DX: A lot of people don’t like Tupac’s character in the Notorious movie. What are your thoughts on it?
E.D.I. Mean: I feel like Anthony Mackie was put in a bad position, because he had to work with a bad script. No disrespect to the family of Biggie, but I feel like [Notorious] was a movie that didn’t do him any justice. If y’all gonna do Biggie like that, it might as well get released on VH1 like the TLC movie and not in theaters. I told the producers of the upcoming Tupac movie the very same thing. I told them if they were trying to Notorious my nigga, then they should just leave it alone. ‘Pac doesn’t have a story that you can just tell in an hour-and-a-half. You’ve got to really do it on some Malcolm X or Ray movie time lengths. That’s the only reason I’m involved in the movie, and if I see that they are not trying to do that, then I’m not going to touch it. I’m the one that has to deal with the fans on the street, even with the Biggie movie! We had nothing to do with that movie, yet fans were telling me that it was fucked up the way we allowed them portray ‘Pac. And I’m like, “What the fuck do you mean? I didn’t have anything to do with that.” I had one fan tell me that they were going to kick Anthony Mackie’s ass if they ever saw him. I had to tell him that it wasn’t Anthony’s fault because he had to work with what he was given. As for the upcoming Tupac movie, I’m real happy that John Singleton is going to be involved, because he’s someone that actually spent time with ‘Pac, and I feel like this project means something to him. It’s not just another check or a vanity project to him. I feel like he’s going to take his time, put real effort into it, and try to bring the best picture to light. It’s not about making ‘Pac look good or bad—it’s about telling the story for the people that love the story.
DX: There’s a sense of concern about the executives above him who call the real shots.
E.D.I. Mean: Absolutely, and hopefully they give him the freedom to do his thing and not come in with all that business shit that fucks up a movie. You had one of Putin’s aides say that Tupac was the only thing that interested him from America. This is a global fucking icon, so don’t do the movie if it’s going to be on the level of Notorious. Again, no disrespect to his family and friends.
How Tupac Made Peace With Nas At The 1996 MTV Video Awards
DX: Have you ever made peace with the people who were put on blast in the “Bomb First” and “Hit Em Up” songs?
E.D.I. Mean: Years ago I ran into Xzibit, who I took a shot at in “Bomb First,” and it was a cool experience. Since then, we’ve run into each other in different countries doing shows, and everything is cool. “Hit Em Up” was a battle record that kind of got blown out of proportion because of certain articles that came out, and everything turned into a whirlwind. That night, we were on some BDP “The Bridge is Over” type of shit, and we were out to do a better diss record than that. It was purely Hip Hop at the core that just morphed into some crazy shit.
DX: What about all of the others mentioned in those two songs?
E.D.I. Mean: I’ve run into Jay Z before, and it was all love. We shook hands and there was mutual respect there. We’ve been around Mobb Deep but not since Prodigy put his book out. I’ve got a couple of questions to ask him about his book too, but there’s no beef. I just want to know where he got his information from, because a lot of it is incorrect. I feel if you’re going to put a book out, then put it out with the correct information. If it’s not correct and you’re talking about my homeboy, then I’m going to have some questions for you when I see you. It will be respectful, because like I said there is no beef, but I will ask some questions. After that, it is what it is. Nas taped an episode of Behind the Music, and his brother [Jungle] was up there talking about how ‘Pac was this and that when they ran into him. I was standing right there, and he’s incorrect, but I understand that these individuals feel like they can say whatever they want because nobody is putting a mic in front of the Outlawz. Thanks to interviews like this, we can balance that out, and I say that Jungle was lying. If he wants to have a discussion about it, then we can have a discussion about that too—whether it’s in person or through the media. We are grown men now, and If we have a disagreement, then we should be able to sit down and discuss it. It’s 2014 and not 1996, and we can do it a different way.
Going back to your question, we’ve run into everybody from Puffy on down. We had a skirmish with Puffy at an MTV event many years ago, but that was worked out. ‘Pac was just an extreme dude, and if he did something he went all the way with it. He wasn’t into subliminal disses, and I can’t even imagine him trying to do that someone. The thing is after the Makaveli album, he said that he got that shit out of his system and he wasn’t doing that anymore. He actually contacted Nas to let him know about the Makaveli album, and as a matter of fact, he was the only one that ‘Pac reached out to. He told him that the album was coming out and that he was going after him in it. They made peace at the MTV Awards—the meeting that his brother Jungle spoke about saying that we were scared and they had us under pressure. We had half of Jersey with us at the MTV Awards, and Nas was only with his brother and like two other dudes. I remember that meeting well because ‘Pac kept telling him, “Speak up! I can’t hear you.” Nas was saying in a low voice, “There’s no beef, you know what I’m saying?” ‘Pac was like, “Huh? I can’t hear you. Speak up!” They squashed it after that because ‘Pac was a Nas fan, as we all were. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have all gone that route with those songs, but we were going to ride with ‘Pac to the end regardless, and we did. Fans always tell us to do a new “Hit Em Up” and just diss everybody. It’s never just one person they want us to diss but the whole Rap game. I’m like, “Uh, alright. Cool.”
E.D.I. Mean: I feel like Anthony Mackie was put in a bad position, because he had to work with a bad script. No disrespect to the family of Biggie, but I feel like [Notorious] was a movie that didn’t do him any justice. If y’all gonna do Biggie like that, it might as well get released on VH1 like the TLC movie and not in theaters. I told the producers of the upcoming Tupac movie the very same thing. I told them if they were trying to Notorious my nigga, then they should just leave it alone. ‘Pac doesn’t have a story that you can just tell in an hour-and-a-half. You’ve got to really do it on some Malcolm X or Ray movie time lengths. That’s the only reason I’m involved in the movie, and if I see that they are not trying to do that, then I’m not going to touch it. I’m the one that has to deal with the fans on the street, even with the Biggie movie! We had nothing to do with that movie, yet fans were telling me that it was fucked up the way we allowed them portray ‘Pac. And I’m like, “What the fuck do you mean? I didn’t have anything to do with that.” I had one fan tell me that they were going to kick Anthony Mackie’s ass if they ever saw him. I had to tell him that it wasn’t Anthony’s fault because he had to work with what he was given. As for the upcoming Tupac movie, I’m real happy that John Singleton is going to be involved, because he’s someone that actually spent time with ‘Pac, and I feel like this project means something to him. It’s not just another check or a vanity project to him. I feel like he’s going to take his time, put real effort into it, and try to bring the best picture to light. It’s not about making ‘Pac look good or bad—it’s about telling the story for the people that love the story.
DX: There’s a sense of concern about the executives above him who call the real shots.
E.D.I. Mean: Absolutely, and hopefully they give him the freedom to do his thing and not come in with all that business shit that fucks up a movie. You had one of Putin’s aides say that Tupac was the only thing that interested him from America. This is a global fucking icon, so don’t do the movie if it’s going to be on the level of Notorious. Again, no disrespect to his family and friends.
How Tupac Made Peace With Nas At The 1996 MTV Video Awards
DX: Have you ever made peace with the people who were put on blast in the “Bomb First” and “Hit Em Up” songs?
E.D.I. Mean: Years ago I ran into Xzibit, who I took a shot at in “Bomb First,” and it was a cool experience. Since then, we’ve run into each other in different countries doing shows, and everything is cool. “Hit Em Up” was a battle record that kind of got blown out of proportion because of certain articles that came out, and everything turned into a whirlwind. That night, we were on some BDP “The Bridge is Over” type of shit, and we were out to do a better diss record than that. It was purely Hip Hop at the core that just morphed into some crazy shit.
DX: What about all of the others mentioned in those two songs?
E.D.I. Mean: I’ve run into Jay Z before, and it was all love. We shook hands and there was mutual respect there. We’ve been around Mobb Deep but not since Prodigy put his book out. I’ve got a couple of questions to ask him about his book too, but there’s no beef. I just want to know where he got his information from, because a lot of it is incorrect. I feel if you’re going to put a book out, then put it out with the correct information. If it’s not correct and you’re talking about my homeboy, then I’m going to have some questions for you when I see you. It will be respectful, because like I said there is no beef, but I will ask some questions. After that, it is what it is. Nas taped an episode of Behind the Music, and his brother [Jungle] was up there talking about how ‘Pac was this and that when they ran into him. I was standing right there, and he’s incorrect, but I understand that these individuals feel like they can say whatever they want because nobody is putting a mic in front of the Outlawz. Thanks to interviews like this, we can balance that out, and I say that Jungle was lying. If he wants to have a discussion about it, then we can have a discussion about that too—whether it’s in person or through the media. We are grown men now, and If we have a disagreement, then we should be able to sit down and discuss it. It’s 2014 and not 1996, and we can do it a different way.
Going back to your question, we’ve run into everybody from Puffy on down. We had a skirmish with Puffy at an MTV event many years ago, but that was worked out. ‘Pac was just an extreme dude, and if he did something he went all the way with it. He wasn’t into subliminal disses, and I can’t even imagine him trying to do that someone. The thing is after the Makaveli album, he said that he got that shit out of his system and he wasn’t doing that anymore. He actually contacted Nas to let him know about the Makaveli album, and as a matter of fact, he was the only one that ‘Pac reached out to. He told him that the album was coming out and that he was going after him in it. They made peace at the MTV Awards—the meeting that his brother Jungle spoke about saying that we were scared and they had us under pressure. We had half of Jersey with us at the MTV Awards, and Nas was only with his brother and like two other dudes. I remember that meeting well because ‘Pac kept telling him, “Speak up! I can’t hear you.” Nas was saying in a low voice, “There’s no beef, you know what I’m saying?” ‘Pac was like, “Huh? I can’t hear you. Speak up!” They squashed it after that because ‘Pac was a Nas fan, as we all were. In hindsight, maybe we shouldn’t have all gone that route with those songs, but we were going to ride with ‘Pac to the end regardless, and we did. Fans always tell us to do a new “Hit Em Up” and just diss everybody. It’s never just one person they want us to diss but the whole Rap game. I’m like, “Uh, alright. Cool.”
