Bomb First (My Second Reply)

The Makaveli album does not open with an anthem but with an attack: Bomb First (My Second Reply), introduced by a short intro. The title says what follows: after Hit ‘Em Up from June 1996, this is the second reply to his opponents, and whoever strikes first has already won.

A bass from “Juice”

Darryl Harper brought a beat to the studio. Tupac liked it, he only wanted the bass line different: like the one in the song from Juice, the film that had made him known as an actor in 1992. Harper did not know the track and had to track it down first; it was Uptown Anthem by Naughty by Nature. He rebuilt the line. Lance Pierre, the assistant engineer, told XXL in 2003 that in the end Tupac sat down at the Moog synthesizer himself and punched in the bass line key by key; Harper built the beat, but the bass was Tupac’s.

E.D.I. Mean went further: Bomb First was actually a beat Tupac had started. Tupac could not program drums, but he knew what he wanted and told the musicians track by track. In his new house stood a grand piano on which he looked for melodies. One of them, according to E.D.I., became the melody of Bomb First.

Young Noble’s first verse

For the Outlawz the track was a debut: it introduced Young Noble; E.D.I. Mean called him in 2003 the group’s last official member. Noble recalled that they wrote and freestyled in a small production room at Can-Am Studios before going into the booth. Tupac laid down the first verse, E.D.I. wrote his, Noble rapped last. More on the two is on Other Outlawz.

An answer to the answers

After Hit ‘Em Up, a lot of people had something to say about it. That is why Tupac wanted to hit back once more, E.D.I. Mean said, and this song was to open the Makaveli album. The targets are essentially the same: The Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy and Bad Boy, plus Mobb Deep, Nas and Jay-Z. Young Noble confirmed in 2003 that his line about the “King of New York” was aimed at Biggie. The background is told on East vs. West, The Notorious B.I.G., Sean Combs, Mobb Deep, Nas and Jay-Z.

How little of it was final is shown by a memory of Young Noble’s: at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York, two days before the shooting in Las Vegas, Tupac and Nas settled their dispute. On the record, which only came out in November 1996, the attack still stands unchanged in first place.

Opener of a number-one album

Bomb First was not released as a single. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number 1, and the RIAA certified it four times platinum in June 1999. The album’s second big diss track, Against All Odds, sits at the other end of the record. Between the two lie Hail Mary, Blasphemy and White Man’z World: attack and introspection, side by side.