Keith Murray clarifies Tupac comments

By The Hip Hop Writer
Hip Hop Vibe Staff Writer

Legendary EPMD member, Keith Murray recently found himself in a bit of trouble. The rapper was speaking about the earlier years in his career when one comment was taken the wrong way. Murray is known by most casual hip hop fans for his contribution to both versions of LL Cool J's "I Shot Ya."

In 1995, there were rumors of a feud between Tupac and LL Cool J in the wake of the East/West feud. Tupac released a diss record aimed at the veteran and after Tupac was shot, LL recorded this song. On the remix, his verse takes aim at an unnamed rapper. LL Cool J promised not to mention his name on that record, but he would the next time.

The next time never came because Tupac was literally stopped dead in his tracks right in the middle of his crusade. An untold story was a meeting between Tupac and Keith Murray. Following the release of the song, Tupac confronted Murray over his participation on both versions of the song. When Murray initially spoke on the situation, he made it seem as if he ended up fighting Tupac.

However, after the hip hop media picked up on his comments, the New York rapper came out to set things straight. Murray said he did not disrespect Tupac in the video clip. All he was doing was giving the fans a hip hop history lesson. When Tupac got shot, the "I Shot Ya" record was released and Keith Murray spotted the recently shot Tupac to let him know there was no beef. In the end, the two rappers had a friendly conversation, shook hands, and walked away from each other.