Diddy told Jay-Z that he stepped into the space left by Biggie and Tupac following their deaths in the late 90s.
The course of Hip-Hop was irrevocably alerted when icons Tupac and Biggie were murdered. Tupac lost his life in a Las Vegas shooting in September 1996, while The Notorious B.I.G. was shot and killed six months later in Los Angeles in March 1997.
Nonetheless, Diddy says Jay-Z filled the gaping “void” their murders left in the Hip-Hop community. The Bad Boy boss made the remarks during a Twitter Spaces conversation celebrating Biggie’s 50th birthday. He offered his opinion after Jay-Z spoke about losing two legends in such a short timespan.
“As far as Big and ‘Pac and pushing forward, that’s just me being a student of the game and loving the game and loving the culture and wanting to push the culture forward,” Hov said. “That was the challenge that I was faced with and that’s a void. That’s a big void. Others stepped in to fill it as well, not just myself. That’s a big void. That’s the two pillars right that. Imagine that, within a year.”
Diddy Says Hov “Kept The Art Of It Going”
Diddy then interjected, “Bro, you filled them shoes though. You came in and we definitely give thanks. You definitely came, and I just know how much Big really looked up to Jay. They looked up to each other. That is crazy you had to step into the shoes of two people. That’s all it was was those two people. They had things on lock.
He added, “Hov was coming, but it was like these two cats was just so big, and so to have all of that come on you and have that responsibility to keep this s### fly and keep the art of it going. I think Hov kept the art of it going and take where they was at and take it even higher.” Check out the conversation between Hov and Diddy below.
Biggie was celebrated on what would have been his 50th birthday at a tribute at the Empire State building on Thursday, May 20.