Coast rappers. Johnny "J" also stated that he had never seen Shakur so angry and that the words he rapped were in no way an act, describing the recording process as the most "hard-core he had ever done." Although he was very happy with the work he had put into it and the resulting song, Johnny "J" went on to say that he had no desire to work on anything of that magnitude again. Shakur was also enraged by Biggie's release of "Who Shot Ya?" provocatively only months after the shooting incident, and although it did not directly involve Shakur's name, he believed it was directed towards him. Shakur admitted to releasing "Hit 'Em Up" as a response to "Who Shot Ya?" In a Vibe interview, the rapper called out Sean "Puffy" Combs and Biggie Smalls and accused both of them of setting him up, or of having knowledge of the attack and not warning him. He also singled out businessmen James Rosemond ("Jimmy Henchman"), and Jacques Agnant ("Haitian Jack") of orchestrating the assault. Shakur announced the names of his ostensible conspirators to Kevin Powell, a journalist for Vibe however, to mask their true identities, Vibe referred to Henchman as "Booker," and Jack as "Nigel" in the published interview. Persons familiar with the interview say they used different names after the magazine received threats from Henchman. A former Vibe editor denied receiving threats, but neglected to explain why the magazine substituted aliases for Henchman and Haitian Jack. Composition The lyrics in "Hit 'Em Up" were aimed primarily at Biggie and Puffy. Shakur viciously insults Biggie throughout⁠ ⁠– the first line by Shakur is "That's why I fucked your bitch, you fat motherfucker"⁠ ⁠– and threatens retaliation in the songs hook, saying "Who shot me?/But you punks didn't finish/Now you're about to feel the wrath of a menace." He also used the song as a platform to express his belief that Biggie was guilty of stealing his style of rapping, and was merely imitating his lifestyle. This notion is addressed in the verse in "Now it's all about Versace, you copied my style." He also touches topically on their early friendship with the line "Biggie, remember when I used to let you sleep on the couch?" and their subsequent fallout. Towards the end of the song Tupac disses Mobb Deep, saying "Don't one of you niggas got sickle cell or something?