In a recent appearance on Drink Champs, Havoc of Mobb Deep shared insights into the origins of 2Pac’s legendary diss track “Hit Em Up,” which famously targeted Mobb Deep. Havoc explained that the tension between 2Pac and the duo stemmed from several misunderstandings and perceived slights.
He stated, “I believe it was a combo of things. On ‘Survival of the Fittest,’ we [rapped], ‘Thug life, we still livin’ it.’ At the time, [2Pac] had an article in Vibe magazine where he expressed, ‘I don’t want to do this thug shit anymore.’ He probably thought we were like, ‘Thug life, we still living it, fuck what he’s doing.’ It piled up on ‘L.A., L.A.’ and it was like, fuck these n-ggas.”
The track features one of 2Pac’s most brutal lines directed at Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, where he rapped, “Oh yeah, Mobb Deep, huh, you wanna fuck with us? / You lil’ young-ass motherfuckers / Don’t one of you n-ggas got sickle-cell or somethin’?” Tragically, Prodigy passed away in 2017 due to complications related to his sickle cell disease.
In related news, Keefe D, a suspect in 2Pac’s murder, was recently sentenced to 16 to 40 months in prison for his involvement in a separate jail fight. While awaiting trial for the late rapper’s killing, Keefe D has repeatedly claimed he had nothing to do with 2Pac’s murder. He is currently seeking to have the charges against him dismissed, arguing that there is insufficient evidence linking him to the crime.
As the 2Pac murder case continues to unfold, the legacy of his music—and the rivalries that shaped it—remains a topic of intense interest in the hip-hop community.
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