Rap Genius: Nas and 50 Cent's Top 5 Queens Underworld Figures
Nas and 50 Cent may not seem like they have a lot in common at first glance. One the imaginative street griot of grimy Queensbridge, the other the tough-talking mogul who seems at least as interested in video games and tie-in drinks as rap these days. But these two Queens titans have had a long-running relationship that has turned them from friends and collaborators into enemies who throw disses back and forth.
But no matter how the two artists are getting along personally, their Queens roots will always link them. On his latest album Life Is Good, Nas turns nostalgic, which means looking back at some of the hood figures who strode through the borough like giants during his formative years. 50 in part made his name by talking about those very same figures, in a shockingly open way that may in fact have led to his infamous shooting. His 2000 song "Ghetto Qu'ran" named Queens hustlers' names with an unprecedented directness.
A look at these two artworks -- one an album by a jaded artist who sees his childhood through rose-colored glasses, and one a song by a hungry up-and-comer determined to make a name for himself even at the cost of his personal safety -- reveals a lot of surprising commonalities. Below, the five prominent Queens hood figures mentioned by both men:
But no matter how the two artists are getting along personally, their Queens roots will always link them. On his latest album Life Is Good, Nas turns nostalgic, which means looking back at some of the hood figures who strode through the borough like giants during his formative years. 50 in part made his name by talking about those very same figures, in a shockingly open way that may in fact have led to his infamous shooting. His 2000 song "Ghetto Qu'ran" named Queens hustlers' names with an unprecedented directness.
A look at these two artworks -- one an album by a jaded artist who sees his childhood through rose-colored glasses, and one a song by a hungry up-and-comer determined to make a name for himself even at the cost of his personal safety -- reveals a lot of surprising commonalities. Below, the five prominent Queens hood figures mentioned by both men:
5. Colbert "Black Just" Johnson
Nas: "Rest is peace to Black Just/Riding through Jamaica, Queens in his black truck" ("A Queens Story")
50: "In a conversation over shrimp and lobster at Benihana's/Heard Chico stopped boxing, and started robbing diners"
While 50 may not mention Johnson by name, the implication is impossible to miss. He ran a popular boxing program in Queens that was financed by the powerful Supreme Team drug gang. While Black Just may have been held in high esteem by both rappers -- 50 has reminisced fondly about how "Blackie was that nigga to me" -- it wasn't enough to stop him from being murdered in 1999.
Nas: "Rest is peace to Black Just/Riding through Jamaica, Queens in his black truck" ("A Queens Story")
50: "In a conversation over shrimp and lobster at Benihana's/Heard Chico stopped boxing, and started robbing diners"
While 50 may not mention Johnson by name, the implication is impossible to miss. He ran a popular boxing program in Queens that was financed by the powerful Supreme Team drug gang. While Black Just may have been held in high esteem by both rappers -- 50 has reminisced fondly about how "Blackie was that nigga to me" -- it wasn't enough to stop him from being murdered in 1999.
4. Eric "E-Moneybags" Smith
Nas: "I hung with E-Money too, the fucking truth" ("A Queens Story")
50: "I'm forgetting Lefty and Jazz, Pretty Tony and Lance/Head Lou, Mel son, Troy and E-Moneybags"
E-Moneybags was somewhat of a rapper himself, but also involved enough in hood life that his 2001 murder was supposedly committed by Supreme Team affiliates. In addition, Prodigy claimed in his song "Veteran's Memorial Pt. 2" that Smith killed Black Just in a misguided attempt at murdering Supreme Team head Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. This claim, while unverified, is given credence by the fact that Preme himself brought Black Just to the ER after the fatal shooting.
Nas: "I hung with E-Money too, the fucking truth" ("A Queens Story")
50: "I'm forgetting Lefty and Jazz, Pretty Tony and Lance/Head Lou, Mel son, Troy and E-Moneybags"
E-Moneybags was somewhat of a rapper himself, but also involved enough in hood life that his 2001 murder was supposedly committed by Supreme Team affiliates. In addition, Prodigy claimed in his song "Veteran's Memorial Pt. 2" that Smith killed Black Just in a misguided attempt at murdering Supreme Team head Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff. This claim, while unverified, is given credence by the fact that Preme himself brought Black Just to the ER after the fatal shooting.
3. Lorenzo "Fat Cat" Nichols
Nas: "Where Fat Cat was at/Future not crystal clear yet, Baccarat" (" The Don")
50: "As a youth, all I ever did was sell crack/I used to idolize Cat/Hurt me in my heart to hear that nigga snitiched on Pap"
Nichols was the leader of a Queens drug gang who supplied the Supreme Team with powdered cocaine. He was bad-ass enough that he murdered his own parole officer in 1985. However, as 50 tells us, there were strong rumors that Cat co-operated with the po-po in the prosecution of his own chief enforcer Howard "Pappy" Mason, about whom more below.
Nas: "Where Fat Cat was at/Future not crystal clear yet, Baccarat" (" The Don")
50: "As a youth, all I ever did was sell crack/I used to idolize Cat/Hurt me in my heart to hear that nigga snitiched on Pap"
Nichols was the leader of a Queens drug gang who supplied the Supreme Team with powdered cocaine. He was bad-ass enough that he murdered his own parole officer in 1985. However, as 50 tells us, there were strong rumors that Cat co-operated with the po-po in the prosecution of his own chief enforcer Howard "Pappy" Mason, about whom more below.
2. Howard "Pappy" Mason and his gang, The Bebos
Nas: "Bebo posse reincarnated through me, probably" ("A Queens Story")
50: "Po-po under pressure too, they know what they facing/Go against crews like Bebo and killers like Pappy Mason"
Mason is a particularly iconic figure for Nas, having been mentioned on at least four songs throughout the rapper's career. Pappy was the muscle behind Nichols' gang, and enterprisingly set up his own drug smuggling gang as well called the Bebos, which was separate from Cat's organization. He was responsible for the notorious 1989 murder of police officer Edward Byrne, which was the act that increased law enforcement heat to the point where he was soon caught and sentenced to life.
Nas: "Bebo posse reincarnated through me, probably" ("A Queens Story")
50: "Po-po under pressure too, they know what they facing/Go against crews like Bebo and killers like Pappy Mason"
Mason is a particularly iconic figure for Nas, having been mentioned on at least four songs throughout the rapper's career. Pappy was the muscle behind Nichols' gang, and enterprisingly set up his own drug smuggling gang as well called the Bebos, which was separate from Cat's organization. He was responsible for the notorious 1989 murder of police officer Edward Byrne, which was the act that increased law enforcement heat to the point where he was soon caught and sentenced to life.
1. Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff
Nas: "I fell in love with all that poetry, I mastered that/Cutting school with Preme team" (" The Don")
50: "When you hear talk of the Southside, you hear talk of the Team/See, niggas feared Prince and respected Preme"
McGriff, the head of the powerful Supreme Team drug gang (his nephew Gerald "Prince" Miller was also a high-up), was so ballerific that, in his late-1980's heyday, his team was making $200,000 a day. After being in and out of jail during the late 1980's and 1990's, he managed to get back into trouble for a 2001 murder and is now serving a life sentence. It is also rumored that he was involved in the shooting of 50 Cent (over the very song we're quoting in this piece!) and the murder of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay, who was mentoring 50 at the time.
Nas: "I fell in love with all that poetry, I mastered that/Cutting school with Preme team" (" The Don")
50: "When you hear talk of the Southside, you hear talk of the Team/See, niggas feared Prince and respected Preme"
McGriff, the head of the powerful Supreme Team drug gang (his nephew Gerald "Prince" Miller was also a high-up), was so ballerific that, in his late-1980's heyday, his team was making $200,000 a day. After being in and out of jail during the late 1980's and 1990's, he managed to get back into trouble for a 2001 murder and is now serving a life sentence. It is also rumored that he was involved in the shooting of 50 Cent (over the very song we're quoting in this piece!) and the murder of Run-DMC's Jam Master Jay, who was mentoring 50 at the time.
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