The Notorious B.I.G. has been gone for 23 years and JAY Z is still at the forefront of the culture.

So it's not hard to forget that the two were New York contemporaries -- in fact, Hov is three years older.

According to Lil Cease, who knew them both, Biggie acknowledged JAY was the better rapper.

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While speaking on Jay-Z and Biggie reconnecting after high school, Lil Cease mentions that Biggie thought Jay was nicer than him (via @kushedgod) - #Biggie #HipHopHeads #JayZ #RapNews #LilCease #HipHopNews #NotoriousBIG #HipHopBlog #Akademiks #JuniorMafia #SmokeDZA #HipHopMedia

A post shared by THE HIP-HOP WOLF® (@thehiphopwolf) on Apr 19, 2020 at 4:22pm PDT

"They bonded just on some G shit cause they respected each other as men and they respected each other as artists," Cease said of Biggie and Hov. "Big wasn’t afraid to tell that. Big thought he was doper than him. Big used to say, 'Yo, that n*gga nicer than me.' I swear to God on everything I love. Any n*gga can vouch for it. I’m not lying. These are straight facts," he continued. "When JAY-Z said that line on 'Dead Presidents,' 'N*gga take a freeze off my kneecap/N*gga believe that,' Big was like 'Yo, he got me.'"

Cease went on to say that he preferred Big because Hov was too lyrical.

What do you think?