The Notorious B.I.G. Took This Rap Group’s Music Video As an Insult, but the Frontman Said It Was a Misunderstanding
· Vice
The 90s were a fruitful time to make money in hip-hop. With the rise of G-Funk and rap gradually making its imprint in pop culture, the genre was going commercial. However, this also meant hip-hop culture was bound to be used for corporate purposes. Many didn’t bat an eye at this shift. They’d do whatever it took to chase the dollar, even if it meant selling the culture in the process.
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This was the core issue The Roots had on their 1996 classic “What They Do”. The Philadelphia band, alongside Raphael Saadiq, criticized rappers who didn’t truly love hip-hop. It was just a way to make as much money as possible.
The counter to this was that rapping was the only safe option for some people to get out of their rough, ugly environments. In a sense, it’s looking down at how young people are battered and kept down by the system in a cycle of violence.
Nuance and all, The Roots still had a point. But it also made The Notorious B.I.G. extremely mad. He told The Source (per Billboard) at the time that he felt disrespected by the Philly ensemble’s music video. Biggie suggested that they were making fun of his music video for “One More Chance“. However, according to Questlove, it was all a big misunderstanding.
How The Roots Made an Enemy Out of Biggie Smalls Before He Died
In a conversation on the Juan Epstein podcast alongside Chris Rock, Questlove recalled how Biggie used to love their work. Moreover, he argued that he was the driving force behind Brooklyn loving The Roots. However, when trying to make a “sarcastic look” at the culture on “What They Do”, they didn’t realize the similarities to “One More Chance”.
“We told the director we don’t want to do a direct reference to someone’s video… Based on the way the set looked, we didn’t know we were doing a direct reference to ‘One More Chance.’ So, when we saw the final cut… They showed it to us, and I was like, ‘Oh, damn.’ But it was too late,” Questlove said.
Rather than make a simple statement to The Source, he thought he could really address The Roots’ intentions in an op-ed. However, when the “1,000 pages” were ready, Questlove learned that Biggie was killed. “And that killed me. I never made it right,” he sighed.
Photo by Clarence Davis/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
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