Sorry, this ?uestlove and Black Thought pow-wow with Cipha Sounds and Rosenberg (AKA Juan Epstein) for their Juan Ep podcast is too good not to get its own post. They go deep on their whole catalog (LP #13 undun drops tomorrow 12/6! Pre-order on iTunes) and music nerdery like how to get maximum bass on your vinyl pressing without making the record skip. But ?uest and Thought also address the (perceived) shot at rap legend The Notorious B.I.G.–the cause of much controversy in the rap world and to recent OKP readers, the backdrop of some of the craziest anecdotes in ?uesto’s heartfelt tribute to the late, great Heavy D. For all you rap historians looking to get this particular chapter right, Stream via RR below, fast forward to about the 41 minute mark and listen carefully.
What did they supposedly say about Biggie? Must’ve missed that memo…
they didn’t really say anything. The video for What They Do was percieved as a shot at Biggie if I’m not mistaken. in it they reference a biggie vid, can’t remember which one. The track more took a stab at mainstream rap/music as a whole and the praise of materialism in such and society at large, never was there a direct shot at Biggie coming from The Roots, at least that’s how I understand so far…haven’t listened to this^^^…..yet.
Yeah it’s the part where they are sitting around the popping them gold bottles the set director ended up making the same exact set in resemblence to a BIG video. Thought received props prior to that from BIG. The Roots were on the way to London and didn’t know that it was perceived that way and BIG had already passed. At the end of the day I’m glad that was such video on rap city the time and age in which I lived with such polarizing effects. What They Do was the proper weight of what I needed after school. It wasn’t preachy and the video displayed ideas expressed in a way that brought forth a subtle awareness in those who viewed. It very might have been the point where actual daily life started to look better than video party life.
the roots is very best group of USA, Philadelphia 4 eva peace.
also… i see what you did up there.
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