Fat Joe has revealed that Big Pun used to write entire songs in his sleep, which he believes is further proof that the late rapper belongs in the G.O.A.T. conversation.
During an interview on the Jay Shetty Podcast, the Terror Squad don reflected on his close friendship with Pun and explained how his narcolepsy was something of a secret weapon when it came to writing raps.
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“He was so good. He was like a freak of nature, bro. He was a genius,” Joe said. “He was so much better than me, like light years [ahead] of me. He actually taught me how to make hits, even though I discovered him.”
He added: “He had that thing, narcolepsy or something, where he would fall asleep right on you. He would wake up and be like, ‘Pass me the book!’ He would have a whole song. He would write it in his sleep.
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“I mean, this guy was phenomenal. From the first time I ever heard him I knew, like, ‘This guy is the greatest. He’s the best.’ It was another level.”
Check out Joe’s comments at the 42:33 mark.
Fat Joe has long championed Big Pun since his untimely death 24 years ago due to a heart attack.
In 2022, he shared a similar story highlighting Pun’s lyrical process, revealing that he had to trick other rappers into jumping on a song with the Bronx MC due to them being intimitated by his pen game.
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“In the most respectful way, it’s kinda like I set up Nas on that record,” Joe told Angie Martinez, referencing 1998’s “John Blaze.” “Because Pun really wanted to get on a record with Nas.
“Nas did the record one million percent, but there were artists — not Nas — that were really scared to jump on records with Pun. So we almost had to gas guys like, ‘Yo, it’s my record’ and then throw Pun on it.
“He waited for Canibus about 30 to 100 sessions and he never walked in the door to do the song with Pun.”
Joey Crack continued: “[Nas] came twice and he rocked and he did it. And then Pun came on there. We had to do that a lot with Pun. Like, I had to get artists on his shit that didn’t know he was on the shit.
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“Not saying nothing about Nas! I don’t want nobody misconstruing this in no way. He was doing a song for me. This is not referring to Nas in no way but that’s how we did that song, and that’s how you had to do a lot of songs with Pun.”
