<p id=”par-1_58″>During <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/tupac-shakur/?swcfpc=1″>Tupac Shakur’s</a> lifetime, <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/tag/jay-z/?swcfpc=1″>Jay-Z</a> wrote a diss track about him. Jay-Z was closer friends with the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac’s rival, and this reportedly placed Jay-Z on his bad side as well. According to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ bodyguard, Jay-Z felt the heat of that feud ahead of a concert. Combs’ former bodyguard claimed that Jay-Z hid from Tupac.</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-jay-z-hid-from-tupac-before-a-concert-said-diddy-s-bodyguard”>Jay-Z hid from Tupac before a concert, said Diddy’s bodyguard</h2>
<p id=”par-2_40″>When Gene Deal was <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/sean-diddy-combs-bodyguard-thought-diddy-going-die-night-biggie-murdered.html/”>working as a bodyguard</a> for Sean “Diddy” Combs, he claimed he was backstage at a Jay-Z concert. He said Jay-Z hid when he realized Tupac was there. He was friends with the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac’s rival.</p>
<p id=”par-3_28″>“I don’t know how Pac found out that Jay-Z had a show, but Jay-Z was not coming out that room,” he told<em> Cam Capone News</em> (via <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.vibe.com/news/entertainment/diddy-former-bodyguard-claims-jayz-hid-2pac-hotel-1234931939/” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Vibe Magazine</a>).</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-1″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Jay-Z-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Jay-Z wears a blue shirt and sits by a window.” class=”wp-image-3753063″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Jay-Z | Al Pereira/Getty Images/Michael Ochs Archives</figcaption></figure>
<p id=”par-4_20″>Deal claimed that Suge Knight, the head of Death Row Records, had to tell Tupac to let Jay-Z get onstage.</p>
<p id=”par-5_44″>“Suge said, ‘Yo, man, that ain’t me. That’s Pac with his wild a**,’” Deal said. “Suge Knight told Pac to give Jay-Z a pass so he could go do his concert, because Jay wasn’t coming out of that room, you know, to do nothing.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-he-said-he-spoke-to-the-notorious-b-i-g-shortly-before-his-death”>He said he spoke to the Notorious B.I.G. shortly before his death</h2>
<p id=”par-6_11″>Jay-Z said he last spoke to Biggie <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/sean-diddy-combs-admitted-biggies-death-helped-music-career.html/”>shortly before his death</a>.</p>
<p id=”par-7_79″>“He wasn’t a troublemaker at all. He was just a funny, charismatic guy,” he said at an event for his autobiography at the New York Public Library (via <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.ellecanada.com/culture/music/jay-z-talked-to-the-notorious-b-i-g-just-before-his-death” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Elle Canada</a>). “For him to die so senselessly – I spoke to him that night, and he was so happy to be in Los Angeles, after the whole East Coast-West Coast thing. He felt like he finally was back in Los Angeles and everything was where it was supposed to be.”</p>
<p id=”par-8_16″>After that final conversation, Jay-Z said that news of Biggie’s death came as a cold shock.</p>
<p id=”par-9_35″>“He loved being in Los Angeles – and we see this happen in movies – when everything is just fine, and we hung up the phone, and one hour later, he’s no longer with us.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-jay-z-had-a-tupac-diss-track-ready-to-go”>Jay-Z had a Tupac diss track ready to go</h2>
<p id=”par-10_25″>According to DJ Clark Kent, Jay-Z had penned a diss track directed at Tupac. It didn’t see the light of day <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/tupacs-accused-killer-claimed-sean-diddy-combs-offered-1-million-kill-rapper.html/”>because of Tupac’s death</a>. </p>
<p id=”par-11_43″>“It never came out, out of respect for the fact that he died,” Kent said, per <a target=”_blank” href=”https://www.vulture.com/2015/08/jay-z-tupac-diss-record.html” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Vulture</a>. “Jay did a record going at Pac, but right as it was about to come out, son died. We performed it, though … at the Apollo.”</p>
<figure class=”wp-block-image size-full” id=”emb-2″><img decoding=”async” src=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Tupac-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80″ alt=”Tupac wears a denim shirt and a bandanna around his head.” class=”wp-image-3758586″><figcaption class=”wp-element-caption”>Tupac Shakur | Raymond Boyd/Getty Images</figcaption></figure>
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<p id=”par-12_25″>Kent said that people would have been shocked if it got widespread release. It was one of the more scathing diss records he’d ever heard. </p>
<p id=”par-13_39″>“It was scathing, like crowds were like, Oh, s***!” Kent said. “If he was alive, there would’ve been no coming back. This was so tough. To me, it probably was one of the hardest diss records I’ve ever heard.”</p>