The one rapper Biggie Smalls disliked: “He let his ego take over”
The Notorious B.I.G. wasn’t one to hide his feelings about things. If he had a problem with someone, he was liable to let it be known.
During an interview with a Canadian magazine called Peace back in 1995, Biggie offered his opinion about many of his hip-hop peers. He was extremely complimentary about some of them, notably the Wu-Tang Clan, whom he admired for their “I-don’t-give-a-fuck” attitude, and DJ Premier, whose beats he described as “crazy.”
Wu-Tang and Preemo were, like Biggie, idols of the East Coast scene, so it is perhaps not surprising that he was so full of praise for them. What was more surprising, arguably, is that there were several West Coast stars that he had positive things to say about.
On Snoop Dogg, Biggie said, “I like Snoop. I give him like an eight [out of ten]. I like his shit. I’m into fly pimp, straight flat shit.”
Biggie was also happy to praise West Coast icons Dr Dre, Eazy-E, Warren G and, most shockingly, Tupac Shakur. “Pac get busy,” Biggie said of his eventual rival. “People can’t take nothing from him. On the lyrics he get busy, straight up.” It’s easy to forget he and Pac once admired each other.
But while Biggie was happy to praise even certain rappers from his rival coastline, he wasn’t without his criticisms for others. On Ice Cube, Biggie noted a decline in the quality of his output compared to his earlier days. He said something similar about Cypress Hill and Redman, who he felt had both gone off the rails somewhat in terms of the quality of their music.
But out of everyone he mentioned, Biggie seemed to be disappointed in one rapper above all others. “Nah, I don’t like KRS no more,” Biggie said, “’cause he just think he’s too dope.”
As Biggie saw it, KRS-One’s ego had taken “over his shit and that’s what brings him down.” By claiming to embody hip-hop culture in general, as KRS had started to do, he had annoyed Biggie and put him off.
There was once a time when Biggie had viewed KRS-One’s output as “a ten” out of ten, in terms of its quality, but his view duly flipped in response to KRS-One’s grandiose claims. “But now, ‘I am hip-hop.’ Eat a dick, n*gga,” Biggie said. “Eat a motherfuckin’ dick!”