Big Pun made a mark in the rap world working with the likes of Donnell Jones, Ashanti, Cam’ron and Styles P before his demise in 2000. Unfortunately, there was one desired collaboration he didn’t get to bring to fruition: Eminem.
Remy Ma made the revelation during an appearance on the REVOLT’s “The Fat Joe Show.” The rapper joined her frequent collaborator to discuss their memories of Big Pun and his career moments before Joe unveiled Pun’s unreleased track with Jadakiss. As they tried to figure out his thought process behind working with the L.O.X. star, Remy confessed she and the late rapper never had a conversation about Jada.
“The only discussion we had,” she began. “And he put it to me, and he’s talking about doing a song with anybody, any cypher. [His] goal was to kill everybody. So at the time, that’s when ‘John Blaze’ was out, and ‘Banned From TV.’ He felt like out of all those records, he had to watch for that muthafucka Jadakiss ‘cause he gon’ do what he do, but I can honestly say that he was waiting for Eminem. That was his thing.”
“He was like ‘I can’t wait to get on a track with him,’” continued Remy. “That was his goal. Out of his lips, he told me. He cannot wait for the song to come with him and Eminem. That’s what he was waiting for.”
Although Pun and Eminem were unable to team up in this lifetime, Fat Joe was fortunate to work with Slim Shady a few times. During an episode of REVOLT’s “Drink Champs,” the Terror Squad lyricist recalled the time Em sent him 30 versions of his “Lean Back (Remix)” verse just to ensure it was perfect.
“Eminem’s the only guy who sent me the ‘Lean Back’ remix— he sent me that same verse 30 times,” Joe told N.O.R.E. ”Saying it with a different tone, a lighter tone. He wouldn’t make up his mind—30 different takes and verses! The same verse! Different flows, different highs, lows. I don’t know what to tell you, this guy is such a perfectionist.”