A new song that references the legacies of two of hip-hop’s most iconic stars has stirred a bit of controversy.
Shortly after DJ Khaled premiered his new track “I Feel Like Pac/I Feel Like Biggie,” former Bad Boy Records star Ma$e posted a comment on his Instagram that got fans buzzing. In his post, Ma$e appeared to take offense to Khaled’s song–though he didn’t mention the famed Miami deejay by name. The veteran rapper did, however, complain about people exploiting the legacy of his fallen former labelmate, the Notorious B.I.G.
“N—as sold u out BIG. I hate the way your legacy has been watered down,” he wrote. “I don’t have to be from Bk. Let him rest. #respect.”
Khaled explained to MTV what inspired the record and he also revealed why he wanted such a star-studded roster of rappers on the song.
“When I made ‘I Feel Like Pac/ I Feel Like Biggie’ me and Swizz was in the studio and I played Swizz the beat and I gave him a vision of who I wanted to be on the record. Swizz came up with this hook: ‘I feel like ‘Pac,’ ” Khaled told MTV News. “That chemistry with me and Swizz was amazing when we were cooking that, but at the same time I couldn’t have put just any rapper on that record so I put [Rick] Ross, I put Meek Mill and I put T.I.”
“Ross is one of the biggest rappers in the game and one of the hardest gangsta rappers in the game and that’s what Biggie and [2Pac] was,” said Khaled. “And then you got T.I., another brother from the south who’s one of the hardest rappers in the game and in and out of jail, going through so much sh–. If you really look at T.I.’s story, he done been through a lot of sh–, as well as Ross.”
“Then you got Meek Mill, who has been through a lot of s–t, and where he comes from, from a young age. If you look at his story, he’s like a young ‘Pac,” Khaled explained. “Nobody’s like ‘Pac and Biggie, nobody’s sounding like ’em. I’m talking about the energy.”
