Mase Tells Story About the Time He Says Big L Almost Had Him Robbed

Mase Tells Story About the Time He Says Big L Almost Had Him Robbed

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.

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