‘As for Remorse, We Feel No’

The bitter feud between rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. is reflected in their song lyrics, as excerpted below.

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‘Who Shot Ya?’

Notorious B.I.G.

(Released in June 1995, eight months after gunmen ambushed Shakur in a New York recording studio, wounding and robbing him. Bad Boy is B.I.G.’s record label.)

Who shot ya?

Separate the weak from the obsolete

Hard to creep them Brooklyn streets

I can hear sweat trickling down your cheek

Your heartbeat ... thundering, shaking the concrete

Finish it, stop, when I foil the plot

Neighbors call the cops, said they heard mad shots

Saw me in the drop, three in the corner

And I’m Crooklyn’s finest

You rewind this, Bad Boy’s behind this.

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‘Hit ‘Em Up’

Tupac Shakur

(Released in October 1995.)

Biggie, you claim to be a player

But I [had sex with] your wife

I let those [Bad Boy guys] know it’s on for life

Grab your Glocks when you see Tupac

Call the cops when you see Tupac

Who shot me? But you punks didn’t finish

Now you’re about to feel the wrath of a menace

Die slow

We the realest

We Bad Boy Killaz

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‘Long Kiss Goodnight’

Notorious B.I.G.

(Released in March 1997, six months after Shakur’s death. “My team in marine blue” is believed to refer to the Southside Crips, whose members wear blue.)

See, I told y’all

I told y’all to stop!

But no, you didn’t stop

And now, we won’t stop

Chorus: Time, time for you to die

You’re bleeding lovely, with your spirit above me

or beneath me, your whole life you live sneaky

Now you rest eternally, sleepy, you burn when you creep me

Rest where the worms and the weak be

Look what you made me do, brains blew

My team in the marine blue

Slugs hit your chest, tap you spine, flat line

Heard through the grapevine, you got [shot] four times

Sleep, still, slow

As for remorse, we feel no.