With the battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar taking over popular music, the subject of diss records is now being heavily discussed.
So, the Roots’ drummer, Questlove, spoke about Tupac Shakur’s 1996 diss song “Hit Em Up,” where he went at The Notorious B.I.G. and other East Coast rappers. In Questlove’s opinion, the song is weak.
Questlove says he would respect 2Pac’s diss song “Hit ‘Em Up” if the music tracking were better, and calls “Hit ‘Em Up” the weakest musical smack.
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“I would respect 2Pac’s ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ if his music tracking was better,” he explained. “‘Hit ‘Em Up’ to me is disqualified, not because of the misogyny, forget all that. It’s like ‘Dude, you’re rhyming over smooth jazz dinner music.’ Luther Vandross could sing over this.”
“So when this came out, everybody was like, ‘This is hard as sh*t. Yo, he killin’ it.’ And I was like, ‘Dog, he’s smooth jazzed up Dennis Edwards. It doesn’t count,'” Quest went on. “That song, to me, is the weakest musical smack. I can’t get with ‘Hit ‘Em Up.”
What do you think about Questlove’s assessment of “Hit ‘Em Up?” Many consider it one of the best diss tracks ever.