Eminem has explained how Tupac and Biggie’s beef changed the rap tradition of diss tracks in a special radio appearance.
The Detroit rapper counted down his 12 favourite diss tracks with Paul Rosenberg and DJ Whoo Kid on a show dubbed the “12 days of diss-mas”. You can find Eminem’s top 12 further down the page.
Tupac’s ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ topped the list and the star discussed its impact on the future of hip-hop. “That, I feel like, was the first time I ever heard anybody get that personal on a disc,” he said. “Most of it, the majority was personal, below the belt jabs and shit. But it was done so well and the record was so crazy.
“That’s another beef – the Tupac/Biggie thing was tough because you like them both and you’re stuck in this weird thing where you’re bumping the Tupac diss record and then you’re listening to something from Biggie that might be dissing him in it.”
Eminem also reflected on being a fan of both artists when he was growing up. “It was tough, too, cos ‘Pac had been out longer so I was more of a fan – I had years invested in that,” he said. “Then Biggie came out with ‘Ready To Die’ and it was like, ‘Oh shit, this is so crazy. It’s just so good.’”
Eminem’s top 12 diss tracks are:
- Tupac – ‘Hit ‘Em Up’
- YZ – ‘Diss Fe Liar’
- Eazy-E – ‘Real Muthaphuckkin Gs’
- Common – ‘The Bitch In Yoo’
- Tim Dog – ‘Fuck Compton’
- Dr Dre – ‘Dre Day’
- Ice Cube – ‘No Vaseline’
- N.W.A. – ‘Fuck The Police’
- LL Cool J – ‘Jack The Ripper’
- MC Lyte – ’10% Diss’
- Roxanne Shanté – ‘Roxanne’s Revenge’
- KRS-One – ‘The Bridge Is Over’
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The rapper hit out at many famous names on his latest album ‘Kamikaze’, including Machine Gun Kelly, who the star reignited his beef with this summer. The feud saw a series of diss tracks being swapped back and forth, including Eminem’s record-breaking single ‘Killshot’.
Meanwhile, Suge Knight has claimed Tupac had discussed faking his own death weeks before he was killed. The Death Row Records boss claimed the hip-hop icon brought up the topic while on a trip to Maui.
In October, Knight’s son claimed Tupac is alive and living in Malaysia in a series of now-deleted Instagram posts. The first post contained only the words “Tupac is alive”, while a follow-up showed a screenshot of a text conversation where an unknown person had messaged Knight saying: “You said to much. Time for you to go.”