| "Drop a Gem on 'Em" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Mobb Deep | ||||
| from the album Hell on Earth | ||||
| Released | August 25, 1996 | |||
| Recorded | June 1996 | |||
| Genre | East Coast hip hop, hardcore hip hop | |||
| Length | 4:10 | |||
| Label | Loud | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Havoc, Prodigy | |||
| Producer(s) | Havoc, Prodigy | |||
| Mobb Deep singles chronology | ||||
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"Drop a Gem on 'Em" is a promotional single for Mobb Deep's Hell on Earth album. The song contains a sample from "Can't Help but Love You" by The Whispers.
The song is a diss to West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur's feud with the group. It was recorded and released while Shakur was alive and was put on the album after his death. The cryptic lyrics in the song caused controversy after Tupac's murder. Lines such as "I had the whole New York state aiming at your face/At the gate, bottom line off top soon as you came through/Shot through, don't even know the half of my crew" and "Think fast or get reminded of robberies in Manhattan, you know what happened/ 60 G's worth of gun-clappin'" are some of the "threats" contained in the song, by making reference to the 1994 Quad Recordings Studio shooting. Furthermore, Prodigy's line "Clocks tick, your days are numbered in low digits" also made some feel suspicious of Mobb Deep being responsible for Tupac's murder as the latter died just 19 days after the song was released.
Following Shakur's death shortly after the song's release, Mobb Deep pulled "Drop a Gem on 'Em" from radio airplay out of respect for Shakur and his family: plans to record a music video for the song, intended to further disparage Shakur, were also cancelled. [1]
Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur's music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against inequality.
Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper and songwriter. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta rap, he is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace became known for his distinctive laid-back lyrical delivery, offsetting the lyrics' often grim content. His music was often semi-autobiographical, telling of hardship and criminality, but also of debauchery and celebration.
The Infamous Mobb Deep is the eighth and final studio album by American hip hop duo Mobb Deep, which is composed of Havoc and Prodigy. The album was released on April 1, 2014, by Prodigy's Infamous Records and Sony's RED Distribution. The Infamous Mobb Deep is a double album that consists of one disc of new original music and another of unreleased tracks from the recording sessions from their second studio album The Infamous (1995). The album has been in development since 2011, but was delayed by a feud that occurred between Havoc and Prodigy during 2012. However, they shortly reconciled.
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is the fifth studio album by American rapper Tupac Shakur, his first posthumous record and the last released with his creative input. Recorded in seven days in August 1996, it was released on November 5, 1996, almost two months after his death, under the stage name of Makaveli, through Death Row Records, Makaveli Records and Interscope Records.
"Hit 'Em Up" is a diss track by hip hop artist 2Pac, featuring the Outlawz. It is the B-side to the single "How Do U Want It", released on June 4, 1996. The song's lyrics contain vicious insults to several East Coast rappers, chiefly Shakur's former friend turned rival, the Notorious B.I.G.. The song was recorded at Can Am Studios in 1996. There is a previous version of this song recorded in October 1995. Reporter Chuck Philips, who interviewed Shakur at Can Am, described the song as "a caustic anti–East Coast jihad in which the rapper threatens to eliminate Biggie, Puff, and a slew of Bad Boy artists and other New York acts." The song was produced by long-time collaborator Johnny "J". The video, itself described as infamous, includes impersonations of Biggie, Puffy and M.A.F.I.A. member Lil' Kim.
"Takeover" is a track recorded by Jay-Z for his 2001 album The Blueprint. The song is a diss track aimed at rappers Nas and Prodigy of Mobb Deep.
Albert Johnson, better known by his stage name Prodigy, was an American rapper. With Havoc, he was one half of the hip hop duo Mobb Deep.
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Live Squad was an American hip hop group and production team from Hollis, Queens, New York consisting of brothers Stretch and Majesty and DJ K-Low, best known for their early collaborations with Tupac Shakur.
Hell on Earth is the third studio album by the American hip hop duo Mobb Deep, released on November 19, 1996, through Loud and RCA Records. A sequel to Mobb Deep's previous album, the critically acclaimed The Infamous (1995), Hell on Earth is entirely produced by group member Havoc and features guest appearances from rappers Nas, Raekwon, Method Man, and frequent collaborator Big Noyd. The album includes the acclaimed singles "G.O.D. Pt. III" and "Hell on Earth ," as well as "Drop a Gem on 'Em," a response to 2Pac's diss track "Hit 'Em Up." A promotional single, "Still Shinin'", was released earlier that year and later added to the album.
Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from New York City. The duo consisted of rappers Prodigy and Havoc. They are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hop and hip hop in the mid-1990s. Mobb Deep became one of the most successful rap duos of all time, having sold over three million records. Their best-known albums are The Infamous (1995), Hell on Earth (1996) and Murda Muzik (1999), and their most successful singles were "Shook Ones " and "Survival of the Fittest." They were known for their dark and hardcore delivery.
"Dear Mama" is a song by American rapper 2Pac from his third studio album, Me Against the World (1995). It was released on February 21, 1995, as the lead single from the album. The song is a tribute to his mother, Afeni Shakur. In the song, Shakur details his childhood poverty and his mother's addiction to crack cocaine, but argues that his love and deep respect for his mother supersede bad memories. The song became his first top ten on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number nine. It also topped the Hot Rap Singles chart for five weeks. As of March 2021, the song is certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA.
H.N.I.C. is the debut solo album by American rapper Prodigy. The album was scheduled for a September release but ultimately released November 14, 2000.
The East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry was a feud between artists and fans of the East Coast hip hop and West Coast hip hop scenes in the United States, especially from the mid-1990s. Focal points of the feud were East Coast–based rapper The Notorious B.I.G. with Puff Daddy and their New York City–based label, Bad Boy Records, and West Coast–based rapper Tupac Shakur with Suge Knight and their Los Angeles-based label, Death Row Records. The feud culminated in the murders of both rappers in drive-by shootings. Although several suspects have been identified, both murders remain unsolved.
Randy Walker, of the stage name Stretch, was an American rapper and record producer, working in Live Squad. In the early 1990s, he joined 2Pac's rap group Thug Life. The November 30, 1994, shooting of Shakur led to their split. On November 30, 1995, exactly one year after the shooting of Shakur, Stretch was shot and killed at the age of 27.
"Who Shot Ya" or often "Who Shot Ya?" is a song by Brooklyn, New York, rapper the Notorious B.I.G., also called Biggie Smalls, backed by Sean Combs as the "hype man". Puffy's emerging record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, released it on February 21, 1995, on an alternate reissue of Biggie's single "Big Poppa/Warning," out since December 5, 1994. While this 1994 release climbed the Billboard Hot 100, its new B side "Who Shot Ya"—now Biggie's "most infamous classic," with an instrumental now iconic—revised some vocals of a "Who Shot Ya" track, rapped by Biggie and Keith Murray, already issued on a mixtape from a Harlem DJ earlier in 1995. Recalled as "menacing magic" that helps "define New York rap," "Who Shot Ya" was "controversial and hugely influential." Widely interpreted as a taunt at 2Pac, the single provoked a "rap battle" between the two rappers, formerly friends.
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Malcolm Greenidge, known as E.D.I Mean and EDIDON, is an American hip hop artist and a member of the Outlawz. The name is a play on the name Idi Amin, former president of Uganda. While in the third grade, Malcolm became friends with Katari "Kastro" Cox who later introduced him to his cousin, Tupac Shakur.
Katari Terrance Cox better known by his stage name Kastro, is an American rapper. A cousin of Tupac Shakur, Kastro would perform alongside him in the former's rap group, the Outlawz, and is featured on many of the late rapper's songs such as "Made Niggaz", & "Hail Mary". When he was in elementary school, he introduced his friend, and future Outlawz rapper, Malcolm Greenridge, later named E.D.I. Mean, to his cousin.
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