INTERVIEW: Murs Recalls Seeing Biggie Getting Slaughtered In A Rap Battle

Originally posted on HipHopDX 3/20/2017

Triple beam lyrical dream? The late great Notorious B.I.G. may have been that cat you see at all events bent but on one fateful night, he met his match in Los Angeles. SoCal rap pioneer Murs stopped by the #DXLive set to promote his latest album and shared his favorite Notorious story about how B.I.G. may have caught an L. 

“He [had a show] right around the corner from Project Blowed at Marley Gibbs place, the Crossroads of L.A,” recalls Murs. “He was opening for Craig Mack. He came out [and] did ‘Juicy’ and then said ‘Who’s the hottest MC in here? I’ll battle him right now.’ It was barely nobody [in] there. Lady Of Rage was in the back. It was maybe 50 people in there. He battled this dude named NgaFsh from [Chillin’ Villain Empire]. Fish got in his ass. Killed him. And Biggie was a good sport about it. As a 14-year-old looking up to that shit I was like, ‘Wow I’ve been listening to [Biggie’s] album all month and I love him and he got served’ but it didn’t mean anything. He was just giving this dude some shine that’s from our city. Gave him love, held up his hand and was like, ‘You got me bro,’ went back [to his set] then Craig Mack came on and did ‘Flava In Ya Ear’ twice and left.”

Captain California also dropped some gems on the #DXLive cast about the early days of will.i.am and how the head Black Eyed Pea may have more street cred than people realize. “He’s from the projects [of] East L.A. The only episode of Punk’d never to air because shit got too real is the Black Eyed Peas episode,” Murs emphatically recalled as he slammed his hands into the table. “They tried to set it up like a GRAMMY after-party. This is the story I got from parties involved. They tried to make it like an after-party with prostitutes, a whorehouse, and it got busted. Will’s in the pool with girls [and] they kick in the door like, ‘DEA,’ and scoop Will up by his throat. Polo [will.i.am’s manager], who is butt naked, turns around and socks the DEA off rip. DEA. Did not give a fuck! A federal agent. Will turns around [and starts throwing punches]. In their mind they’re fighting the DEA. The Black Eyed Peas. Sleep if you want to. By the time they yelled, ‘Cut! This is a joke,” folks on both side were too mad.”

The depths of just how gully Will can get didn’t stop there though. “I said [don’t mess with Will] the night I seen him at the club and some Blood dude was in the front row [saying], ‘You wack. You wack, nigga.’ [Will] said, ‘What? Come on!’ [He] pulled the dude on stage. ‘Go, nigga. Go!’ He gave him the mic [and] had his band drop the beat. ‘You not gon’ go?’ [Will] snatched the mic from him and mushed that nigga in the face. This was a gang-banger!”

You can catch more moments like this on #DXLive every Thursday at 6pm EST and, as always, for more exclusive music and news keep it locked here on HipHopDX.