Drop a Gem on 'Em

"Drop a Gem on 'Em"
Single by Mobb Deep
from the album Hell on Earth
Released	August 25, 1996
Recorded	1996
Genre	East Coast hip hop, hardcore hip hop
Length	4:10
Label	Loud
Songwriter(s)	Havoc, Prodigy
Producer(s)	Havoc, Prodigy
Mobb Deep singles chronology
"Still Shinin'" (1995) "Drop a Gem on 'Em" (1996) "Front Lines (Hell on Earth)" (1996)

"Drop a Gem on 'Em" is a promotional single for Mobb Deep's Hell on Earth album. The song contains a sample from "Can't Help but Love You" by The Whispers.

Background and release[]

The song is a diss to West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur's feud with the group. It was recorded and released while Shakur was alive and was put on the album after his death. The cryptic lyrics in the song caused controversy after Tupac's murder. Lines such as "I had the whole New York state aiming at your face/At the gate, bottom line off top soon as you came through/Shot through, don't even know the half of my crew" and "Think fast or get reminded of robberies in Manhattan, you know what happened/ 60 G's worth of gun-clappin'" are some of the "threats" contained in the song, by making reference to the 1994 Quad Recordings Studio Shooting. Furthermore, Prodigy's line "Clocks tick, your days are numbered in low digits" also made some feel suspicious of Mobb Deep being responsible for Tupac's murder as the latter died 19 days after the song was released, which is indeed a very low-digit number.

Following Shakur's death shortly after the song's release, Mobb Deep pulled "Drop a Gem on 'Em" from radio airplay out of respect for Shakur and his family: plans to record a music video for the song, intended to further disparage Shakur, were also cancelled.^[1]

References[]