E.D.I. Mean Recalls Tupac's Reconciliation With Nas At The 1996 MTV VMA's

[Tim Styles Sanchez]

Here's a new interview that I did with E.D.I. Mean of the Outlawz:

In 1995, the life of a young artist out of New Jersey known as “Big Malcolm” forever changed when he was christened as E.D.I. Mean and chosen to be a member of The Outlawz Immortalz group by the late, great Tupac. Like an early Western posse of outlaws, the group rode alongside Tupac from his major battles all the way to his quiet journeys, allowing them to get a first-hand glimpse of the many sides that made up the young superstar. After the tragic death of Tupac, The Outlawz continued to record and tour in an effort to continue the mission set forth by their slain leader. That is, until 2011 when the group decided to call it quits after their sixth and at the time, final album, Perfect Timing.

“A group is one of the hardest things in the world to keep together,” E.D.I. Mean says of his fellow Outlawz. “You start out as young dudes with everybody being broke and trying to come up together ,but money, spouses and families start to come in and responsibility starts tugging at you. People grow even if it’s in different directions, and after we made Perfect Timing we decided to take a break before it started getting to that point to where we can’t stand the sight of each other.”

Now going by the name of Edidon, the veteran rapper took the time to reminisce about his legendary friend and mentor, dealing with fanatical fans and their crazy requests, his thoughts about the upcoming Tupac movie directed by John Singleton and why he’s got a few questions that he’d like to ask Prodigy of Mobb Deep and Jungle, of former Bravehearts fame. Of course, we also discuss his upcoming solo project, The Hope Dealer, his feelings about religion, and the existence or non-existence of God.

Read the entire story/interview at: http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/interviews/id.2380/title.e-d-i-mean-recalls-tupac-s-reconciliation-with-nas-at-the-1996-mtv-vmas

[abusive]

Just another version of what happened that night to add to the list:

EDI got a version.
Snoop got two different versions.
Fatal got a version.
Suge got a version.
Nas got a version.
Jungle got a version.
A version was mentioned in Tragedy Khadefi's dvd.
They may as well start detailing that night with "Once upon a time...."

If EDI's version is true then Pac don't get no points for punking someone being that deep when they not.

It's kind of sad that most of Pac's people have made friends with all of Pac's enemies. They be like, "Ah man Pac, that fool was trippin', don't sweat it we cool." FOH!!! When has Jay-Z, Puff, Nas etc. ever done business with the Outlawz? They may as well keep it the way Pac left it.

[Tim Styles Sanchez]

Doesn't always have to be about doing business .... could just be about growing up. That's the initial vibe I got from EDI.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Any Muslims out there that know about "Hadith" it reminds me of that.... after someone dies you got 100 different interpretations of one event.

But I definitely agree more with E.D.I.'s version than I do the Jungle/Nas behind the music version of the story.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Just another version of what happened that night to add to the list:

EDI got a version.
Snoop got two different versions.
Fatal got a version.
Suge got a version.
Nas got a version.
Jungle got a version.
A version was mentioned in Tragedy Khadefi's dvd.
They may as well start detailing that night with "Once upon a time...."

But at least EDI's and Fatal's recollections of the incident were pretty similar.  From what I remember, it sounds like EDI and Snoop are the only people who mentioned Snoop bringing up the conversation where Pac told Nas he was going to diss him on Makaveli.  (Nas said it too, but his story had something about Pac saying that he'd remove the disses.)  But the main inconsistency with Snoop's recollection was pretty much just how deep he said Nas was, something like thirty or fifty deep, contrasting to people like EDI and Fatal both saying that Nas was just with a handful of people.

If EDI's version is true then Pac don't get no points for punking someone being that deep when they not.

At the same time, I don't think it detracts from the situation either, especially since most accounts seemed to indicate that Pac had strength in numbers but was pretty much approaching Nas man-to-man, having a one-on-one conversation and not relying on the people behind him to do anything.  You can't really blame Pac for being deep, and it definitely isn't his fault if Nas showed up in small numbers either.  I think Fatal did say that Pac actually had to "pull rank" (in Fatal's words) on Fatal's crew and tell them to chill since they were eager to get into it with Nas's crew.

It's kind of sad that most of Pac's people have made friends with all of Pac's enemies. They be like, "Ah man Pac, that fool was trippin', don't sweat it we cool." FOH!!! When has Jay-Z, Puff, Nas etc. ever done business with the Outlawz? They may as well keep it the way Pac left it.

I agree with that to an extent, but at the same time, people can't really keep beefing with people for years and years and years.  At least they don't fuck with Puffy though.  Them shaking hands with Jay-Z is all good though, since that beef wasn't really all that legitimate anyway, plus for the most part, Jay-Z always gave Pac props, pretty much from 1998 onward.  The only reconciliation that I disagreed with was Mobb Deep, who did talk a lot of shit AFTER Pac died, and even after the crews had made peace (particularly Mutah and Prodigy).

But it reminds me of a K9 interview, where he talks about going at Jay-Z and dissing him because "Pac never said to let up on you niggas" or something like that... even though I guess it escapes K9 that Pac can't exactly say from the grave.

[abusive]

Sorry but the Outlawz should have left it the way it was. That don't mean they had to continue to diss Pac's enemies but they don't have to be cool with them either. You can be grown and just not f*ck with people.

I sort of believe Fatal's version but when Fatal was locked up he did an interview (been looking for this for years, please post if you have it) where he said Pac told the Lawz not to sign with DR. Here is another video where he says it to.

Fatal Hussein Speaks on 2pac Saying DONT SIGN TO DEATH ROW


 The rest of the Lawz said that Pac never told them that.

Young Noble Speaks on If 2Pac Told Them Not To Sign With Death Row


So if he was lying then he could be lying about Nas. If the Lawz was lying about Nas then they could be lying about what Pac told them about signing to DR. If Pac told them that and they signed anyway then I shouldn't be surprised that they would get cool with people he considered enemies. They weren't really loyal like that evidently if true.

Start at the 11:45 mark
Tragedy Khadafi The Story of Queensbridge PT2


So did QB come through thick with straps or what?

Hussein Fatal Talks About 2pac Running Up On Nas With Guns and Goons Outside 96 MTV Awards


Or was it Nas and his three friends?

Nas - VH1 Behind the Music 2pac


Or did nas confront Pac and grab him like a punk?

5:00 mark
SNOOP DOGG talks about 2PAC & NAS, DEATH ROW, BIGGIE - JUAN EPSTEIN (2/7)


Or did Nas have 100 killaz?

Snoop Dogg Speaks on Meeting Between 2Pac and Nas

   AllHipHop.com: Not to open a sore wound, but what was it that made you and Pac fall out?

Snoop: We was in New York before Pac got killed at the MTV Awards and Angie Martinez had got at me in the park because Pac had just confronted Nas. Nas had about 50 n***as with him and Pac had about 30 n***as with him and Pac checked him, punked him in Central Park, I mean straight punked him. He went up to the n***a and told him, "N***a, look n***a." Nas said, "Hey Pac, I ain’t got no problem with you man, I love your music." So Pac said, "Well look n***a, if you ain’t got a problem with me, I got a record comin out where I diss you, Biggie, Jay-Z and whop whop whoop, and n***a if it ain’t no love lost, n***a don’t make no reply record, n***a and I wont come back at you no more." And it went down just like that, I was right there. I wasn’t in the circle I was outside the circle looking right [in], so Pac is standing where you at, and he looking at me while he talking to [Nas], and I’m right behind Nas about four steps away.

Snoop: I got about fifteen n***as with me but we not trippin’ we just watching, but Pac punkin a n***a broke him all the way down. So after that Angie Martinez get at me and she say, "Snoop I don’t see you in the middle of all that and I say I’m not a part of that so she says would you come to the station and speak on it?" I don’t have a problem with that, so I go to the station and about thirty minutes into the interview [she] says, "So how do you feel about Biggie and Puff?" "Oh them my n***as, I love them n***a’s they make good music." And that did it. That one comment did it. They felt like I betrayed n***a’s and me and Pac ain’t said another word after that. He sent his little homeboy to my room when I got back to the hotel talking bout, "Pac said give him five blunts homie." I said, "N*igga send Pac up here so I give the n***a one blunt." So [Pac] call me on the phone and say, "Hey Dogg, send me some more weed down here I got some b**ches down here." So I’m like, "Aight homie so I give him some more weed. So we riding back on the plane and them n***as don’t say one word to me. They don’t even let my security ride with me on a private plane. They tell my security you can’t ride, so it’s just me and all them n***a’s and nobody says one word to me. We land and I got my Rolls Royce pickin me up and he got his pickin him up and I say, "Yo Pac you goin to Vegas?" and he just give me this real stank ass look and don’t say nothing, that’s it.

http://allhiphop.com/2004/06/03/snoop-dogg-the-realest-part-2/

Suge's version
Suge Knight talk about 2pac And Nas

[DeeezNuuuts83]

Sorry but the Outlawz should have left it the way it was. That don't mean they had to continue to diss Pac's enemies but they don't have to be cool with them either. You can be grown and just not f*ck with people.

I sort of believe Fatal's version but when Fatal was locked up he did an interview (been looking for this for years, please post if you have it) where he said Pac told the Lawz not to sign with DR. Here is another video where he says it to.

Are you talking about the 40-50 minute interview he did with hitemup.com from jail?  If so, I actually have that saved on my laptop at home, though I remember it pretty clearly since I think I randomly also have it on my iPod in my car... I'll check it later.  But if that is in fact the one that you were talking about, he said something like, "Pac told us a hundred times, 'Don't sign to Death Row, don't sign to Death Row.'  But niggas was waking up like, 'When we gonna sign?'  But we weren't there to be no rap stars; we weren't there to be no movie stars.  We were there to hold Tupac down -- whether it was with guns or with the mouth.  If they tell you otherwise, they lying.  And when he died, they did what he told them not to do."

I agree though -- I've always viewed Fatal as being the most accurate in terms of his recollections without injecting any bullshit into it not just because he is who he is, but what he says just makes sense.

[abusive]

Yes, that's the one please upload it. Thanks. If you have the Suge Knight conspiracy audio from Thuglifearmy.com, I'll take that too. Push comes to shove I'll take that over the Fatal audio.

[DeeezNuuuts83]

I don't have that Suge Knight thing you're talking about... fuck thuglifearmy though.  I typed up the entire VIBE interview with Pac that was released on YouTube in 2009 and posted it on TN, and then thuglifearmy copies and pastes the whole thing and claims it was all theirs.  Straight up plagiarism.

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

Yo.. anybody else find it cool that Pac said to Nas, "Speak up I can't hear you!"   

[DeeezNuuuts83]

It's like the end of What'z Ya Phone #

[TraceOneInfinite Flat Earther 96']

It's like the end of What'z Ya Phone #

Yeah.. I believe that part of EDI's story because Pac was a very straight up, direct, outspoken type of dude.  Whereas Nas is a more sullen, reclusive and soft-spoken type of cat.   Kind of cool how that meeting played out. 

[Tim Styles Sanchez]

I can also picture Pac saying “You’re not fucking listening!” during a debate amongst homeboys.... 

[Hack Wilson - real]

how'd i miss this?