Scarface, Warren G, Big Daddy Kane, More talk 2pac

[aerroc]

September 13, 1996 is a day that will forever be immortalized in hip-hop history as the day a legend left us. Tupac Shakur was 25 years old at the time of his death 17 years ago, leaving behind a legacy as rich in lyricism as it was in attitude, a man who helped define a sound and who led a movement, who is widely considered one of the best rappers of all time and one of the most engaging personalities hip-hop has ever seen. His legacy is massive—for both those who knew him and those who didn’t—and his shadow exists over much of what the West Coast has done in the past 20 years.

Since his death, his mother Afeni has helped put out numerous posthumous albums, books of his poetry, and generally has helped preserve his legacy. Buckshot, one of the few who spent time with ‘Pac in the recording studio, agreed to speak on the condition that Afeni’s role in his legacy also be remembered—”his mother is our mother,” he said. “Because Tupac is the son of hip-hop, then we should always give praise to the mother who gave birth to the son of hip-hop.” She, and Buck, were two of many for whom Tupac’s impact has been immeasurable. On the 17th anniversary of his death, XXL spoke to a handful of rappers who knew him or were around him during his life, gathering favorite stories and small anecdotes surrounding their fallen friend. Read on to see the likes of Scarface, Big Daddy Kane, Warren G, MC Lyte and more remember the good times, the positive times that helped make Tupac who he was: a legend. —XXL Staff (@XXL)



Scarface: ’Pac and I used to record together, there was one time we were in the studio recording “Smile” and he spit his verse, and the engineer hadn’t put the mic on, didn’t record it. ‘Pac just took off the headphones and you could hear him screaming at him, the engineer was trying to apologize, said “my bad,” and ‘Pac was like, “You don’t have many ‘My bads’ left!” [Laughs] He wasn’t intimidating to record with, he would lay it all out, wine in the studio, food, everything.

I remember we used to tour together, he was opening for me, and he would get the crowd going so crazy that they’d shut the show down before I even got on stage to go make my money. After a while, I’d go out first, I’d open for him just so I could go out and make my money. I remember we were in Milwaukee one time, and these guys came and tore up the whole hotel looking for him. Not his room, the entire hotel. And he was in my room and I was like, I don’t want no part of that! I wasn’t trying to go downstairs and fight all those guys. [Laughs] But that was just ‘Pac. The last time I saw him was probably that summer right before he died, he would just show up in the studio. He was buggin’ me because he wanted to go to the club, and I wasn’t finishing songs quickly enough for him.




MC Lyte: I went to Dannemora [Prison] to visit him when he was incarcerated [in 1995]. To sit and talk with him, you’re talking about a man who was just so creative, so many thoughts, that I’m sure would run through his head on the daily, but even moreso being incarcerated and left with pen and pad. And just to read through some of the poem that he wrote, that was a life-altering moment for me. And also to see him there, a caged bird ready to fly, but yet having to learn lessons. And I guess to some degree we choose the lessons that we need to learn.

But that was a fond memory, to actually be there with him with nothing else. Yeah. Nobody goes to Dannemora unless you’re going to see someone in prison. It was just heartfelt. It was years and years ago—I don’t remember the words, I remember the sentiment, I remember what I felt, and it was just a pouring out of his heart. He did that pretty well with being able to really show you who he was as a person through his lyrics, and there’s not many that do that. He was certainly one of them.



Warren G: Man, it was a long time ago. The first time we ever met was a while back. I did a song on the Poetic Justice soundtrack called “Indo Smoke” and the record had blown up and it was actually the single off the soundtrack. It was really popular around L.A. One of the guys who was the music supervisor on the soundtrack had told me that Tupac liked the record and wanted to send a shout-out.

So one day I get this call and I’m on the phone in my sister’s house. Back then I didn’t have no money. I had a record out but I hadn’t made nothing yet. I was chilling at my sister’s house and I got a call and it was this cat who was like, “Is this Warren?” And I was like, “Yeah, this is Warren.” And he was like, “This is Tupac.” And I was like, “Tupac? This ain’t Tupac.” He was like, “Man, this is Tupac.” And I was like, “Nah, I don’t believe you, man.” He was like, “Warren, this is Tupac Shakur. Did you produce the record ‘Indo Smoke’ for the Poetic Justice soundtrack?” I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “I really liked that and I wanna work with you.” So I was like, alright, that’s cool.

I called to double-check it was real with Paul Stuart, who was the music supervisor on the project, and I found out it was real, so I grabbed my MPC 60, my technic 1200 and my records, and I went up to a studio called Echo Sounds that was in Los Feliz. When I got there and walked in the studio, there was ‘Pac. It was the real deal. It was him.

I had my glasses on and there was one arm broken on my glasses. I came in there with all my stuff and sat there and we just talked for a while. He was asking what was going on with me and I was kinda turned around during that time ’cause I had just come from not being with Snoop and being with Dre and I just felt like I didn’t have the people that I started with, so I was kinda down. I talked about that and I talked about some stuff that I was going through. I had had a shoot-out with a dude right around that time. So I told him all these things and we we’re talking.

Then he was like, “Man, you got a beat?” He wanted to hear some beats so I played him a couple beats and he picked one. Actually, it was one from Donald Byrd’s “Wind Parade.” He was like, “I like that one right there.” So I was like, “Alright.” I took it, separated all the sounds, sampled everything, and we put it to tape. We were chilling and he told the engineer to play the beat, so the guy played the beat and so he just sat there, bouncing. You know the beanies with ball on it that hung down? He had on one of those. He’s just bouncing and bouncing. Then he said, “Stop. I’m ready to record.” So he went in. That’s when he recorded “Definition Of A Thug Nigga.”

He did the song and I started putting scratches on it and doing my part after he laid his vocals. We was chilling and then a bunch of women came in and we smoked a blunt—and I didn’t even smoke blunts—but I’m smoking blunts with him and drinking and having a good time. Then Mack 10, Mackadocious—his name was Mack Kimble but we called him Mackadocious— Big Psych, Little Psych and Rated R, they all came in to the studio and they were sad. One of their buddies had been killed, Kato. So [Tupac] turned to me and he was like, “Warren, you got something sentimental? I wanna do a song for my homeboy.” That’s when I did “How Long Will They Mourn Me.” Right after that. I produced that, then I called Nate Dog. I said, “Nate, I’m with Tupac at Echo Sounds. Can you come up? You have the address.” So Nate came up and he sung on the hook. He came and nailed it.

So when we first met we talked and had a real great time. From that day on he kept in contact with me and we stayed in touch. I did some more records for him after that. But that was the first time I met him and I think he was an incredible guy. A hard and fast worker. Just an all the way around cool cat. He stayed to his word. He said he was going to keep working with me and he did. The thing that was so crazy was after that I got a call from MC Breed, who was one of his best friends, and I ended up doing another song with him called “You Gotta Get Yours, I Gotta Get Mine,” which went on Breed’s album. Once again I was there with Pac and that was one of the first times I ever got some real cash. They gave me $8,000 in cash and I thought I had a million dollars. He was one of the first guys that believed in me, Warren G, as a producer and he respected my music and we took it to the next level. Now we’ve got classics that won’t stop playing. They can always play.



Big Daddy Kane: I met him when he was dancing for Digital Underground, I had a tour called Shine For The City out on the road, and they were one of the groups on it. He used to hang with Scoob and Scrap every night, and eventually we got to talking, he was telling me he was gonna be doing his own thing soon, and he had a different direction, that he can’t wait to get out, that kind of thing. He just seemed like a real interesting brother. A real serious student of the game, paying attention to what’s going on. During that time, Digital Underground declared war on all the other groups [on the tour] so after the show every night we would have water gun fights, me and my crew, Digital Underground, Queen Latifah and her crew, MC Lyte and her crew, just water gun fights every night. So we hung together a lot of times. From time to time we would see each other.

He’s a dude I got a lot of respect for, because right prior to his death, Suge had wanted to sign me to what he was starting called Death Row East, and ‘Pac was one of the main people [saying], “We gotta have Kane,” and showed a lot of love. We went to Vegas to see a Tyson fight, and ended up leaving to go to Death Row to record songs in the studio, did a whole bunch of work in one night. So I had nothing but the utmost respect for dude. It was not the Tyson fight he was at [right before he died], but the one prior to that. We were in Vegas that night, it was me, Tupac, Suge, Hammer and Eric B. We actually rode to Vegas, and we were sitting there talking about doing songs together, and Suge was like, shit, why don’t y’all just go and do it then? And then me and ‘Pac just jumped on a flight and flew back and banged songs out.



Buckshot: We went to Vegas. When ‘Pac told Suge [Knight] that if everybody didn’t have a ticket to get on the same plane, at the same time, then nobody was going. It was all or nothing. And Suge was like ,’Nah, nigga. I hear you, but this is what’s going down.’ So, what you think? You think ‘Pac doesn’t joke? That nigga took them tickets, turned around, ripped them shits up. I’m sitting there telling him, I’m giving the vibe, ‘Go, nigga. We good. We can hold down the crib.’ I don’t really want this vibe right now. I don’t really need to be the cause of this shit right here. It’s really all of us is the reason why Suge is like, ‘Yo, listen. You get on a plane with Snoop. Us and Snoop. Have Buck and Dru [Ha] and LS (Louisville Sluggah) and somebody else that was with us. There was a few people. Tell them niggas to take the next plane. To get into another plane. Everybody got to get on a Death Row plane. So ‘Pac was like, ‘Nah, if we all don’t go together, if all of my crew ain’t together when we get [on that plane], I’m not going.’ So, I said, ‘Most likely ‘Pac is going to go.’ Next thing you know I see this nigga storming past, storming out. He storms towards us, all he does is say, ‘Let’s go.’ I ain’t say shit. I just turned around and kept it moving. Like, nobody said nothing. When ‘Pac walked off, everybody walked right behind him. We didn’t say no word. The general said go, so we out. That’s when we went to the studio that night and recorded this song called “Never Call Your Bitch Again.”

I was tight. That was the first time I ever got so mad at looking at ‘Pac never being happy. I just dropped the headphones. I ain’t even move. I basically gave the vibe that I can’t do this. I can’t record this. I’m trying to record and act like everything is all good. I don’t know what’s going on. Whatever is going on, obviously its too heavy for me to be like, ‘Yo, don’t matter. Let’s keep recording.’ ‘Pac was quiet. I never seen him like that before. I was tight because I didn’t like to see him like that. I didn’t like to see him so upset and quiet that he wasn’t really talking to anybody. That’s why I was like, ‘Yo, fuck that.’ I dropped the headphones. I rolled up, I passed him the blunt and we just day went on.

I didn’t have a tattoo before I got with ‘Pac. When I got with ‘Pac, getting a tattoo was ceremonial for me. Remember, ‘Pac was still alive I didn’t have no idea that the public was going attract to tattoos like that. I did it because I was like, ‘Yo!’ When we got down here, we was chilling for a while, took me a minute to say, ‘Ok, I am going to get my tattoo. Can you take me to take my shit?’ ‘Pac had to go to work, he had to go to work on the movie set that day. So, he asked Yaki [Kadafi]—rest in peace—and the other Outlawz to take us and we all jetted to go get my tat.

I actually got the first tat, which was my father’s tattoo. When I was out there with them, I had my father—rest in peace—tattoo because a year before that, my father had died. It was fresh to me too. I told ‘Pac I wanted to get my pop’s name on my shit. Yaki and them took us. And then when ‘Pac died, that’s when I got ‘BDI Thug’ on my shit that’s what ‘Pac to used to call me. I would never have that name. It wasn’t even something in my mind. BDI Thug was something that ‘Pac called me. After ‘Pac died, it was just a whole bunch of thug this and thug that. Everybody had an impression so that was good.



Problem: I was in school when I found out ‘Pac joined Death Row. I’m from the same hood as Suge [Knight], [we] was runnin’ round like “‘Pac from the hood now!” We didn’t believe him. He was like “Naw on Piru he was at Lueders Park posted with us talking bout he finna do a double album on Death Row.” We laughed it off all day…then a few weeks later, the
news broke. It was crazy to us, especially being from Compton.



While the end of his association with Death Row was less than thrilling, the beginning of that journey was as exciting as it gets for any hungry-for-a-shot new artist. According to Tha Realest, the Dallas, Texas native had an impromptu audition for Tupac in Las Vegas in March of 1996 prior to the Mike Tyson/Frank Bruno fight. The then rhyme rookie was apparently given the thumbs up from ‘Pac and his crew, and subsequently began an association with Death Row that led to Realest formally signing a contract with the label after ‘Pac’s passing

[FUCK-YOU-BItch]

Warren was speaking of this session.

[TraceOneInfinite]

Great story from Warren G.  That really took me back.  Still so funny to think that Warren G came in the game with Snoop and Dre and company.. and yet it took Pac's crew to get him his first money in the game.  Even more ironic that Pac later ended up with Death Row but yet no production from Warren in Pac's Death Row era. 

I'm as big of a Warren G and 2pac fan as anyone, but it's funny that I never thought "Definition of a Thug Nigga" was a hott record.  The joint with MC Bread I didn't realize was a Warren G production till now, but even that join I don't think is that hott.

But they do have one undeniable classic that will live forever, "How Long Will They Mourn Me".

[Sir Petey]

wasnt thug nigga on that soundtrack? the same sound track indo smoke is on?



something about the timelines aint matching up. warren had songs with pac in 92-93 didnt he?

[TraceOneInfinite]

wasnt thug nigga on that soundtrack? the same sound track indo smoke is on?



something about the timelines aint matching up. warren had songs with pac in 92-93 didnt he?

Yeah, Warren says that "Indo Smoke" was blowing up and he then got the call from Pac and went to record "Definition of a Thug Nigga", but yet both songs are on the same album.  Unless "Indo Smoke" was released as a single well ahead of the album. 

[Sir Petey]

wasnt thug nigga on that soundtrack? the same sound track indo smoke is on?



something about the timelines aint matching up. warren had songs with pac in 92-93 didnt he?

Unless "Indo Smoke" was released as a single well ahead of the album. 

that has to be it.

[Jack Trippa 3z company ho]

Warren was speaking of this session.

That was great, thx for posting.

[Hack Wilson - real]

gonna go cop this magazine

[GangstaBoogy]

wasnt thug nigga on that soundtrack? the same sound track indo smoke is on?



something about the timelines aint matching up. warren had songs with pac in 92-93 didnt he?

Unless "Indo Smoke" was released as a single well ahead of the album. 

that has to be it.

Or maybe it's just another rapper lying about what really happened between them and Pac

[BabyBird]

ya know the daz n mackavelli album

well wanna see him do a whole album wit dmx

[Sir Petey]

ya know the daz n mackavelli album

well wanna see him do a whole album wit dmx

do you smoke sherm?

[V2DHeart]

Tha Realest... LOL

[⠀]

Tha Realest... LOL

One of these things is not like the others...

[GangstaBoogy]

^ lol and his story is clearly a fuckin fantasy.


Someone post a list of all the 2Pac / Warren G songs

[Sir Petey]

gotta get mine
gotta get mine 2
this is for the hustlas
we do this featuring too short


there might be another one or two im forgetting.

i spoke with erotic d a few weeks back hes got a breed album in the pipeline.