Mobb Deep vs 2Pac (mid-90s)

Summary

The Mobb Deep vs 2Pac feud is the most documented secondary front of the East/West conflict that ended in Tupac's killing, and a case study in how Tupac's 'Hit 'Em Up' (June 1996) named multiple New York acts simultaneously beyond the central Notorious B.I.G. target. Mobb Deep — Prodigy and Havoc, the Queensbridge duo whose 1995 album The Infamous was already a critical landmark — had aligned themselves with Notorious B.I.G. and Bad Boy in the developing East/West conflict, including a Prodigy appearance on Big's 'Last Day' and shared bills. 'Hit 'Em Up' named Mobb Deep specifically and made reference to Prodigy's sickle-cell anemia — a personal attack that Prodigy later addressed in interviews and in his 2011 memoir My Infamous Life. Mobb Deep responded with 'Drop a Gem on 'Em,' released August 1996 as a single. Per Prodigy's memoir and Complex retrospectives, the track was originally intended for inclusion on Hell on Earth (November 1996) but was pulled from the album after Tupac's killing in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996. The track was subsequently included on later Mobb Deep compilations. The active exchange ended with Tupac's death. Per Prodigy's later interviews and Complex coverage, Mobb Deep continued to address the broader East/West conflict in subsequent records but the specific Pac front was treated as ended. The feud is generally treated by Complex, Rolling Stone and XXL retrospectives as a subsidiary front of the 2Pac vs Notorious B.I.G. beef rather than a standalone exchange.