Diss Track Review: "Long Kiss Goodnight"

Last time we reviewed "Hit 'Em Up" by 2Pac and Outlawz so it's only fitting to cover the response by Pac's enemy, The Notorious B.I.G. and record label owner/right-hand man P. Diddy (Puff Daddy at the time).  This track has a positively ominous beat produced by Wu-Tang Clan leader RZA & contains some subliminal-but-not-really shots at Mr. Shakur.  Anyone with a rudimentary understanding of the 2 artists and their beef could pick up on who this song is aimed at.  At least one would think.

"Long Kiss Goodnight" was featured on Biggie's final double album Life After Death, the aptly titled posthumous release that came out on March 25, 1997... 16 days after his murder in L.A. by a still-unknown assailant.  The song was said to have been recorded AFTER 2Pac's killing, which is a cowardly move if true.  (The first verse refers to a car wreck that happened after Pac's death so it's likely it was recorded after he was killed, but even if it wasn't, it could've been removed from the album or edited to remove what were most certainly references to him).  As if that wasn't bold enough, Biggie made the fatal mistake of "freestyling" verses from this cold track live on air in L.A--2Pac's turf--only a few months after he was murdered while the city was still mourning.  This would be Biggie's last trip to L.A. (or anywhere) as he would be gunned down only 8 days later.  Not sure what he was thinking honestly. 

Was this the final nail in the coffin for Big?

Unlike "Hit 'Em Up," "Long Kiss Goodnight" doesn't call its subject out by name & Biggie went out of his way to deny ever dissing 2Pac while he was alive, yet it's undeniable who this song is about.  Lines like "slugs missed ya/I ain't mad at 'cha" (the title of one of 2Pac's radio hits) & Puffy's screaming "We ain't talkin' 'bout no other rappers, we talkin' 'bout YOU" kinda narrow down the list of candidates.  What other rapper were these 2 this angry at circa 1996/'97 when the song was recorded?  It also contains some eerie references to the gang that ended up killing 2Pac ("my team in the marine blue six Coupe).  I wrote about that here.

Other lines that call out 2Pac specifically:  "These fuckin' maniacs put my name in raps" (re: songs like "Hit 'Em Up" that call Biggie out by name); "Heard through the grapevine you got fucked 4 times" (referring to the prison rape rumors or potentially the fatal Vegas shooting when he was shot 4 times).  Mind you, 2Pac--err, Makaveli--didn't mention Biggie by name once on his final posthumous album  The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory released in early November '96 (when Big was still very much alive to hear it).  He did diss Puffy & just about every other East coast rapper, but it's worth noting that Biggie's name wasn't uttered by him once which just makes "Long Kiss" all the more unnecessary.

Funeral of Orlando Anderson--alleged killer of 2Pac  Note the "marine blue."

Yet there are STILL oblivious people asking "Was "Long Kiss Goodnight" about 2Pac"?  Makes me weep for our literacy & comprehension skills as a nation.  Just because somebody denies a thing that's obviously not flattering to them doesn't make it true.  Listen to Puffy's screed on 2000's "Muscle Game" by Bad Boy artist Black Rob and get back to me.  In it he brags about "droppin' a million dollars" and "erasing you and your whole family" among other horrors.  This is as good as a confession since that's what he allegedly did to have 2Pac killed:  offered $1 million to any Southside Crip who would kill Suge Knight and 2Pac.  They only killed 2Pac so he only paid $500,000 to middle man Zip Martin, who kept the money for himself.  Allegedly.  The fact that he still walks free should make EVERYONE suspicious as to whether he's working for the Feds or another gov't organization.  Law enforcement have been known to use rap lyrics as evidence on much smaller cases so WHY are they letting this slide?  "Long Kiss Goodnight" itself is a treasure trove of self-incrimination.  

But I digress.

All other things aside, "Long Kiss" is a banger of a track due to the ice cold beat & Biggie's silky smooth flows, but once again Diddy soils it with his inane ranting.  Insufferable as he may be, Suge was 100% right when he made the "all on the record" comment at the '95 Source Awards.  Diddy is no rapper & is at his most obnoxious when yammering over actual artists on their tracks.  Still, "Long Kiss" maintains its listenability despite this because of its historical importance & overall eerie tone.  Admittedly, the yelling is not entirely out of place here due to the dark mood--though there could certainly be less of it.  A lot less.

Suge's idea of  a "subliminal" diss at the '95 Source Awards  🤣

While it's both scandalous & pointless to diss a dead man, 2Pac was no shrinking violet.  He did claim to have had sex with Biggie's wife among other devilish acts, so he should've expected some unkind words on wax in return.  But waiting until he's deceased (at the hand of your record exec) to say them defeats the purpose & makes you look weak, proving 2Pac's lyric "Niggas talk a lot of shit, but that's after I'm gone / Cause they fear me in the physical form" true.  Either pipe up while the beef's hot and the man's alive or forever hold your peace.  

But Biggie tried to do both, going on interviews and "freestyling" verses from this diss track and speaking out both sides of his mouth about his deceased rival after refusing to participate in the beef publicly while 'Pac was alive.  (Biggie's producer Jiv Pos claims "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Kills You" was ALSO about 2Pac, though he bizarrely refers to it as a "tribute" to the slain rapper.  Just... no).  It seems Biggie's camp is also on the 'both sides of their mouth' shit, admitting that things he said WERE about 'Pac but denying they were done in anger.  Biggie's mom claimed to have heard 2Pac say the beef was just about money, which is highly doubtful considering he believed the Bad Boy duo set him up to be shot in '94.  It's true that beef sells but it's also true that 2Pac was paranoid & genuinely thought the duo tried to have him killed.

Biggie spent his last months obsessed with his deceased friend-turned-rival alright, but not in a warm and fuzzy way.  Considering the long history of bad blood between Bad Boy & Death Row Records, it's patently ridiculous to assert that Biggie had ANYTHING but bile & venom for his former friend.  And rightfully so perhaps.  It appears his plan was to "subliminal" his way through the debacle & win over the West Coast to Bad Boy's obnoxious style of bling rap, crowning himself king of not only New York but American Rap as a whole.  And he probably could've done it if he'd just allowed things to simmer down a bit.  Biggie was the most technically talented rapper and storyteller to ever do it in the minds of many.  In my opinion even 2Pac was a bit intimidated by his skills on the mic, as you can see when they freestyle together.  

But like 2Pac, he got too cocky and too caught up in the gangsta image of the time, saying and doing too much to make himself a target of real street cats with nothing to lose.  And he forgot that this all started as a petty feud between Puffy & Suge, both of whom were safe & secure behind their desks in their penthouse suites with their hired goons while the talent was doing their dirty work.  Biggie clearly felt invincible--it never occurred to him he could be killed in the same way as his rival.  If it did, he sure wasn't behaving like it.

Somebody else apparently noticed the 2Pac connection here.  

In the wake of the deaths, Puffy released his most successful album to date, No Way Out, which contained the singles "I'll Be Missing You" (a tribute to Biggie containing a sample of "I'll be Watching You" by Sting) that topped the Billboard Hot 100 Charts for a record-breaking 11 weeks, as well as "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," another remake of a classic ("The Message" by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five) featuring Ma$e.  He went on to become Hip Hop's first mogul billionaire in 2017 (Jay-Z was #2 in 2019).  In 1997, Suge Knight went to court to fight 2Pac's mother Afeni for ownership of his unreleased music, a catalog bigger than everything he'd released while alive to that point.  It would've made him VERY rich.  He lost.  And soon he went to jail until 2003 for a probation violation for the MGM fight against Orlando Anderson.  He's currently serving a 28 year sentence in San Diego for running 2 men over with his SUV, killing one.   

Given the direction Hip Hop and music as a whole took post-1996, it's infuriating to imagine how things might've been different had these 2 lived & their pimp bosses died in their stead.  Can you imagine opening Instagram to see Biggie Smalls coolin' on the beach in Bermuda or 2Pac with a smartphone, ready to pop off at these heinous politicians at any time?  Makes Kanye's anti-Jew rant look boring by comparison.  We were robbed.   😞

Song Highlights:

(Underlined parts refer to 2Pac specifically)

"Muthafuckas mad 'cause I blew, niggas envious

Too many niggas on my dick, shit's strenuous

When my men bust, you just move wit such stamina

Slugs missed ya

I ain't mad at'cha (We ain't mad at'cha)"

"I'm flamin' gats, aimin' at, these fuckin'

Maniacs put my name in raps, what part the

Game is that? Like they hustle backwards"

"Ya bleedin' lovely, wit' yo, spirit above me
Or beneath me, ya whole life ya live sneaky
Now ya rest eternally, sleepy, ya burn when ya creep me
Rest where the worms and the weak be"

"Slugs hit your chest tap your spine, flatline

Heard through the grapevine, you got fucked 4 times

Damn that three to nine fucked you up for real though

Slung steel slow, as for remorse, we feel no"

"Long Kiss Goodnight" by The Notorious B.I.G. feat. Puff Daddy

Up next:  "Nail in the Coffin" by Eminem