Questlove Argues 2Pac's 'Hit 'Em Up' Is The 'Weakest' Diss Song

2Pac‘s “Hit ‘Em Up” may be widely considered as one of, if not the, greatest diss song of all time, but Questlove doesn’t belong in that camp.

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 the crown 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!”

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…”

Watch the clip below.

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.

(🎥 One Song Podcast/YouTube) pic.twitter.com/0fIlxIqNaK

— The Art Of Dialogue (@ArtOfDialogue_) May 14, 2024

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).”

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.

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“lol. Wasn’t hit em up ..using the junior mafia get money remix beat on purpose?” they said.

Questlove also recently caused a stir by slamming the high-profile feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake.

Quest’s issues appeared to lie with how both rappers dragged each other’s family members into the battle and made scandalous yet unsubstantiated allegations on their respective diss songs.

“Nobody won the war,” he wrote on Instagram. “This wasn’t about skill. This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary — women & children (& actual facts) be damned.

“Same audience wanting blood will soon put up ‘rip’ posts like they weren’t part of the problem. Hip Hop truly is dead.”

Challenging both Kendrick and Drake to step their game up, morally speaking, Questlove added in the caption: “Here We Are Now…Entertain us?”