Tupac has gotten into his fair share of beefs during his career. Obviously, there was the infamous feud with Biggie. But the larger East Coast vs West Coast battle sparked a myriad of issues for Pac since he took the mantle as the face of Death Row. He barbed with Mobb Deep, cruelly poking at Prodigy’s sickle cell anemia. Moreover, he wanted smoke with LL Cool J, Nas, Jay-Z, and anyone even vaguely affiliated with Bad Boy Records. Eventually, Tupac even started problems with people in his own conglomerate, like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. However, one that definitely goes under the radar is De La Soul.
The trio was known for going against the grain of gangsta rap at the time, rejecting its rise in popularity. However, in the end, a bunch of misunderstandings led to some barbs back and forth. Now, the group is clarifying why everything broke down the way it did. Recently, De La Soul spoke with Ambrosia For Heads to promote their latest record Cabin in The Sky. There, Posdnuos in particular broke down a bit of hip-hop history, explaining how a silly parody turned into something more.
The De La Soul vs Tupac Feud, According to Posdnuos
“Tupac we had an issue with because when we did the ‘Ego Trippin’’ video, he unfortunately thought we were mimicking and trying to make fun of the ‘I Get Around’ video,” Posdnuos explains. “He was very disappointed. He reached out to his manager and the people at Tommy Boy at the time and was like, ‘Yo, man, I love those dudes. I didn’t know they had an issue.’”
De La Soul kept trying to clear the air over time, but the stars never aligned to clear their side of the story. Then the group released their album, Stakes is High, a pointed critique of mainstream getting into bed with gangsta rap. However, Pac wasn’t inclined to forget past issues and once again thought they were trashing him. Consequently, he came with a line ready to hurl at the crew. “Look at De La Soul tryna player-hate on my s***, n****, eat a fat d***!” Tupac raps on “Against All Odds.”
In the end, though, Tupac had plenty of other fish to fry. Moreover, his tragic death nipped any potential resolution in the bud. But for Pos and the crew, their intentions were never malicious. Rather, they stress that it was a simple miscommunication that could’ve been fixed with the right timing.
The post The One-Sided Beef Between Tupac Shakur and De La Soul (That De La Soul Wished They Could’ve Squashed) appeared first on VICE.
