419 words · 2 min
Studio Night With Biggie and Stretch: The Making of "Who Do You Luv"
A tape during the break, quick verses, and a shy Biggie: Producer Adario Strange on the making of "Who Do You Luv" in 1993.
Original: “The Making of Who Do You Luv” · personal recollection · Adario Strange · date of publication unknown
In the second half of 1993, New York producer and journalist Adario Strange was called late at night to Skyline Studios in Midtown. The then-unknown rapper Queen Pin was working on her demo there. Tupac was supposed to rap on it and showed up with his entourage-among them Stretch of Live Squad and a still-unknown, very shy Biggie Smalls. But Tupac couldn’t find a suitable beat and was ready to leave. Strange looks back on that night in a first-person account that is not a journalistic report. It was exactly one week before Tupac made headlines over a rape accusation in a Manhattan hotel.
A West Coast Beat From the Break
During a studio break, Strange played him his tape. Tupac heard a West Coast beat, was thrilled, and claimed it for himself. The plan was a collaborative track with Tupac, Stretch, and Biggie. But while the first two wrote their verses in half an hour, Biggie couldn’t find a flow and left the studio. After three days, Who Do You Luv was finished, and Interscope paid. Strange calls the track one of his favorite songs because Tupac used a rhyming style in it that he later abandoned at Death Row. He last saw Tupac in Los Angeles in 1995 after his release from prison-full of energy and surrounded by his crew.
A Snapshot Before the Rift
As an early editor of The Source magazine and as a producer, Strange was firmly rooted in the New York hip-hop scene. His account captures the atmosphere of those months precisely: in 1993, Stretch was Tupac’s closest partner in the studio, and Tupac had taken the young Biggie under his wing. Just one year later, those friendships had shattered, and Stretch was shot dead in 1995. The timeline regarding the abuse allegation is also accurate: the arrest in New York took place in November 1993, and Tupac was convicted in December 1994.
A Disputed Detail in the Credits
One point, however, remains disputed. Officially, the track was not released until 2004 as Who Do You Love? on the posthumous album Loyal to the Game, newly produced by Eminem. In the credits listed there, Tupac and Stretch are credited as the original producers, not Strange. Which version is correct cannot be settled from the outside.
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