floating about regarding who was responsible for their deaths. In the 1990s, speculation and gossip caused the two close friends to be at odds with one another, but after Tupac released his Biggie diss track "Hit 'Em Up," 112 lead singer Slim said things took a turn for Bad Boy artists.
"We were on the road at that time and all we knew was there was places that we felt very comfortable being [in] were not so comfortable anymore, " Slim admitted to VladTV. "Now, you have people actually thinking, you know, they're picking sides. So, anything on the westside of Chicago, you might want to keep your head don a swivel. We heard rumors where you couldn't go out and certain things. It was just common sense, but we from the 'hood, too."
Then, Vlad brought up his previous interview with Treach from Naughty By Nature. During their discourse, Treach stated that initially, there was no "East versus West" rap beef until Vibe magazine released a cover of Diddy and Biggie with a caption that pitted the coasts against each other. Prior to that, everyone just thought Tupac had an issue with Biggie, while B.I.G. wasn't trying to get into any verbal spat with his friend.
Slim agreed. "Yes. It lit a flame to what's already kinda brewing," he said. "Not amongst the artists. That's what's crazy about this. At the time that was going on, we were doing shows with DPG. We never had a problem with anybody. We speak to Kurupt and Daz [Dillinger]. That's like family. Snoop [Dogg] was family. I was cool with the lead singer of The Outlawz, he used to come to the crib in Atlanta. We used to hang out."
The 112 singer said that when everything was going down with Tupac and Biggie, he thought it was two best friends having a falling out. He claims everyone believed the two artists would work things out. "I ain't gon' front. After that Vibe cover, what we had to worry about were the fans and what they perceived what it was. If you're saying east coast, west coast war, people are now going to pick sides." Watch a clip of Slim's interview with VladTV below.