The Original August 1996 Vibe "East vs West" Story

[EducatedBrothaFromTheBank]

Lotta Gems, I didnt know, or completely forgot about...

But Puffy says Tupac’s barking up the wrong tree: “He ain’t mad at the nikkas that shot him; he knows where they’re at. He knows who shot him. If you ask him, he knows, and everybody in the street knows, and he’s not stepping to them, because he knows that he’s not gonna get away with that sh-t. To me, that’s some real sucker sh-t. Be mad at everybody, man; don’t be using nikkas as scapegoats. We know that he’s a nice guy from New York. All sh-t aside, Tupac is a nice, good-hearted guy.”

After the Atlanta shooting, people on both coasts began speculating. Would there be retribution? All-out war? According to a New York Times Magazine cover story, Puffy sent Louis Farrakhan’s son, Mustafa, to talk with Suge. Puffy says he did not send Mustafa but did tell him, “If there’s anything you can do to put an end to this bullsh-t, I’m with it.” The Times reported that Suge refused to meet with Mustafa. Suge has since declined to speak about his friend’s murder.
Less than two weeks later, when it came time for the “How Can I Be Down?” rap conference in Miami, the heat was on. Suge, who has never concealed his past affiliations with L.A.’s notorious Bloods, was rumored to be coming with an army. Puffy was said to be bringing a massive of New York drug lords and thugs. When the conference came and Puffy did not attend, Billboard reported that it was due to threats from Death Row.

On December 16, 1995, it became apparent that the trouble was spilling into the streets. In Red Hook, Brooklyn, shots were fired at the trailer where Death Row artists Tha Dogg Pound were making a video for “New York, New York”-which features Godzilla-size West Coasters stomping on the Big Apple. No one was hurt, but the message was clear. Then came “L.A., L.A.,” an answer record from New York MCs Tragedy, Capone, Noreaga, and Mobb Deep. That video featured stand-ins for Tha Dogg Pound’s Daz and Kurupt being kidnapped, tortured, and tossed off the 59th Street Bridge.

By this time, the rumor mill had kicked into overdrive. The latest story was that Tupac was boning Biggie’s wife, Faith Evans, and Suge was getting with Puffy’s ex, Misa Hylton. Death Row allegedly printed up a magazine ad featuring Misa and Suge holding Puffy’s two-year-old son, with a caption reading “The East Coast can’t even take care of their own.” The ad-which was discussed on New York’s Hot 97 by resident gossip Wendy Williams-never ran anywhere, but reps were tarnished nonetheless. Death Row now denies that such an ad ever existed. Puffy says he didn’t know about any ad. Misa says, “I don’t do interviews.”

When talk turns to his estranged wife, Biggie shrugs his shoulders and pulls on a blunt. “If the muthafu-ka really did fu-k Fay, that’s foul how he’s just blowin’ her like that,” he says. “Never once did he say that Fay did some foul sh-t to him. If honey was to give you the pus-y, why would you disrespect her like that? If you had beef with me, and you’re, like, `Boom, I’ma fu-k his wife,’ would you be so harsh on her? Like you got beef with her? That sh-t doesn’t make sense. That’s why I don’t believe it.”

What was still mostly talk and propaganda took a turn for the ugly at the Soul Train Awards this past March. When Biggie accepted his award and bigged-up Brooklyn, the crowd hissed. But the real drama came after the show, when Tupac and Biggie came face-to-face for the first time since Pac’s shooting more than two years before. “That was the first time I really looked into his face,” says Big. “I looked into his eyes and I was, like, Yo, this nikka is really buggin’ the fu-k out.”

The following week’s Hollywood Reporter quoted an unnamed source saying that Shakur waved a pistol at Biggie. “Nah, Pac didn’t pull steel on me,” says Big. “He was on some tough sh-t, though. I can’t knock them dudes for the way they go about their biz. They made everything seem so dramatic. I felt the darkness when he rolled up that night. Duke came out the window fatigued out, screaming `West Side! Outlaws!’ I was, like, `That’s Bishop [Tupac’s character in the movie Juice]!’ Whatever he’s doing right now, that’s the role he’s playing. He played that sh-t to a tee. He had his little goons with him, and Suge was with him, and they was, like, `We gonna settle this now.’ “

That’s when Big’s ace, Little Caesar of Junior M.A.F.I.A., stepped up. “The nikka Ceez-pissy drunk-is up in the joint, like, `fu-k you!’ ” Big recalls. “Ceez is, like, `fu-k you, nikka! East Coast, muthafu-ka!’ Pac is, like, `We on the West Side now, we gonna handle this sh-t.’ Then his nikkas start formulating and my nikkas start formulating-somebody pulled a gun, muthafu-kas start screaming, `He got a gun, he got a gun!’ We’re, like, `We’re in L.A. What the fu-k are we supposed to do, shoot out?’ That’s when I knew it was on.”

When Tupac’s “Hit ‘Em Up”-which mimics the chorus of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Player’s Anthem” (“Grab your Glocks when you see Tupac”)-hit the streets of New York, damn near every jeep, coupe, and walkman was pumping it. No fakin’ jacks here, son; Tupac set it on the East something lovely. He says he put out the song in retaliation for Big’s 1995 “Who Shot Ya,” which he took as a comment on his own shooting. “Even if that song ain’t about me,” he told VIBE, “You should be, like, `I’m not putting it out, ‘cause he might think it’s about him.’ “

“I wrote that muthafu-kin’ song way before Tupac got shot,” says Big, like he’s said it before. “It was supposed to be the intro to that sh-t Keith Murray was doing on Mary J. Blige’s joint. But Puff said it was too hard.” As if the lyrical haymakers thrown at Bad Boy weren’t enough, Pac went the extra mile and pulled Mobb Deep into the mix. “Don’t one of you nikkas got sickle-cell or something?” he says on the record. “You gonna fu-k around and have a seizure or a heart attack. You’d better back the fu-k up before you get smacked the fu-k up.”

Prodigy of Mobb Deep says he couldn’t believe what he heard. “I was, like, Oh sh-t. Them nikkas is sh-ttin’ on me. He’s talking about my health. Yo, he doesn’t even know me, to be talking about sh-t like that. I never had any beef with Tupac. I never said his name. So that sh-t just hurt. I’m, like, Yeah, all right, whatever. I just gotta handle that sh-t.” Asked what he means by “handling” it, Prodigy replies, “I don’t know, son. We gonna see that nikka somewhere and-whatever. I don’t know what it’s gonna be.” In the meantime, the infamous ones plan to include an answer to “Hit ‘Em Up” on the B-side of an upcoming single.

In the face of all this, one might wonder why Biggie hasn’t retaliated physically to Tupac’s threats. After all, he’s the same Bed-Stuy soldier who rapped, “C-4 to your door, no beef no more.” Says Big, “The whole reason I was being cool from Day One was because of that nikka Puff. ‘Cause Puff don’t get down like that.”

So what about a response on record? “He got the streets riled up because he got a little song dissing me,” Big replies, “but how would I look dissing him back? My nikkas is, like, `fu-k dat nikka, that nikka’s so much on your dikk, it don’t even make no sense to say anything.”

Given Death Row’s intimidating reputation, does Puffy believe that he’s in physical danger? “I never knew of my life being in danger,” he says calmly. “I’m not saying that I’m ignorant to the rumors. But if you got a problem and somebody wants to get your ass, they don’t talk about it. What it’s been right now is a lot of moviemaking and a lot of entertainment drama. Bad boys move in silence. If somebody wants to get your ass, you’re gonna wake up in heaven. There ain’t no record gonna be made about it. It ain’t gonna be no interviews; it’s gonna be straight-up `Oh sh-t, where am I? What are these wings on my back? Your name is Jesus Christ?’ When you’re involved in some real sh-t, it’s gonna be some real sh-t.

 

[EducatedBrothaFromTheBank]

I also have the Vibe Tupac, Nas in 2001 Source Magazine, Dre in 1995 the "Dre Leaves Death Row" cover story and few others.

 

[Alexander The Great]

damn breh, you typing this stuff just for us?

 

[Hannibal Fox]

Props.

Drop that Dre Leaves Death Row I used to have that shyt I've lost a stupid amount of magazines over the years.

Always hated Vibe, they had couple interesting article every now and then though.

 

[malbaker86]

upload them all when you get a chance and props on this bruh... + rep

 

[DrunkenNovice]

+rep good read

 

[Food Mane]

"the east doesn't take care of their own"

 

[50CentStan]

at the end, pac and biggie are dead, but in the end won

 

[RealestSinceKumbaya]

+rep good shyt, breh.

 

[EducatedBrothaFromTheBank]

at the end, pac and biggie are dead, but in the end won

This is the dumbest, yet truest shyt ever said

 

[Canada Goose]

Thanks for posting this OP!

Its interesting that the Nas - Pac situation after the MTV awards gets more discussion than Pac & Biggie running into one another after the soul train awards.

LOL @ Biggie saying Pac had his "little goons" with him.

Biggie probaly saw them dudes and was like

 

[Lewis Black]

Biggie probaly saw them dudes and was like

He did the same face when died too.

 

[labelplant]

He did the same face when died too.

 

[Still Benefited]

Biggie sounded like a simp here...."bu bu but why would u diss my wife that you fuked that's foul"....how foul is she?

 

[Reality Check]

By this time, the rumor mill had kicked into overdrive. The latest story was that Tupac was boning Biggie’s wife, Faith Evans, and Suge was getting with Puffy’s ex, Misa Hylton. Death Row allegedly printed up a magazine ad featuring Misa and Suge holding Puffy’s two-year-old son, with a caption reading “The East Coast can’t even take care of their own.” The ad-which was discussed on New York’s Hot 97 by resident gossip Wendy Williams-never ran anywhere, but reps were tarnished nonetheless. Death Row now denies that such an ad ever existed. Puffy says he didn’t know about any ad. Misa says, “I don’t do interviews.”

I would not be shocked if this was true. The painting of "Piggie" and "Buffy" wound up being true even after many dismissed it.