Fat Joe recently recalled operating as the middle man to orchestrate the studio session with The Notorious B.I.G. and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony that lead to the making of the Life After Death track, "Notorious Thugs." He discussed the song during an appearance on Angie Martinez's new podcast, Iconic Records.
"Biggie hit me up and was like, 'Yo bro, I'm trying to get in touch with your guys. They don't wanna do it. They ignoring me.' They didn't wanna do a song with Biggie. And just for Biggie to think that advanced because New York wasn't up on Bone Thugs like that. He know that they was gigantic and he was like, 'Yo, I need to do a song with them.' And I was like, 'Um alright.' And he was like, 'Nah, I know you the plug. You can do it.' I was like, 'Alright Big, I got you.'"
Fat Joe At Made In America
"So, then I called them and they had already been cool with 2Pac. And so they was like, 'Yo Joe, we can't do it. We cool with 2Pac.' And I'm like, 'Yo bro, this is B.I.G. You know what it is to do a song with B.I.G.?' So I convinced them and shout-out Steve Lobel and Bone Thugs-N-Harmony showed up to the studio and they did the record, 'Bone and Biggie, Biggie.' And so, every time I see that picture I laugh but that's why we got that."
Martinez has been analyzing Biggie's final album, Life After Death, for months now to celebrate the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. In doing so, she's sat down with Lil Cease, Pusha T, Rick Ross, Too $hort, and more to discuss the late Brooklyn legend. Each of the artists has praised Biggie, with Pusha T even labeling Life After Death the "best double album" of all time.
[Via]