Fatman Scoop has been utilizing his time indoors by interviewing a few of our favorite artists. The latest to share a social distancing split-screen with Scoop is Snoop Dogg who spoke about a few memories as he told tales of hip hop history. Snoop recalled a few harrowing incidents involving Notorious B.I.G., but no matter what East versus West drama was going on, he and Biggie remained friends.

Frazer Harrison / Staff / Getty Images

Snoop Dogg said that a series of events caused him to run into Lil Cease not long after Tupac was murdered and Cease took him to see Biggie. "He's in a walker, what the old people walk around in," Snoop said. "He got the walker sitting at the edge of the bed and when I walk in the room, we started talking. Then, he looked me in my eyes and he say something to that—he's sad that Tupac is dead, but I can look in his eyes and I could see that he hurt."

"This is not a man that's happy or glamorized," Snoop added. "This a man whose friend that's dead, they had a misunderstanding and he could never get no justice for his emotions, but he's showing me his emotions. He explaining to me how much he loved Tupac and I ain't trippin'. Not once did we bring up the Brooklyn incident, because what's understood don't need to be talked about." Watch Snoop Dogg chop it up with Fatman Scoop below.

View this post on Instagram

Snoop Discusses For The First Time How He Sat With Biggie After The Shooting In NYC Over The NY NY Diss Song, What Biggie Said About Tupac's Death And More Watch IG LIVE Nightly 7PM EST For News,Advice,Opinion And More! To see the full interview or the whole show: Click the link in my bio! For: Full Show With News- Click IG Live Series (Full Show) Interviews Only - Click IG Live Interviews Only Then click on the Interview You Want To Watch ?? @i.amkvj Thanks To @snoopdogg For Coming Through

A post shared by Fatman Scoop (@fatmanscoop) on Jun 9, 2020 at 10:49am PDT

When it comes to hip-hop Instagram pages, few can boast as varied a profile as the legendary Snoop Dogg. Not only does the Doggfather fire off top-tier memes on a daily basis, but he also provides plenty of historical hip-hop flicks, many of which range from his own tenure within the rap game. Clearly, Snoop appreciates his fellow artists — not only on the basis of their musical talent but on their personal qualities as well.
 

Amy Sussman/Getty Images

As we all know, authenticity is an important quality for Snoop, a proud rebel against the pro-snitching movement and all it represents. Yet there remain enough who meet his criteria for realness, many of whom have served prison time over the course of their lives. Yesterday, Snoop took to Instagram to share a collage of iconic hip-hop mugshots, belonging to himself, 2Pac Shakur, Notorious B.I.G, and 50 Cent.

With many ranging from the early nineties, it goes to show that rappers have been dealing with the prison system for decades, with Snoop himself nearly derailing his entire career over a murder charge from which he was acquitted; that incident, which took place in 1993, formed the basis of his classic song “Murder Was The Case.” It’s not entirely clear what prompted Snoop to share the collage, but it seems possible that he aimed to highlight those who experienced the justice system first-hand. Check it out for yourself below, and show some love to four of the game’s enduring voices.  

Jay-Z took out full-page advertisements on behalf of Roc Nation, celebrating the life of George Floyd after he was ruthlessly killed by Derek Chauvin, a fired police officer. The legend is known to be a social activist and, although his moves may not please everybody all the time, he is making sure that we all have the right playlist in our ears as we head out to protest peacefully.

The 50-year-old has shared a brand new playlist, filled with songs that will get you thinking, as the protests continue. Titled "Songs For Survival 2," the rap icon has included records by himself, Jay Electronica, Nina Symone, James Brown, and more. He's also got Syl Johnson's "Is It Because I'm Black," 2Pac's "Keep Ya Head Up," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," and more tracks that could be used to describe the current social climate.

The uplifting playlist is available exclusively TIDAL, featuring seventeen songs.

Jay-Z previously made his voice heard by speaking with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz about the death of George Floyd, pushing them to take this moment seriously and do the right thing in terms of prosecuting Derek Chauvin and the three other officers responsible for his death.

Check out the playlist below.

Megan Thee Stallion let Tupac speak for her to explain why Black folks are rioting across the country to protest George Floyd’s murder by police. As these demonstrations continue to spread across America and tensions begin to rise, many observers have criticized rioters for looting and destroying their communities rather than conducting peaceful marches and protests against racism. However, others have pointed out that Black folks have reached beyond their limit of this type of treatment, and that this is the only thing left to do.

John Sciulli/Getty Images for Beautycon

Megan Thee Stallion shared a famous clip of Tupac from an interview in 1994 in which he uses a metaphor to explain why Black folks are no longer asking to be treated equally after centuries of oppression. “If I know that, in this hotel room, they have food every day, and I knock on the door every day to eat,” Tupac explains in the clip, “and they open the door, let me see the party, just throwing food around, and they’re telling me there’s no food in here. Every day….”

“I’m standing outside tryna sing my way in: ‘We are hungry, please let us in,'” he continues. “After about a week, that song’s gonna change to ‘We hungry, we need some food.’ After two, three weeks, it’s like, ‘Give me the food or I’m breaking down the door.’ After years it’s like, I’m pickin’ the lock, comin’ through the door blastin’. It’s like, you hungry, you reached your level. We asked ten years ago. We was asking with the Panthers. We was asking with the Civil Rights Movement. Now those people that were asking, they’re all dead or in jail, so now what do you think we’re gonna do?” Megan then captioned the post, “We’ve been asking.”

Even after death, Tupac Shakur has maintained a reputation of being a gangster rapper. The poet, activist, and art school student was more than the street life persona he often displayed lyrically or in music videos, but because of how he died—in a drive-by shooting after a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas—some people will only view Tupac Shakur as just another hardcore rapper whose life was cut short due to gun violence. Actor Michael Jai White spent quite a bit of time with Tupac when the young emcee was alive, and he told VladTV that not all was what it seemed when it came to the rapper.

In a recent interview, Michael Jai White revealed that he is an avid pool and snooker player, and he shared stories of how he would hang out with other celebrities and play for money. “Tupac and I would play… And what was interesting is that, from my perspective, it was kind of a weird thing with Tupac,” he said. “We would play or we’d hang out, and people would say, ‘You know your friend looks a lot like Tupac.’ Nobody ever thought it was him because the side of him that I knew was so different from what the whole gangster thing.”

“I speak the way I speak, no matter who I’m with, right?” Michael Jai White added. “I think that encouraged Tupac, that side of him that was goofy, he felt like, ‘Oh, I can just be myself.‘” According to White, he and Tupac would do “goofy sh*t” like have multiplication math challenges. “He would be a different kind of dude, but then we would be playing and then all of a sudden he would go back into, ‘Yeah n*gga.’ [I’d be like] ‘Somebody black must have walked into the room. Yep, there it is.’ He would turn that on and off.” Watch Michael Jai White talk about Tupac Shakur’s ability to quickly code-switch below.

Outlawz’s member Napoleon recently appeared on The Art Of Dialogue where he explained the tension surrounding Big’s return to the West and why that was a costly mistake on the Brooklyn rapper’s part.

“I think that was a very miscalculated step on his part, you know what I mean?” Napoleon said. “I think he underestimated the people’s love for ‘Pac. And I think it was a little arrogant, to be honest. Of course, we don’t wish death on nobody and I’m not saying that this is what he gets. These not the words I’m saying but, I heard the radio!”

Napoleon explained that Biggie wasn’t moving carefully enough in California. On top of that, he shrugged off ‘Pac’s passing which Napoleon thinks was a disrespectful move that may have played a role in his own murder.

“I think they asked him, ‘How you feel about Pac?’ and it was almost from an arrogant standpoint of view where he was like, ‘You know I got my own problems, I’m not worried abut dude’ or something like that, and the people took it as a form of disrespect,” Napoleon added. “So I think for him, it was a little arrogant and it was disrespectful. No doubt it was disrespectful.”

In that sense, Napoleon said that Biggie may have been safer if he had come to California and showed respect. Peep the full clip below. 

If there’s one thing Snoop Dogg‘s Instagram page is good for, it’s reminders of hip-hop history. Well, that and memes. But on the former topic, Snoop has made it clear that he’s all about paying homage to the legends in the game. As one of those very same, many of those very same legends happen to be his friends and collaborators.

Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Today, Snoop took to Instagram to show some love to a gang of hip-hop royals, made up of six essential figures in the game. Of course there’s Dr. Dre, Snoop’s mentor and frequent partner in crime, having connected on over a dozen tracks — many of them undisputable classics. 2Pac Shakur is next up, another of Snoop’s homies and collaborators. Same goes with Ice Cube, a pioneer of west coast lyricism and contributor to Snoop’s Last Meal cut “Set It Off.”

On the bottom row is Eminem, with whom Snoop worked on “Bitch Please II”; though they never connected on another track, the pair did recently join forces in the studio back in 2018. In the center stands the lone rapper Snoop never actually collaborated with — the Notorious B.I.G, though Faith Evan’s “When We Party” sort of captured what that particular team-up might sound like. And of course, rounding out the set is Snoop Dogg himself, one of hip-hop’s most valuable players — literally beloved by all. “Remember we are royalty,” he captions, confident in his assessment and rightfully so.

While every legendary rapper has a well-deserved appreciation for 2Pac Shakur’s music, Eminem might be one of his biggest superfans — a Stan, if you will. In 2004, Em personally asked Afeni Shakur for permission to produce a posthumous Pac album in its entirety, leading to Loyal To The Game. Not to mention likening his temperament to the late legend on songs like “Soldier” and “Say What You Say.” Clearly, Pac played a pivotal role in Slim’s artistic development, and Em recently reflected on his impact during Music To Be Quarantined By.

Christopher Polk/Getty Images

“This next song is from an artist I feel might be the greatest songwriter of all time,” prefaces Em. “Debate what you want about emcee skills and all that, because he had that too. But this is one of them songs by 2Pac, where to me, he was showing ‘I can write heartfelt shit and I can write lyrical crazy shit to.’ They say pussy and paper is poetry, power and pistols. Plottin’ on murdering muthafuckas fore’ they get you.”

“Like, the play on the P words and how he was doing it was so crazy,” continues Em. “Mixed with the feel that 2Pac could give you, which is constantly why he was always saying ‘can you feel me?!’ Because you felt Pac. You can’t just listen to Pac, but you feel Pac. If you listen to him, you gon’ feel him. Anyways, this is 2Pac’s “If I Die Tonight.'”

Lofty praise from a rapper who isn’t exactly a stranger to the “greatest songwriter” conversation — do you agree with Em’s assessment on 2Pac Shakur?  

On January 29, 1996, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur arrived at the American Music Awards together, pulling up in a droptop whip and posing for photos. The ceremony was held in Los Angeles, California and included performances from Mariah Carey, Nas, LL Cool J, Lionel Richie, and more. 

Re-living the moment, Snoop Dogg hit the rewind button on his memory and ended up at the award show once more, looking back at one of the funniest pictures of him and Tupac.

Kevin Mazur Archive/Getty Images

“Riding shotgun,” wrote Snoop on the throwback picture of himself and the late rap legend. The Doggfather seemingly avoids the camera or he was unaware that a picture was in the process of being taken. Tupac, on the other hand, was well aware of the flash, throwing up signs and pulling a goofy face. He stuck out his tongue and kept one hand on the wheel in what probably remains the goofiest candid pictures of the rapper ever.

This isn’t the first time that Snoop Dogg posts an old picture of himself and his former collaborator to Instagram. He regularly goes back in his photo albums to pick out some of the dopest shots he can find. Today’s is legendary in its own right.

Over the years, there have been plenty of artists who have compared themselves to Tupac Shakur. The young rapper has gone down in hip hop history as a poet, innovator, social activist, and rap icon. He was only 25-years-old when he was gunned down in Las Vegas following attending a Mike Tyson bout, and because his life was cut short, the world will never know his full potential. A quote attributed to the late rapper caught the attention of Tory Lanez who said that he and Tupac are more alike than people think.

Gregory Shamus / Staff / Getty Images

“I feel like honestly, and n*ggas is gon’ be like, ‘Yo, you’re bugging,’ but I feel like—remember when Pac was like, ‘I may not change the world, but I can spark the idea in the brain of the person who will?'” Tory told For the Record. “I feel like, deadass, like that ‘spark’ was me, my n*gga. I feel like there’s a lot of similarities between me and Pac. Not saying like, I’m Pac. I hate when n*ggas say that. I’m not trying [to be him.] I’m me, my n*gga, but I do love Pac and I do feel like there were similarities in the fact that when you really think about it, I say whatever the f*ck I want to say. N*ggas hate me for that. Or they love me for it. I move how I want to move. I really punch your f*ckin; face off in real life. It’s been proven. This is a proven fact.”

“I’m really just me, but I’m a happy guy,” he continued. “I don’t portray to be the most f*ckin’ gangster n*gga. I get love everywhere I go because I show love everywhere I go.” He said that their “bluntness” is a character trait that both he and Tupac emulate which makes them alike. Check out Genius’s interview with Tory Lanez below and peep his comments about Tupac around the 28-minute mark.