The song is a posthumous remix of the 1994 track " Runnin' from tha Police ," originally produced by during a brief window when 2Pac and Biggie were friends.
The Edgar Winter sample— "Why am I fighting to live if I'm just living to fight? / Why am I trying to see when there ain't nothing in sight?" —acts as a philosophical inquiry into the "thug life" ideology. Runnin' (Dying To Live) - 2Pac (feat. Notorious B.I.G)
Biggie's verse is a 1993 recording, while 2Pac’s verse is a re-recorded take intended for the Thug Life: Vol. 1 album before the bicoastal feud escalated. Lyrical and Contextual Analysis The song is a posthumous remix of the
Eminem stripped away the original guest verses and replaced the upbeat production with a melancholic arrangement centered around a high-pitched sample of Edgar Winter's "Dying to Live". Biggie's verse is a 1993 recording, while 2Pac’s