Questlove has clarified his previous stance on 2Pac‘s “Hit ‘Em Up,” with the Roots drummer making clear that his issues with the song have nothing at all do to with the legendary MC.
Taking to his Instagram on Tuesday (May 14), Quest tagged HipHopDX editorial director Elliott Wilson while clarifying his original position. Wilson was likely tagged because of an Instagram post he shared of Quest speaking about “Hit ‘Em Up,” which Wilson captioned: “Yo! Questlove we love you, but you gotta stop.”
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“So we are clear: I never said I liked the INTERPOLATION (when musicians replay a sample) of ‘Don’t Look Any Further’ on ‘Hit ‘Em Up,'” Quest began. “I said nothing disparaging about Dennis Edwards or Pac. Y’all turning this into a weird game of telephone.”
He continued: “The INTERPOLATION is what I’m talking about. Don’t take my ish outta context.”
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“Don’t Look Any Further” is the 1984 Dennis Edwards and Siedah Garrett song that forms the musical basis of “Hit ‘Em Up.” Check it out below, followed by Pac’s track.
Questlove then added an extensive caption that concluded with, “Welp since I got everyone’s attention can I really RHUIN this post by reminding you kind folk that #HipHopIsHistory will be available (stores and audiobook) June 11th 2024? Yall really about to have a field day with that one if this morning is any indication [laughing face emojis] @auwabooks.”
Check out the full post below.
During an appearance on the One Song podcast, the Roots drummer boldly argued that the 1996 track, which famously targeted Biggie, Junior M.A.F.I.A., Mobb Deep and other New York rappers, isn’t deserving of being mentioned as one of the greatest diss songs of all time due to its production.
“I would respect 2Pac’s ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ if his music tracking was better,” he said. “‘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.’ Luther Vandross could sing over this!”
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He added: “People who are born in the later part of the decade that I was born in — alright, I was born in the ’70s — their relationship with 2Pac is different to my relationship [with 2Pac]. So when this came out, everybody was like, ‘This is hard as shit! Yo, he killin’ it!’
“And I was like, ‘Dog, he’s smooth jazzed up Dennis Edwards. It doesn’t count’ […] That song, to me, is the weakest musical smack. I can’t get with ‘Hit ‘Em Up’ because the music, to me, is just…”
Questlove’s hot take ruffled feathers on social media, with one fan writing: “Questlove bugging out wit this one [facepalm emoji] I don’t know what this n-gga was doing around the time Hit ‘em Up came out. But damn near every urban community in America was a BadBoy Killer.”
Another chimed in: “This is the worst hip hop opinion I’ve ever heard from a hip hop legend (I think).”
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Someone else referenced Drake’s recent jab at Metro Boomin and joked: “Questlove shut yo ass up and play some drums n-gga.”
A fourth user astutely reminded the Philadelphia native that the “Hit ‘Em Up” beat was intentionally based on Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Get Money” remix — itself a sample of Dennis Edwards’ “Don’t Look Any Further” — as a further taunt against the crew.
