the single provoked a "rap battle" between the two rappers,Cheryl Lynette Keyes, Rap Music and Street Consciousness (Urbana & Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004), p 168. formerly friends. Biggie, when interviewed, explained his "Who Shot Ya" lyrics as portraying a rivalry between drug dealers. Sharing the mixtape track's instrumental, the single replaces the Murray verse with a second Biggie verse, and expands Puffy's "hype man" vocals. Beyond a synthesized kick drum added, the instrumental is simply a sample that "chillingly" loops a portion of soul singer David Porter's 1971 song "I'm Afraid the Masquerade is Over," album Victim of the Joke? An Opera.Some sources indicate 1971 release by Craft Recordings, apparently a newer label reissuing some records originally under Concord Music Group, which had sponsored Stax Records. Spotify, for instance, indicates Craft [David Porter, "Victim of the Joke? . . . An Opera" (Craft Recordings/Concord Music Group, 1971), Spotify.com, 2021], as does Apple Music [David Porter, "Victim of the Joe? . . . An Opera" (Craft Recordings/Concord Music Group, 1971), Music.Apple.com, 2021]. Napster, however, indicates Stax [David Porter, "Victim Of The Joke? An Opera" (Stax, 1971), US.Napster.com, Rhapsody International Inc., 2021]. Napster adds, "Stax stalwart and Isaac Hayes' songwriting partner David Porter released the rarest of all breeds in 1971: the Soul concept album. Let's face it; it just wasn't happening. That doesn't mean it was a bad thing. The spoken interludes ramble a bit, and none of the songs became classics, but the energy is great. It's an oddity worth having for collectors and some kitsch aficio" [Ibid.]. A "snippet" of the mixtape track, but Murray's verse, plays in "K. Murry Interlude," a brief skit on Uptown Records singer Mary J Blige's R&B album My Life, coproduced by Puffy, released on November 29, 1994. That day, James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, managing an Uptown Records rapper, booked Tupac to record a cameo. Reaching the studio's Times Square building lobby, Tupac was shot resisting robbery by waiting gunmen. Tupac instantly blamed Rosemond, and soon suspected privity by Puffy and Biggie.Fab Five Freddy, interviewer, "Mail: Tupac Shakur: The final chapter", Vibe, 1995 Aug;3(6):25–29, where Vibe publishes the most relevant responses to Tupac's January comments published in Vibe's April issue: Andre Harrell & Biggie Smalls on p 25, James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, here called simply "Booker", on pp 25–26, rapper Little Shawn on p 26, Sean "Puffy" Combs on p 27, and