"Who Shot Ya?" is a song by American rapper the Notorious B.I.G., backed by Sean Combs. Bad Boy Entertainment released it on February 21, 1995, on an alternate reissue of Wallace's single "Big Poppa/Warning". Its new B-side "Who Shot Ya", a revision of a track already issued earlier in 1995, was "controversial and hugely influential."Clive Davis with Anthony DeCurtis, The Soundtrack of My Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), p 409: "In 1999 Bad Boy released Born Again, a posthumous album of Biggie material that consisted of unfinished songs, previously unreleased material completed by collaborations with other rappers, and the controversial and hugely influential song 'Who Shot Ya?' " Widely interpreted as a taunt at Tupac Shakur, the single provoked a "rap battle" between the two rappers, formerly friends.
Wallace, when interviewed, explained his "Who Shot Ya" lyrics as simply portraying a rivalry between drug dealers. The instrumental is a sample that loops a portion of soul singer David Porter's 1971 song "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over", from the album Victim of the Joke? An Opera. The song supposedly references Shakur's 1994 non-fatal shooting, which Shakur had suspected Wallace of being involved with. Wallace disputed Shakur's portrayal, and called the rumors blaming him "crazy" in the track's lyrics.Fab Five Freddy, interviewer, "Mail: Tupac Shakur: The final chapter", Vibe, 1995 Aug;3(6):25–29, where Vibe publishes the most relevant responses to Tupac's January comments published in Vibe's April issue: Andre Harrell & Biggie Smalls on p 25, James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, here called simply "Booker", on pp 25–26, rapper Little Shawn on p 26, Sean "Puffy" Combs on p 27, and Randy "Stretch" Walker on pp 27 & 29. (Andre Harrell meanwhile fell from Tupac's suspicions, and Tupac seemingly never quite accused Little Shawn. Incidentally, Fab Five Freddy was an early ambassador of hip hop.) Puffy and Biggie reportedly resumed print silence until interviewed in June 1996 [Joel Anderson, "The B-side that deepened Biggie and Tupac's rift", Slate.com, 13 Nov 2019], yielding a cover story in Vibe's September 1996 issue [The Blackspot, "Stakes is high", Vibe, 1996 Sep;4(7):100–104]. Out of prison, Tupac answered in June 1996 by the B side "Hit 'Em Up"—accusing Wallace by name—a "diss track" which inflamed the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry to its peak.
Tupac's fatal shooting in September 1996 and Wallace's in March 1997 drew speculations partly blaming the "rap battle". The track was reissued in 1999 on the posthumous Biggie album Born Again, in 2001 on a "Big Poppa/Warning" reissue with remixes, in 2004 on a remaster of his 1994 debut album Ready to Die, and in 2007 on his compilation album Greatest Hits. The rock band Living Colour's music video for their 2016 cover version protests gun violence.
Closing another B side
Track selection In July 1993, Uptown Records' founder Andre Harrell fired his unbridled A&R man and record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, age 23, whose new label, Bad Boy Entertainment, then found parenting by Clive Davis's Arista Records.For a Sean "Puffy" Combs" cover story begun before but finished after his firing from Uptown Records, see Scott Poulson-Bryant, "Puff Daddy", Vibe, 1993 Sep;1(1):89–96, esp pp 89 & 96. For a synopsis from two years of retrospect, see Kiki Mason, "Pop goes the ghetto", New York, 1995 Oct 23;28(42):37–43, p 42. By late 1994, Bad Boy prevailed via rapper Craig Mack's hit single "Flava in Ya Ear," yet especially by Bad Boy's first album, Ready to Die,For a contemporary glimpse of the label's early success, see J. R. Reynolds, "Combs' Bad Boy label makes good", Billboard, 1995 May 20;107(20):18,23. For 15 years of hindsight, rather, see Bill Adler, In Ya Grill: The Faces of Hip Hop (New York: Billboard Books/Watson-Guptill, 2007), p 44. released on September 13, 1994,Mojo magazine staff and associates, The Mojo Collection: The Ultimate Music Companion, 4th edn (Edinburgh: Mojo Books/Canongate Books, 2007), p 614. the debut album of gangsta rapper Notorious B.I.G.Derrick Parker w/ Matt Diehl, Notorious C.O.P.: The Inside Story of the Tupac, Biggie, and Jam Master Jay Investigations from NYPD's first "Hip-Hop Cop" (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2006), p 113.For swift summary of Biggie's entry into the music industry, see Robert C Schaller Jr, Kanye West: A Biography (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press/ABC-CLIO, 2009), p 43. The album is mostly grim and hardcore,Aimé J. Ellis, If We Must Die: From Bigger Thomas to Biggie Smalls (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2011), p 2. but Puffy removed "Who Shot Ya" from it.Ronin Ro, Bad Boy: The Influence of Sean "Puffy" Combs On the Music Industry (New York: Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, 2001), pp 59–60 discuss the Ready to Die tracks and singles, including the conflict of visions, Puffy's popular versus Biggie's hardcore. "By the time he", Puffy, "felt the album was complete, he had removed Nashiem's track 'Who Shot Ya,' added 'Juicy' and 'Respect,' and set 'Dead Wrong' aside as unusable. Now it was time to choose the first single. Biggie wanted his violent number 'Machine Gun Funk' to introduce him, but Puffy explained that 'Juicy' would get on radio and sell more copies" [p 59]. "Despite any misgivings Biggie may have had regarding singles, Puffy had his marketing approach down pat: Each Biggie single featured a commercial song with radio appeal backed with a harder number for the 'street.' The approach worked. 'Juicy' sold over half a million copies. 'Big Poppa' sold twice that amount. 'One More Chance,' backed with a remix of Biggie's duet with Method Man, 'The What,' sold a million copies" p 62.
Biggie wanted the first single to be "Machine Gun Funk." Puffy made the first two A sides instead friendly songs—"Juicy" and then "Big Poppa," songs that Biggie resisted recordingJoel Anderson, "The B-side that deepened Biggie and Tupac's rift", Slate.com, Slate Group, 13 Nov 2019.—to increase radio appeal and sales, yet placed harder songs as their B sides. The "Big Poppa" B side, "Warning," an album track, thus in practice a "double A side," relies on the instrumental of Isaac Hayes's cover version of "Walk on By," and casts Biggie suspecting that members of his own circle will set up him up for a robbery." 'Warning', set to Isaac Hayes's cover of 'Walk on By,' found Biggie worrying that those closest to him would set him up for a robbery." [Ronin Ro, Bad Boy (New York: Pocket Books, 2001), p 62 Each of the two songs received its own music video."The Notorious B.I.G.—Big Poppa (official music video)", The Notorious B.I.G. "Official Artist Channel" @ YouTube, 6 Sep 2011."The Notorious B.I.G.—'Warning' (official music video)", The Notorious B.I.G. "Official Artist Channel" @ YouTube, 6 Sep 2011.
Mixtape version An underground "Who Shot Ya" differing—but same instrumental—was released in 1995 before the single.<ref name=":4222222">Bandini, "DJ SNS liberates the original mixtape version of Biggie's 'Who Shot Ya' with a Keith Murray verse (audio)", AmbrosiaForHeads.com, 17 Mar 2014, embeds a YouTube video of a still image plus audio, and wholly addresses the topic: "One particular standout from Stan Ipcus's stellar feature is the bit on 'Who Shot Ya?.' The controversial song, produced by Nashiem Myrick & Diddy (who chillingly flipped a sample by Isaac Hayes' production partner David Porter), featured some uncharacteristic ad-lib shots from Puff Daddy at the time, and seemed to chide 2Pac into the beef that would transpire less than a year later. Like so many great myths surrounding The Notorious B.I.G. and mid-'90s Bad Boy, SNS maintains that his version, hitting the streets first in 1995, featured Keith Murray. While the Def Squad MC's lyrics would later be re-purposed to a Mary J. Blige interlude, with the interview, SNS digitized this moment in time. K.M., like Biggie, is an amazing lyricist who's never been too far from controversy. Here's what he said: 'I had 'Who Shot Ya' with Keith Murray's verse. To this day, no one still has that record. [Laughs.] You only heard Keith Murray's verse on the Mary [J. Blige My Life interlude]. But his whole verse wasn't on there, [it was just a snippet that faded in and out]. I had the full version.''' " (The italics and brackets are native to this source.)</ref> Amid lore of this mixtape version, some speculated that it was a myth. (In 2017, DJ EFN casually ventured that he may have had an underground issue on vinyl in a white sleeve, as used by DJs, before December 1994.)N.O.R.E. & DJ EFN, interviewers, "Lil' Cease | Drink Champs (full episode)", Revolt @ YouTube, 23 Aug 2017: time mark 12:00 on the November 1994 shooting, 14:04 on the Tupac & Biggie rivalry, and 18:13 on the "Who Shot Ya" song. (For some written synopsis, see Shaheem Reid, " 'Drink Champs' | Lil Cease says Tupac was ready to squash beef with B.I.G. after his Vegas trip", Revolt.tv, 17 Aug 2017.) In 2014, when the mixtape "Who Shot Ya" was traced to DJ S&S, a renowned issuer of New York mixtapes in the 1990s,DJ S&S, or DJ SNS, is from Harlem [Chuck Creekmur, "All mixed up: Caught on tape", Vibe, 2004 Aug;12(8):103–107]. In 1988, DJ Kid Capri had issued the first mixtape that was not a recording of live performances [Iamni Dawson, "Recorded history: Driving the wheels of steel down mixtape memory lane", Vibe, 2004 Aug;12(8):107]. But it was DJ S&S who, in 1993, "leaks Nas's seminal debut, Illmatic, to the streets, taking the concept of 'exclusives' to another level." [Ibid.] its original audio was publicized. Like a mixtape track, it is only two minutes long—one Biggie verse, 24 bars, then one Keith Murray verse, 23 bars, amid "hype man" Puffy tersely yelling announcementsJessica McKinny, "The lost art of the hype man", Vibe.com, Prometheus Global Media, LLC, 17 Jul 2017.—but the verses are longer than the standard 16 bars.A standard rap song is three verses, 16 bars each, although verses of lengths like 12 or 22 or even 24 bars are also common. For elaboration on bar and verse structures, see Paul Edwards, How to Rap: The Art and Science of the Hip-Hop MC (Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2009): pp 68–75 explain musical bars, basically always four beats per bar in a rap song, while pp 193–196 discuss the standard 16 bars.