🧵 — With today being 26 years to the day that Christopher Wallace, aka the Notorious B.I.G./Biggie Smalls, lost his life, I wanted to express a few thoughts on March 9.

And why, in my opinion, it's this most recognizable day in hip-hop history. I believe that to be true for certain generations. As my brother @JohnGotty said when we were texting about it earlier, it's almost like saying September 11. Tupac and September 13 is up there, of course, but 'Pac had multiple shootings throughout his life.

PT. 2 — So how does Tupac respond to the news of his former friend — someone he once saw as a brother, really? One he felt didn't protect him and who he thought may have known about the hit.

"I felt bad for his mother and his wife. I didn't feel anything for him. Honestly." And more.

I was talking to @JohnGotty earlier b/c we always text about everything, but especially Tupac-related stuff. To diehard 'Pac fans, the name Randy "Stretch" Walker is well known. To others, you may've heard his name, but may not be familiar with the entire story. 🧵time. I'll start at the most recent update and then work my way backwards. Just know Stretch is very, very important name in rap history. One who's connected to Tupac, Biggie and, perhaps, Jam Master Jay. I'll get to JMJ in a second.

Here's Cease, Tupac, Biggie, Stretch and D-Roc.

PT. 2: There are so many “What If's” in Big's life, but seeing him + Jay together at least for a short time isn't one of them. What could've been, sure. But at least they had that time. Big had plans to move to ATL and he wanted Jay to move there and be his next door neighbor. They spoke everyday from the moment they met in that studio session. Big would send Jay early versions of songs that eventually landed on Life After Death and Jay was floored. He couldn't believe what he was hearing and he knew Big would make him stay on his A-Game.

PT. 1: "They like, 'If B.I.G. was alive, Hov wouldn't be in this position/ If B.I.G. had survived, y'all would've got The Commission..." — Jay-Z on Pusha T's "Neck & Wrist" (2022)

A long thread on the hilarious, tragic but eternal friendship b/w Jay-Z + Biggie Smalls. The friendship b/w Jay and Big isn't exactly unknown. It's been told several times before, but aside from them being from Brooklyn, iconic rappers and friends, that's where most tend to stop. Unless you do a lot of digging. But it's a ton of info out there.

I'm probably the 1,000th person to tell you today is 10th anniversary of @KingJames taking his talents to South Beach. But I wanna talk briefly about something else about that day. How it linked LeBron and Oscar Grant together forever. July, 8, 2010, was a day of two Decisions. A year and a half earlier, Oscar Grant was killed by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. It was one of the first murders of that kind that really made the rounds during the internet era. The footage YouTube. It was grainy, but you don't forget seeing something like that.

I've been thinking about a story my grandma's told me a couple times over the course of my life. How she was told "go back to where you came from." How she, as a young girl, had to just eat that because it was the early '40s. How every time she, her mom and her brothers... would walk to town to get groceries, a young white girl would yell from a fence the n-word and point and laugh. How she'd tell them get away and go back to where they came. She ate that for a long time. Until she couldn't anymore. Until it all boiled over one day.

Bunch of people who sold crack in the ‘80s had their lives ruined. Some of these people we see on the streets everyday asking for spare change. Families destroyed. Let’s not act like we actually care about second chances here. It’s all about who gets a second chance.

https://twitter.com/mmfa/status/1041747918867374081

This is what I’m talking about, man. This country didn’t care about how its veterans were treated until Kap took a knee and that became the safe out instead of talking about the issues he wanted to discuss.