Easy Mo Bee Confirms Tupac Was Trying To End The East/West Beef
Easy Mo Bee is one of the artists who worked with Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. the closest, during the mid-1990s. While acts like Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Method Man, and Buckshot would record with both MCs, the Brooklyn, New York producer was deeply responsible for the soundscapes of Biggie Smalls’ Ready To Die, and ‘Pac’s Me Against The World, released just over a year apart. Each album would go platinum, with Mo Bee responsible for memorable tracks such as “Gimme The Loot” and “Temptations,” respectively.
In a Vlad TV interview last week, Nice & Smooth’s Greg Nice spoke about reconnecting with Tupac Shakur in California in late 1996. There, the Bronx, New York MC/producer initiated a phone conversation with the Death Row Records superstar and Easy Mo Bee, to assure Shakur that there was no bad blood, despite songs like “Hit ‘Em Up” attacking Biggie, Bad Boy Records, and others. As Shakur (who was born and partially raised in New York City) and Greg Nice began rekindling relationships with DJ Premier, Fat Joe, Showbiz and others, the multi-platinum rapper orchestrated One Nation. Reportedly recording seven songs with Greg N-I-C-E, Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and Tha Outlawz would host artists including Boot Camp Clik’s Buckshot, General Steele, Tek, as well as Greg’s then-proteges L.S. and Asu. Greg said that the project, which was being recorded in the September Shakur was fatally shot in Las Vegas, Nevada, hoped to unify the coasts and reconnect the MC with his his Big Apple roots.
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In an Instagram post, Easy Mo Bee responded to Greg Nice’s account, by posting a rare photo of Shakur and the “Sometimes I Rhyme Slow” co-creator. In the post, Mo Bee confirmed Greg’s account of that call.
“Greg Nice called me up and said, ‘Yo Mo, I’m here with ‘Pac… he wanna talk to you,’ writes the producer/DJ. ‘When ‘Pac and I spoke on the phone he realized that I still had love for him. ‘Pac passed the phone back to Greg and Greg Nice said, ‘See… I told you. Your homies got love for you man. He ain’t mad at you.’ Looking back, I really wish Tupac had gotten the chance to fulfill his dream of One Nation. The point is… he wanted to fix it. Still and all, above and beyond all of the beef, this man still had a heart, was concerned about things he had said and done and wanted to right the wrongs. That brings me to the old well known saying… ‘Don’t put off ’til tomorrow what you can do today.’ If only he had activated that dream of One Nation just a little bit sooner… maybe just maybe he would still be here today.”
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Easy Mo Bee also produced parts of Nice & Smooth’s most recent album, 1997’s IV: Blazing Hot.
This month, following the death of Tupac’s mother Afeni Shakur, the MC’s unreleased music—a reported 152 songs—has been placed in the trust of veteran music executive Tom Whalley. Tom, a founding exec at Interscope Records, signed Shakur to the label where he would release (and later distribute) all of his albums made while alive. Presumably, the One Nation sessions are part of that newly transferred catalog.