Why Tony Yayo insists Ice Cube will never be better than Biggie Smalls
Tony Yayo has always been a fairly calm and collected person. Unlike his friend 50 Cent, he doesn’t troll other MCs online for fun or use social media to share his opinions. However, that doesn’t mean he has no opinions. In fact, he holds some stong views and in an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast with Queens rapper Noreaga and DJ EFN, the East Coast native explained why Ice Cube could never be a better rapper than Biggie Smalls.
During his appearance on the podcast, Yayo and the two hosts entered a heated debate about storytelling in rap music, where one of the hosts suggested that in his eyes, Ice Cube, overall, tells better stories than Biggie Smalls did in his material.
Although contemporary hip-hop doesn’t place too much emphasis on storytelling, the painting of pictures was a big part of hip-hop in the 1980s and 1990s and some MCs were better at it than others. Acts like Mob Deep, Nas, Biggie Smalls and 2Pac were all considered amazing. That said, Ice Cube was also revered for his ability to captivate listeners.
While speaking about various MCs from the 1990s, DJ EFN asserted with a passion that Ice Cube, as a storyteller and rapper, was better than Biggie Smalls. However, this evoked a huge response from Tony Yayo, who couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Upon hearing what he believed to be an outrageous opinion, the former G-unit member asked the Miami DJ if Cube had better verses than Biggie Smalls, to which the DJ emphatically responded, “Yeah!”
Unsurprisingly, to a native New Yorker, Yayo considered EFN’s opinion to be baseless and completely ridiculous. However, the host doubled down and insisted that Ice Cube’s 1991 diss record, ‘No Vaseline’ from Death Certificate, was better than Biggie’s 1997 track, ‘N-ggas Bleed,’ off of Life After Death.
To East Coast hip-hop fans, albums like Illmatic, Life After Death and The Infamous are holy grails, and EFN’s comment infuriated Yayo, who declared, “This is why I hate this industry shit! So you telling me Ice Cube is a better storyteller than Biggie?”
He then told the DJ, “You fucking buggin! You lost your fucking mind! Ice Cube is better than Biggie as a storyteller? You fucking buggin n-gga! You lost your fucking mind!” Quite the attack.
The two hip-hop lovers continued to debate on which artist reigned supreme before the 45-year-old rapper admitted that Cube was “fire.” Still, he couldn’t put the Crenshaw lyricist above Biggie.
Tony Yayo’s hometown and Queens roots undoubtedly influenced his strong opinion. However, DJ EFN’s belief is still a little-held one in the culture, and most would say that Biggie Smalls was better despite Ice Cube’s massive discography.