Complex sat down with Bronx bomber Fat Joe to discuss his 25 favorite songs from his nearly two decade career. During the interview, the Terror Squad/D.I.T.C. rapper spoke on his 1998 collaboration “Twinz (Deep Cover ’98)” with fellow Boogie Down emcee Big Punisher. Joe explained that he want to make a track the both the east and west coasts could be bump, so he and Pun decided to take a crack at Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg’s 1992 single “Deep Cover.”
“I knew I had to do a song with Pun on his album [Capital Punishment],” he said. “I also knew the world was bigger than New York, so we had to do a track that I knew they would play on the West Coast. When Snoop [Dogg] first came out, and him and Dr. Dre did that ‘Deep Cover,’ that was the hardest shit. And nobody had fucked with it. So I said, ‘Yo Pun, let’s go back and forth on this bitch so I can introduce you to the game.’ So we sat down and wrote it. Back and forth, we’re going in. Hard. We wrote it together.”
Joey Crack also spoke on Pun’s infamous “Dead in the middle of Little Italy” line from his verse in the song. He explained that Pun initially intended the line to be a joke, a la the “Pakinamac” skit from his debut LP. Joe, however, loved his partner’s tongue-twister rhyme and made him keep it in the track.
“The ‘Dead in the middle of Little Italy’ rhyme wasn’t even a rhyme. Pun used to play around and say [that tongue twister], just like he used to walk around going, ‘Packin’ the Mac in the back of the Ac, packin’ the Mac in the back of the Ac.’ These were like jokes to him…I had to argue with him to put ‘Dead in the middle of Little Italy’…in the song. I was like, ‘That’s the hardest shit on earth.’ He was like, ‘Are you crazy? That’s a fuckin’ joke. Niggas will laugh at me. Are you serious?’ Then he did it, and it was the illest shit.”
Check out the full 25 song list over at Complex.
CTFU at Fat Joe actually writing a song, please nigga, Pun wrote ya shit, stop frontin.
Co-fucking sign!!
word
Been waiting on this interview for a minute…this kid tef is kinda dope
http://loftxmusic.blogspot.com/2011/11/cool-kids-kid-tef-detroit-michigan.html
Capital Punishment is still one of the best albums I’ve ever heard, easily in my top 25. I have to say that Pun killed Deep Cover, and Crack was sort of dragging the joint down, but it was still ill. Yup, when Pun spat that Dead in the middle of little Italy part, that shit went hard, and then Crack comes in and it gets watered some. But believe me people, when songs are re-made, they are either great or bad. This is arguably the best remake joint that I have to say amped up a joint that Snoop was ever introduced on…RIP Big Pun!
That dead in the middle of lil italy was the eye opener for Big Pun..its legendary
Pun > L > Biggie > Pac
i’d bring them back to life in that order lol
youd bring pun back over big l? your an idiot, big l is farrrrr superior to big fuckin pun
L, Biggie and Pac are all superior to Pun.
L > Pun > BIG > Pac
I agree. PUN’s wordplay was not to be fucked with not even by Biggie and Biggie would shit on MC’s. PUN’s vocab was deeper than most too.
He’s a fuckin liar.. Anybody close to the former camp knows Joe wasn’t the reason Pun put the ‘dead in the middle’ line in there. Pun’s verse from the top was on some mafioso shit.
The shit was never as good as the Dre/Snoop version
Lyrically, the shit was better than the Dre/Snoop version. But Dre/Snoop version did have a better story to it.