It's often been said that Jay-Z's rap career wouldn't have taken off in the same way if The Notorious B.I.G. wasn't shot and killed in 1997.
It's a topic that Jay brought up himself on Pusha T's newly released "Wrist & Neck" track.
“They like, ‘If BIG was alive, Hov wouldn’t be in his position' / If Big had survived, y’all would have got The Commission," spit Jay, referring to the supergroup that included himself, Biggie, Lance “Un” Rivera, Diddy, Lil’ Cease and Charli Baltimore.
Recently, Diddy spoke about Jay and Big on Twitter Spaces and said the 4:44 writer really did pick up where Biggie left off, plus, Tupac Shakur.
“Bro, you filled them shoes though. You came in and we definitely give thanks," Diddy told Jay. "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."
"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 sh*t 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," added the Bad Boy founder.
Do you agree?