Hit 'Em Up

"Hit 'Em Up"
Song
B-side	"How Do U Want It"

"Hit 'Em Up" is a diss song by Tupac Shakur, featuring his rap group the Outlawz. It is the B-Side to the 1996 single "How Do U Want It". The song viciously insults several East Coast rappers, chiefly Tupac Shakur's enemy and former friend, The Notorious B.I.G.. "Hit 'Em Up" was produced by long-time collaborator Johnny J and samples "Don't Look Any Further" by Dennis Edwards.

The single was based around the encounter in an recording studio in which he was shot 5 times. After the incident, he claimed Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G. who were at the building at the time, had prior knowledge of the shooting. He accuses B.I.G. for being responsible for this shooting in the single, and further insults B.I.G. by suggesting he had sex with his wife. Many belive this song was the significant paramount to Tupac's death in Las Vegas, three months after this single was released, in which comparing various theories together, people belive that his death was specific "revenge" against his insults towards B.I.G. As of May 12, 2009, one YouTube video has reached about 19 million views.

Background to song

A brutal diatribe, in "Hit 'Em Up" Shakur's venom was aimed at two other hip hop artists, primarily The Notorious B.I.G. and Sean "Puffy" Combs, whom he believed had advance knowledge that he would be robbed and shot in a November 30, 1994 incident in New York City. By extension, Shakur also took aim at Combs' Bad Boy Records and B.I.G.'s associates Lil' Kim and Junior M.A.F.I.A., most notably, Lil' Cease. Chino XL also came under fire and Mobb Deep rapper Prodigy was mocked for suffering from sickle-cell disease.

Verses

The first verse is performed by 2Pac, the second by Hussein Fatal, the third by 2Pac, The fourth by Yaki Kadafi & the fifth by E.D.I. Mean

The phrase "take money", which is repeated throughout the song, is a satirical play on Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s then recent hit, "Get Money". Additionally, the "Don't Look Any Further" sample was also used in "Gettin' Money"; a remix of "Get Money". The chorus of "Hit 'Em Up" is a play on the chorus of Junior M.A.F.I.A's "Player's Anthem", which is itself an interpolation of the melody from [[ Mobb Deep and Chino XL were also targeted. Jay-Z was originally insulted in the song's lengthy outro - right before Shakur says: "Fuck you, die slow motherfucker, my fo-fo make sure all y'all kids don't grow!" - but Hussein Fatal of the Outlawz convinced Shakur that the Brooklyn rapper had been neutral and the insult was erased, leaving several seconds of silence in its absence in certain remade versions of the song. But later versions of the song do contain this insult.

Reception

'Hit 'Em Up' was accused by many critics for going 'too far' due to 2Pac's claim that he had sexual intercourse with Notorious B.I.G.'s wife, Faith Evans, and his derision of Mobb Deep's Prodigy for having sickle-cell anemia. It was also criticized for intensifying the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry, and in hindsight, cited as the turning point towards the violence that later claimed the lives of both 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. 2Pac disregarded criticism that he had taken the traditional hip hop rivalry to a dangerous extreme, remarking that the song was a "classic battle record". XXL later appointed "Hit 'Em Up" "the #1 diss song ever".

The Notorious B.I.G. humorously responded to 2Pac's claims that he had slept with his wife on "Brooklyn's Finest", a duet with Jay-Z from the latter's 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt, rapping, "if Faith had twins, she'd probably have two Pacs / Get it? Tu... pac's." The "Carlito's Way-referencing intro ("Okay! I'm reloaded") is followed by other lines: "Think you big-time? / Fuckin' with Jay-Z / You gonna die big time! / Here come the pain!" These lines may be in reference to the fact that 2Pac planned to insult Jay-Z on "Hit 'Em Up."

Mobb Deep responded to 2Pac and Death Row with the track "Drop a Gem On 'Em". Chino XL responded with a nameless diss track which was never released. The song sampled the same beat as Notorious B.I.G.'s Who Shot Ya? and mocked 2Pac for the hardships in his life, including a time in which 2Pac's mother was a crack addict and his 1995 prison stint.

Cover versions

• Rapper Eminem produced a diss track called "Quitter", which was a "diss" at former House of Pain rapper Everlast. Halfway through the track, the backing music changes to that of Hit 'Em Up and Eminem then raps in a similar style to how Tupac Shakur did on the original version. This track was only pressed on white label vinyl and was never commercially released, despite being available through P2P applications.

Music Video

In the video, 2Pac raps in a white room with the Outlawz with TV screens in the background showing clips of himself, Puffy, and Biggie Smalls. These clips focused on gestures alluding to Tupac's claim to have stolen money from Bad Boy Records. Gestures included Tupac stealing money with his crew from a safe, Puffy and Biggie dancing as cash appears from their position into the hands of Tupac, and them driving (which possibly alludes to the fact that Faith Evans was Biggie's estranged wife, so Biggie knew nothing about what Shakur claimed to have happened). The video itself has repeated parody characters of Puffy, Biggie, and Lil Kim. There are also clips of 2Pac and his crew in a purple caged room and a black room with bullet holes in the background.

The white background scenes with a tv-screen in the background is showing the Made Niggaz video, also a video with an appearance by 2Pac, which were released in 1997 at the release of Shakur's last movie Gang Related, co-featuring with Jim Belushi from According to Jim.

Compilations

One of Shakur's most popular songs, it would reappear on a number of releases:

• How Do U Want It Original Single features this song on a b-side.
• Greatest Hits features the song upon track 12 on disc 1.
• Nu-Mixx Klazzics features a remix of the song, with the intro lyrics from the originally explicit version and the main lyrics from the edited radio version.
• Live at the House of Blues features Hit Em Up, the concert was Tupac's last live performance, and the song was available on DVD and CD. In addition to the track's harsh levies at Bad Boy, Tupac publicly blasted Biggie on the stage before performing the song, and fans went along with Tupac's flow (as this was at the time in the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry that fans were already taking sides with one set of artists or another. He slandered Faith Evans as well, referring to her as a "bitch" and proceeding to threaten the lives of Biggie and Puffy, and slandering several East Coast MCs, as he called them fakers.
• This song also appears on Death Row Greatest Hits
• The second half of the underground Eminem song "Quitter" is a remix of this song, and in itself a diss track aimed towards Everlast.
• Khia uses the beat and part of the hook in her diss "Hit 'Em Up" to female rapper Trina and Jacki-O.