On the latest episode of It Is What It Is, Mase talked about the times he and his late friend and collaborator Big L were at odds.
Both hailing from Harlem, New York, the two rappers were in a group together called Children of the Corn formed around 1993, but prior to that, Big L was already getting buzz in NYC’s underground rap scene, ultimately releasing his solo debut Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous in 1995. However, the younger Mase signed with Bad Boy a year later in 1996 and became a huge mainstream star. This was when the rift started between the friends, according to Mase.
“This was when I first got on. Because, you know, before we got on L was the guy.” Adding, “He took us everywhere… to Bobbito and different places to rap, and then when I got on it was like the whole wave changed, like this is what it looks like when a n—a really get on. So, me and L would get into it.”
Mase then continued by saying he noticed some similarities between himself and some of Big L’s rhyme schemes. “He start using a few of my lyrics, like different compounds that I was using,” he said. Adding, “That’s when you make two words rap at the same time, so I checked the n—a.”
After saying the conversation wasn’t a productive one, Mase revealed he was later confronted by Fat Joe — who was in another rap crew D.I.T.C. with Big L — in popular nightclub The Tunnel. “I told L, ‘I’ll knock you out, n—a. You fakin’, n—a. You know I know you, n—a.’ God Bless [the dead],” he recalls while laughing. “He went and got Fat Joe on me, he went and got some Bronx n—as ’cause he couldn’t find nobody.” Adding, “Next thing I know I’m in The Tunnel and the n—a Fat Joe come up to me,” he says. “Then Joe see me and Joe’s like, ‘I ain’t doing nothing to that n—a. That’s Mase, that’s something y’all got going on.’”
Fat Joe confirmed this story on the podcast Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson last year.
The Harlem rapper then brings up a second time when the two friends started arguing over a woman. He said was hanging out with childhood friend Dallas Mavericks assistant coach God Shammgod in their old neighborhood when the two were confronted by a stick-up kid. Mase said he had just purchased his first Rolex and had it iced-out. “A Spanish n—a just run out of nowhere like, ‘Yo, give it up, give it up, n—a, I’mma kill both of y’all n—as.”
After stalling a bit, Mase said he took his watch off slowly, threw it by the tires of a car, and he and Shammgod fled the scene. Luckily, the cops were in the area and were able to nab the stick-up kid and found the watch.
However, Mase claims he started getting phone calls from friends that were in the same jail as the robber and eventually found out that Big L was behind the robbery. “N—as got crazy on the dude in jail and then they beat the n—a so bad, he told us who did it.”
With all that being said, Cam and Mase laughed the entire time and still consider Big L their “brother.”
The stories begin around the 50-minute mark. You can watch it here.
