During the celebration for The Notorious B.I.G.'s 50th birthday, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Jay-Z took part in a Twitter where Diddy praised Jay's legacy and stated that the Brooklyn rap icon had assumed the role once held by the late B.I.G. and his rival/contemporary, Tupac Shakur. After Jay acknowledged the massive void in Hip-Hop in the aftermath of their deaths, Diddy praised Jay.

“Bro, you filled them shoes though," Diddy said. "You came in and we definitely give thanks. You definitely came, and I just know how much Big really looked up to Jay. They looked up to each other. That is crazy you had to step into the shoes of two people. That’s all it was was those two people. They had things on lock."

In a recent interview with The Art of Dialogue, Bay Area legend Spice 1 balked at the notion that Jay was comparable to 2Pac.

"Jay-Z ain’t got as many bitches and he ain’t get as much love as 2Pac had, and he ain’t been in enough movies, so no. Hell nah. JAY-Z got his fame after he was 25. Pac got all of that shit before he was 25. You can’t compare yourself to 2Pac if you over 25. If you over 25 and you’re trying to compare your career to 2Pac, you’ve already lost.”

“Ask him, he’ll probably tell you," Spice 1 continued. "Can you sell two million fro the grave, can you sell six million from the grave? Madonna didn’t give you the pussy, she gave it to ‘Pac.

“You can’t fuck with that shit,” he also said. “That’s that n-gga comin’ from his soul. JAY-Z was a good artist and a good lyricist. Dope as fuck. But ‘Pac was a whole different fuckin’ monster. Like, JAY-Z could be Jason Voorhees. 2Pac is fucking King Kong, that n-gga’s Godzilla. It’s a fuckin’ difference as far as the love. That artist had love from artists and people that you wouldn’t think would have love for him. Mickey Rourke and shit. Mickey Rourke was 2Pac’s homie. James Belushi and shit. John Singleton. Those were ‘Pac’s homies.

"They just had love for him ’cause he was a good artist. You can’t take take shit away from JAY-Z. He’s just not a 2Pac — hell no.”