Posted by JAY-Z came through with rare a verse on Pusha T’s new single “Neck & Wrist” on Wednesday (April 6). Featuring vocals and production from Pharrell, the track finds Hov referencing Biggie’s death and The Commission — their supergroup that never materialized.
“They like, ‘If BIG was alive, Hov wouldn’t be in his position,’” JAY-Z raps on the song. “If BIG had survived, y’all would have got The Commission/Hov was gon’ always be Hov/It ’twas the universe will ’cause Allah said so, and now I’m here.”
Biggie referenced The Commission’s members, Lance “Un” Rivera, Diddy, Lil’ Cease, Charli Baltimore and JAY-Z, on 1997’s Life After Death track “What’s Beef.”
He says on the intro, “The Commission… Uncle Paulie, P. Diddy, Cease-A-Leo Degenaro, Charli Baltimore, Iceberg Slim, the most shady, Frankie Baby.”
In 2017, Dame Dash claimed Biggie intended to sign to Roc-A-Fella Records and get things moving with The Commission.
“Biggie’s plan was to give Puff and them like three more albums because that’s what his deal is, then come sign with us, and we was gon’ do The Commission,” he told Hip Hop Motivation. “We were looking for like a Charli Baltimore, it ended up being her, that wasn’t our choice that was his. But, you know, that was what was gonna happen, or at least that’s what was talked about very seriously.
“I think that’s why he did a double album. Then he was gonna do a triple album, and he was gonna be out his contract, and then he was gonna come fuck with us. I tried to sign The Firm but then Steve Stoute snaked us for that.”
JAY-Z’s Past Beef With 2Pac Stemmed From Song With Biggie Irv Gotti Says
JAY-Z previously opened up about speaking to Biggie the night he was shot and killed in Los Angeles, California in 1997.
“He was in great spirits,” he said during a Power 106 interview in 2013. “He was like, ‘Yo, playboy! Why you not out here, playboy? I was doing something in New York and yeah, yeah, I was supposed to land before. Actually Irv Gotti was at the party and called me and put him on the phone.”
He added, “I take him everywhere I go. I’ve taken him on every step, every accomplishment. He’ll be there in some sort of way, whether that be live in concert or on record, or some acknowledgement.”