********************************* Here's some quick facts from the top of the dome...
• During the beginning of their rapper/producer relationship, Prodigy refused to hang out and converse with The Alchemist unless they were in the studio recording music. For over two years, Prodigy believed The Alchemist was an undercover agent working for the FBI.
• Big L's murder wasn't a case of mistaken identity. The shooters were after his brother, and since he was incarcerated, they decided to go after L instead. RIP.
• X-Raided is the first rapper in history to have his lyrics used against him in court. X-Raided also has released several albums while serving his sentence, a few to which have been recorded using equipment that is not allowed in prison. No one knows how he obtained the equipment.
• Cormega was known in Queensbridge for walking the streets with a Sterling 9mm SMG. When he'd spot squad cars cruising without backup, he'd flash them and send them driving away in the opposite direction.
• Jay-Z was not the person who signed Kanye West to Rocafella. It was actually Dame Dash, who signed him after hearing the song entitled, "Wow". You can find the song on youtube.
• When 2Pac was locked up at Riker's, E Money Bags and Nas visited him often and made road trips to supply him with weed. E Money Bags was murdered soon after in a retaliation hit for the death of Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff's right hand man, whom E Money bags had murdered some times before.
• Fat Joe used to write graffiti in the BX before he became a rap star. His tag was "CRACK".
• KRS-One also was a graffiti writer before rapping, under the same alias. "KRS ONE"
• Ghostface Killah and Raekwon were from rival hoods (Ghostface from Stapleton, Raekwon from Park Hill), and put their differences aside for the sake of Wu-Tang. They both have friends who were killed from each of their respective crews.
• Chino XL, DMX, and Nas are the only rappers to diss 2Pac by name.
• The RZA murdered a man before Wu-Tang fame. He was found innocent on the grounds of self defense.
• While touring the United States, the DEA trailed and eventually raided Immortal Technique and his crew in their hotel rooms, only to find nothing. Immortal Technique claims that they are still following him to this day.
• Jay-Z asked Nas to record a verse for 'Dead Presidents' on his debut album. Nas refused. Jay-Z later asked Nas to make a cameo in the video even though he refused to record a verse, because Jay had sampled his voice for the chorus. Again, Nas refused. According to some, this has happened for every Jay-Z solo up until The Blueprint.
• Killah Priest's album Heavy Mental was heavily laced with subtle references to psychadelic substances. The best example for this being on the last verse of the song 'Tai Chi'.
• Rappers The Holocaust and 9th Prince had a bloody fight in Times Square during the recording of Dirty Weaponry. Although 9th Prince is almost twice Holocaust's size, many claim that Holocaust not only beat 9th, but embarrassed him to the point that 9th no longer wanted to pursue a friendship with him. They stopped recording music together after that incident, but claim they are both past the beef.
• Kool Keith, Cage, and Scarface have all, at one point or another been institutionalized in mental health facilities.
• During the height of Mobb Deep's career, they would get booed out of their own shows on the East Coast by devout 2Pac fans. One particular show in North Carolina had to be shut down because the crowd was overriding the sound of the speakers with "Makaveli" chants.
• Mos Def never played outside as a child.
• According to Kelis, Nas had his first encounter with Marijuana at four years old.
• Cormega accused Nas of being a coward because he did not want to join Cormega in seeking revenge on the murderer of their close friend, Ill Will.
• Necro and Ill Bill grew up in the Glenwood Projects of Brooklyn. They were constantly getting into scuffles because neither refused to back down from a fight. Necro also allegedly fought a "Made Man" belonging to a local mafia in Brooklyn when he was very young, raising his credentials amongst Blacks and the other Italians in the hood who always gave him trouble for being Jewish.
• The Notorious B.I.G. once claimed that RA the Rugged Man was a better rapper than himself.
• When U-God and Raekwon were playing at Cappadonna's house as young children, U-God brandished a gun he had and pointed it at Raekwon. Raekwon told him not to play like that, and as soon as U-God focused the aim away from Rae, the pistol went off, shattering a window.
• Jacques Agnant, an alleged member of New York's crime syndicate, the "Black Mafia" was responsible for introducing 2Pac to the woman who accused him of rape. What makes this interesting is that the Black Mafia are the organization that allegedly put up money to jump start Bad Boy records. After 2Pac refused to sign with Bad Boy to please the Black Mafia, he set up for rape, and later shot at the Quad Studios in New York. Pac believed Biggie and Puff both knew about the plot, but out of fear for their own lives kept quiet.
More to come...