Questlove responds to critics scrutinizing his comments about 2Pac‘s legendary diss track, “Hit Em Up.”
During a recent appearance on the One Song podcast, the multi-hyphenate artist suggested that the diss track, aimed at The Notorious B.I.G., Junior M.A.F.I.A., and Mobb Deep, among others, has received more attention than it’s due, even saying, “I would respect 2Pac’s ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ if his music tracking was better.” Adding, “‘Hit ‘Em Up,’ to me, is disqualified, not because of the misogyny — forget all that. It’s like, ‘Dude, you’re rhyming over smooth jazz dinner music.’”
Questlove says he would respect 2Pac's diss song "Hit 'Em Up" if the music tracking were better, and calls "Hit 'Em Up" the weakest musical smack.
— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) May 14, 2024
(🎥 One Song Podcast/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/0fIlxIqNaK
Now that the remarks have circulated on social media and received a lukewarm response from fans, the 53-year-old is clarifying his remarks.
Directing his message “🙄 @elliottwilson,” he begins: “Let’s be clear on the context I was speaking of aight? lol woke up to a grip of “what did Dennis Edwards/Pac do to you?!” texts I’m speaking of the musical backdrop of that record (“Hit Em Up”)
“(Still mostly not a fan of dis records mostly because having lived in that period (mid 90s) I never seen any good results from hip hop beef & yeah you don’t have to remind me of my role on Unplugged——-that wasn’t one of my brighter moments & had I had a redo I prolly woulda had second thoughts of the “Takeover” situation.
“I mean I know I’m old y’all but damn I’m not tryna be #Poundcake/Respectable Politics Smurf over here yelling “Get Off My Lawn!!!” every 14 secs.”
He continued: “I know Battling is part of the sport of hip hop. If there was a history of cats just keeping it on wax? Yeah, idda been 🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿 along w yall. But as with MOST battles it leaves the MCs & Their Crews & then suddenly the outside world gets involved. Those were dark times if you were there.
“I mean it’s bad enough we are stuck in the “health scare” era of hip hop where a majority of people are NOT making it to 55 years old—— but to take steps backwards to even flirt with the idea of going to an era in which turning 30 was a MAJOR CHALLENGE (again, if you are my age and were there? It’s triggering) so that is what I meant by “No one won this battle”. And I know that sentiment is “corny” but it’s how I feel. I would rather see cats collaborating than where we are now.
“& speaking of “where we are now” we got WAY WAY WAY more important things to be worried about in this particular year of 2024 than out of the blue distracting hip hop beef.
I feel like my words were taken outta context from that interview so I’m making it clear that I was never a fan of that particular musical interpretation of “Don’t Look Any Further””
In a savvy maneuver to generate buzz for his forthcoming release, ‘Hip Hop Is History,’ Quest proceeded to underscore that the book will hit shelves and audiobook platforms on June 11th. “Y’all really about to have a field day with that one if this morning is any indication 🤣😆,” he quipped.