Nearly three decades after their death, there are still very few rappers as revered and celebrated as Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Moreover, a lot has been speculated over what they would be up to today had they not lost their lives. During a recent appearance on the Jay Hill Podcast, DJ Drama added his hat into the ring of that conversation. Furthermore, the Gangsta Grillz legend believes that they would be at the same level of today's most successful and entrepreneurial rap titans. He brought up Dr. Dre, Diddy, Snoop Dogg, and Jay-Z as names that the two deceased MCs would rank among.
"When you go back and you listen to Big’s albums or Big’s lyrics, he’s still 20-plus years of saying s**t that’s still impeccable bar-wise," DJ Drama shared. "‘Pac, the same thing. They both died when they was like 25. Let’s think about where all those that were around them are now. If we think about Dr. Dre, we think about Snoop, we think about Hov, we think about Puff. These are all people that are some of the biggest, most successful and richest people in our culture today.
DJ Drama's Comments On Biggie & Tupac On The Jay Hill Podcast
"Big and ‘Pac would’ve been right there, if not bigger," DJ Drama continued. "Let’s really think about it. Look where Snoop and Dre are, look where [Puff] and Hov are. Why would we not think by any means that Big and ‘Pac would not be right up there, billionaires within the culture? They was on their way. Big and ‘Pac wouldn’t have fell off, by no means. They would’ve been up there with the n***as I just named doing amazing things in music and outside of music for sure."
Of course, Biggie and Tupac's legacies are so legendary and widespread that they manifest in many ways, whether respectful, culturally impactful, lucrative, or unconventional. On that last category, artificial intelligence renditions featuring Biggie's voice have been quite controversial lately, for example. While Timbaland made his dream collab as a result, many wonder whether this is the right way to preserve fallen artists' memories. Regardless, there's no doubt that no amount of money could ever quantify their impact. For more news and the latest updates on your favorite rap artists of the old and new guards, stick around on HNHH.