It is thought of as one of the most famous diss tracks of all time — Biggie Smalls’ notorious song ‘Who Shot Ya’ is a piece of hip hop history. Famously, the bars on the track helped instigate the fatal East-West feud and has since been seen as a pivotal moment that would lead to the death of both Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. Below, we’re revisiting the immense isolated local track of the song.
Jay-Z once perfectly epitomised the gargantuan effect the track had on the scene after Big dropped it in 1994. For ‘Hov’ and everybody else who was mastering their craft, ‘Who Shot Ya?’ made them realise they needed to up their game if they were ever to compete. “You’re just as good as your competition around you,” Jay once told MTV. “You know when someone else pushes you to really step your game up? That song, it was so crazy. It just had an effect on everybody. The world stopped when he dropped ‘Who Shot Ya?'” he told MTV.
It certainly shook up the brewing feud between former friends Tupac Shakur and Biggie. Shortly after the release of the song, Shakur told Vibe, “Even if that song ain’t about me, you should be, like, `I’m not putting it out, ’cause he might think it’s about him.'” The West coast had recently been shot during a robbery, and it appeared now a link was being drawn between the incident and the Bad Boy crew Biggie fronted.
Tupac felt disrespected by Biggie seemingly poking fun at him being shot in his bars and decided to amplify the beef when he responded fiercely on ‘Hit Em Up’. On the track, he aggressively rapped, “Biggie, remember when I used to let you sleep on the couch? Five shots couldn’t drop me, I took it and smiled, Now I’m back to set the record straight, With my AK, I’m still the thug that you love to hate, and we bust on Bad Boys.”
However, it all began with Biggie’s powerful single and, listening to the acapella studio version of the song; it is hard not to understand why Tupac felt so aggrieved. The lyrics seem so obviously sharpened for his situation that assuming the song was written about anything else feels a little hopeful.
Listen to Biggie Smalls isolated vocal on his song ‘Who Shot Ya?’ below.
