If u go down u will see more stuff bout tupac like "little known Facts" thanx have fun!

"To My Son"

This letter was written the night of Tupac's death from the cell of his stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, inside the federal penitentiary in Florence, Colo. I love you whenever....forever. Tupac, so much I needed to say, so much you wanted to say. Many conversations between us within the ether, whenever forever. The pain inflicted that scarred your soul but not your spirit gave force to the rebellion. Many couldn't see your dreams or understand your nightmares. How could they, Tupac? I knew your love and understood your passion. But you knew of your beginning and saw your end....racing towards it. You taught and fought through your songs and deeds. RATT-TATT-TATT of words penetrating the contradiction of our existence. Whenever....forever Who cares? We cared, Tupac. The Shakurs have been guided by struggle, prepared or not, whenever....forever. We've exposed our existence, naked from fear, to those who would hear the positive. Who would witness the stress, wear and tear of this lonely path. You couldn't have evaded the effect or the changes. You inherited it, it was in your genes. But still, you danced your dance, you lived your life. You forced loyality on those who would fake and shake at the true vision. You were Tupac Like the four seasons, we come to this planet taking form, becoming elements of nature, Some of us are only one season, and others like you were part of many seasons. This dynamic will scare most anyone who realized the burden at such an early stage of life. You fought well. We love you. We understand....forever, whenever. Please give my love to our family. Ask them to help you on the other side. Tell Zayd, Lumumba, Aby, Brother Leggs, Mtaryi, Attallah, that they are to continue to help us down here. Shakur's love is strong. Whenever....forever Friday 13th didn't mean a thing. Life is for living and dying well. Whenever.....forever. Allah knows best. We choose the quality of our life. You understand the pain of disappointment in the ones we love. You pushed so many away. Burnt so many bridges so they wouldn't follow you into battles against the demons you were facing. Knowing well to what lengths you would go. This battlefield of reality is littered with many meaningless casualties You never yelled out "Somebody, save me!" You only asked for your soul to be free, whenever....forever. You told us to keep our head up, knowing the pain was coming. Knowing to look for the strength in the heavens. Set your soul free, Tupac Amaru. We keep waiting in vain for their love Will your levitation be awakening of us all? The division unsettling to our dreams and goals? You passing demanding repentance and resistance? We keep waiting, not in vain. We give you love. Give us love. To my brother and son, these emotions are hell. I wish you well in the next journey. My soul aches for comfort. In our next life we will finish our unfinished journey. Whenever.....forever For now Tupac, we will hold our heads up. This journey is at an end, your ashes are in the wind. Friends and enimies will have to look to the stars. You are truly a star. A star navigating through the dynamics of this, your path chosen before you arrived. Lessions we've gained will materialize after you're gone. Whenever....forever Your family will keep the spirit high, for we are Shakurs. We are thankful for what life gives us. Through the pain and the struggle we are blessed by the victory. Go forward, Tupac. The victories---we will teach your mission, we are thankful for you. We love you, Tupac Shakur. We ain't mad at you, we'll be better because of you. So now I give you my tears so I might assimilate your loss and I can live on in peace. Knowing I will feed your spirit with my unconditional love, knowing you will need it on your next journey. May Allah bless you for your deeds and forgive your errors. Tupac come to me an give me strength. Love always. Your father, friend, comrade, Mutulu

"His Life"

In 1971 Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in NYC to Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party who was pregnant with him while in jail on bombing charges. In 1986 Shakur's family moves to Baltimore where Tupac enrolled in the Baltimore School for the Arts. Here Tupac writes his first rap under the name MC New York. On June 1988 Tupac's family moves to Marin City, CA. Shortly after, Tupac moves in with a neighbor and starts selling drugs.August: Mutulu Shakur,Tupac's Stepfather, is sentenced to 60 years in prison for his involvement in a 1981 Armored-car robbery. In 1990 Tupac joined Digital Underground as a roadie/dancer/rapper. In 1991 Shakur achieves individual recognition with thealbum "2Pacalypse Now," which spawned the successful singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got A Baby." As a member of the Grammy-nominated group Digital Underground he appeared On the track "Same Song" from "This is an EP Release" and on the album "Sons Of The P." In 1992 Shakur appeared in the Ernest Dickerson film "Juice." In 1993 he appeared in John Singleton's release "Poetic Justice" with Janet Jackson. In 1994 the release of "Thug Life." Appeared in "Above The Rim". In November: Shakur's New York sex assault trial opens. Shakur is shot during apparent robbery attempt outside a music studio in New York. December: One day after being shot, Shakur is convicted of Sexually abusing a woman he had invited to his hotel room. He is acquitted of sodomy and weapons charges. In 1995 the release of "Me Against The World," a multi-million-selling album. February: Sentenced in New York to 4 1/2 years in prison for sex abuse. October: After nearly eight months in prison, Shakur is released on bail while he appeals. In 1996 Shakur's fourth solo album, "All Eyez on Me," debuts at No. 1 on Billboard's Album chart goes on to sell about 5 million copies. The song "How Do You Want It California Love" was a top 20 single on Billboard magazine's charts. Acted as a detective in Orion's urban crime thriller "Gang Related." May: Shakur married longtime girlfriend, Keisha Morris. Sept. 7: Shakur shot in Las Vegas.

"Tupac's Death"

Monday, September 9, 1996 Rapper Tupac Shakur Shot Tupac Shakur remains in critical condition after he was shot in the chest Saturday near the Las Vegas strip. The twenty-five-year-old Shakur was riding in the passenger seat of a black BMW driven by Death Row Records founder Marion "Suge" Knight when four men in a white Cadillac, who riddled the car with bullets, ambushed the two. Shakur was hit three times in the chest and rushed to the University Medical Center, where he underwent emergency surgery Saturday night and again on Sunday night. Doctors were forced to remove the rapper's right lung, but he is expected to survive.Knight suffered a minor head wound and was treated and released. No arrests have been made. This is not the first time Shakur has been the victim of a shooting: in November of 1994, he was shot five times and robbed of about $40,000 worth of jewelry in the lobby of a Manhattan recording studio. Shakur's latest album, All Eyez on Me, has been a multimillion seller and his new film, Gridlock'd, about two junkies implicated in the death of a dealer, finished filming in June. Sept. 13: Shakur pronounced dead at 4:03

"Little Known Facts"

Tupac was to star in Menace To Society but didn't because of conflicts with the The Hughes Brothers. Tupac was to star in Higher Learning but got beat out of the role by Ice Cube. The meaning of the letters Thug Life is: The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody Tupac first appeared on Digital Underground's hit single"Same Song". Tupac's name is after an Inca Indian chief "Tupac Amaru" meaning "Shining Serpant", "Shakur" means "Thankful To God" in Arabic. Tupac's first acting appearance was when he was 12 in Harlem's prestigeus 127th street Ensemble where he played Travis in A Raisin' In The Sun. Tupac never finished high school, but got his GED shortly before hooking up with Digital Underground as a Roadie/Equipment manager. Tupac's life nearly came to a end during his DU days when a unidentified man shoved a 12-gauge shot gun in his face over an alleged dispute over a woman at a Martin Luther King, Jr festival. Tupac was once married to a long time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, back when he was in jail for sexual abuse charges . That marriage was later annulled.

center>"The Top Reason's Tupac is Still Breathing"

1. Makaveli unsrambled is "Mak Alive". 2. The 7-Day theory, 2Pac survived for 7 days after being shot, his new album is called "The 7 Day Theory". 3. He died on Friday, the 13th. 4. The white Cadillac that 2Pac was supposedly shot in was never found, how can this be when Las Vegas is in the middle of a dessert. Where did it go? 5. 2Pac had his "entourage" with him when he was shot. They consisted mostly of bodyguards. How can he have all these bodyguards and not one of them sees the shooter or chases the Caddy? 6. Makaveli was a war stratagist who faked his death. 7. Makaveli wrote 2 books before his death, Book I and Book II. Look and see what 2Pac called the All Eyez on Me CD's. 8. 2Pac was creamated the day after his death. There is no way they can do an autopsy that fast. Since when is there a murder without a autopsy??? 9. The Number Seven (7) 2Pac was gunned down exactly 7 months after All Eyez on Me was released. His age 25, (2+5)adds up to 7. He was shot on September 7th. He lived 7 days after being shot. His album, titled The 7 Day Theory. The time of his death, 4:03, (4+0+3) adds up to 7.

Latest News

Welcome to the number one source of Tupac related news on the Internet. If you have any new information to contribute, please click here to let me know and I will post it below! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 4-21: There was certainly some big news today and I don't think I have gotten this much email in a day since Biggie was shot. Anyway, here is the big story that has hit about every media source today but I am not jumping to any conclusions here. For one, they say the car confiscated from Death Row fit the description of the car that killed Biggie. This really isn't that big of deal because there are only about a million Impala's in L.A. that would fit the description. I am anxious to hear what evidence they found. I have been wondering why he would have Biggie killed and not Puffy considering he blamed Puffy and Bad Boy for his friend's death at that Atlanta party. It just doesn't make sense to me and the fact that the shooter was wearing a bow tie seems really weird to me. The explanation about the Southside Crips killing him over an unpaid security bill still seems to make more sense. While on the subject of getaway cars, why haven't the police confiscated the white Caddy that was rented by Orlando Anderson in L.A.? Just a thought...Anyway, I have a few more articles to post soon but here is the Suge article from today's L.A. Times and I have also added a new Voting catagory for people to decide whether Suge was involved or not: Record Executive Investigated in Rapper's Slaying Homicide detectives have identified imprisoned rap music executive Marion "Suge" Knight as a key suspect in the ambush slaying of rapper Notorious B.I.G., police sources confirmed Tuesday. The focus on Knight--founder of Beverly Hills-based Death Row Records--builds on earlier speculation that the March 9, 1997, murder stemmed from a feud between East and West Coast rappers. According to police sources, Knight was behind bars at the time investigators suspect he took a prominent role in a murder-for-hire plot against Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace. Wallace, a 24-year-old rap sensation from Brooklyn, N.Y., was shot to death as he sat in a car preparing to leave an industry party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in the Miracle Mile district of Los Angeles. On Tuesday, detectives served search warrants on four locations linked to Knight. Police said a dark, metallic-purple Chevrolet Impala seized at one of the sites matches witnesses' descriptions of the vehicle used in the shooting. Investigators also served search warrants on the offices of Death Row Records, once the most successful rap label in the country with artists such as Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg, but now struggling to survive. Knight, a flamboyant 315-pound former University of Nevada at Las Vegas football star with an extensive police record, is serving a nine-year prison term in connection with an unrelated 1992 attack on two aspiring rappers in a Hollywood recording studio. Attorney David Kenner, who represents Knight, said he was unaware of the searches when he was contacted Tuesday afternoon. Later in the day, Kenner said that he had no information on the searches, but that he expected a statement from Death Row Records on the matter. Bitter Feud Between Stars According to police and music industry observers, tensions ran high between Knight's Death Row Records and the New York-based Bad Boys Entertainment, which was the label for which Wallace recorded. Six months before Wallace's death, Shakur--the star of the Death Row label--was slain during a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, in a crime that remains unsolved. Knight, who was sitting next to Shakur in the car, was slightly wounded in that attack. Police sources allege that Knight believes Bad Boy Entertainment was somehow behind that attack. Such a link has never been proved. In the years before their deaths, Wallace and Shakur were involved in a public feud that came to symbolize the rivalry and rift between the two rap labels. Shakur had accused Wallace, Bad Boy Entertainment founder Sean "Puffy" Combs and others of being involved in a 1994 robbery in New York in which Shakur was shotseveral times and lost $40,000 in jewelry. At a music awards show in 1996, Wallace's bodyguard brandished a weapon and got into a scuffle with armed members of Shakur's entourage outside the Shrine Auditorium. Also that year, Shakur taunted Wallace in a song, calling him a "fat mother . . .," and claiming that he had sex with Wallace's wife. Knight also was said to believe that Combs was behind the murder of a Death Row employee who was killed at a music industry party in Atlanta in 1995. The Wallace shooting apparently was payback for previous squabbles between the two labels, police sources allege. It was unclear whether charges will be brought against Knight. But because he is in prison, authorities have no fear he will flee their investigation. As part of a plea agreement in the 1992 attack on the two aspiring rappers, Knight's nine-year sentence was suspended and he was placed on probation. In November 1996, however, Knight was imprisoned after he was found to have violated his probation by kicking a man during a scuffle at a Las Vegas hotel--an altercation that was captured on a hotel surveillance tape. Police officials declined to discuss the investigation into Wallace's death. Police sources would not say what evidence they have linking Knight to Wallace's murder. Investigators descended on Death Row's Beverly Hills offices on Wilshire Boulevard on Tuesday afternoon to search for evidence. A large LAPD motor home from the Robbery-Homicide Division was parked in a lot next to the building, as investigators went in and out of the offices. The Chevrolet Impala was towed to the Death Row office, loaded on a flatbed truck and hauled to an undisclosed location. Police declined to identify the other locations they searched. The investigation into the murder originally was handled by detectives in the LAPD's Wilshire Division. It later was turned over to the department's Robbery-Homicide Division, which handles the city's most sensational and difficult investigations. Although Wallace's murder occurred in front of dozens of witnesses, police have said the investigation has been hampered because many potential witnesses were reluctant to come forward with information. As the investigation has dragged on, friends and relatives of Wallace--especially his mother--have grown frustrated waiting for the case to be solved. Shooting Was Well Planned The probe into Wallace's death has led detectives to the tough streets of Los Angeles, where they interviewed gang members, and to the posh offices of New York recording industry officials. At one point, detectives questioned Combs, the influential chief executive of Bad Boy Entertainment, who had been with Wallace on the night of his murder. Many music industry officials publicly dismissed notions that Wallace's murder stemmed from a bicoastal rap feud. Months into the investigation, detectives speculated that Wallace was gunned down over a financial dispute with a member of the Southside Crips--possibly the result of an unpaid security bill. However, police sources Tuesday said the evidence does not support that theory. "This was a professional hit," said one source. The killer, police sources said, had the shooting well planned. According to police and witnesses' accounts, a lone gunman in a dark sedan drove alongside the Suburban in which Wallace was a passenger and fired at least seven shots from a 9-millimeter handgun. The gunman sped away in what police now believe was a well-planned escape route. Wallace, 6-foot-3 and 380 pounds, suffered several wounds to his upper body. He was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Police sources said investigators suspect that in addition to the lone gunman and Knight, others were involved in planning and carrying out the slaying. The gunman was described by witnesses as an African American man in his early 20s, wearing a bow tie. Known as a "gangsta" rap artist, Wallace was immensely popular at the time of his death. A former Brooklyn drug dealer, Wallace climbed to the top of the rap music charts with his gritty, reality-based lyrics of gang violence. Even as a celebrity, he maintained a tough-guy image, which occasionally got him into trouble with the law. A couple of years before his death, he was arrested several times, including once for allegedly using a baseball bat to deter autograph seekers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 4-17: Puffy thinks he is Suge Knight all of a sudden. Here is the story courtesy of MTV news: Sean "Puffy" Combs Possibly Being Investigated Over Alleged Label Exec Beating Violence cropped up in the hip hop world in stunning fashion on Thursday afternoon, as New York police are looking for three suspects -- one of them who may be Sean "Puffy" Combs -- whom they believe walked into the office of Interscope Records around 4:30 and attacked label executive Steve Stoute, who is also the manager of rapper Nas. Sources say the beatdown came as a result of a video which aired on MTV's "Total Request Live" earlier in the day. In the video, for Nas' track "Hate Me Now," Puffy Combs appears in a number of scenes, including one in which he is being crucified. According to sources within Bad Boy, Columbia Records, Nas' label, submitted to MTV a version of the video that had not been approved by Bad Boy, one which contained the crucifixion scene that Puffy is alleged to have objected to. That version aired on Thursday's "Total Request Live." Puffy was reportedly watching Total Request Live at the time, and was extremely unhappy to see the crucifixion scene in the video. But while Bad Boy is confirming that there was a dispute between the two labels over the airing of the video, they have not confirmed that Puffy or any representatives from Bad Boy took part in the assault. Police say Steve Stoute sustained an arm injury in the fracas, but was "removed from the scene" in stable condition. At press time, there was no comment from Columbia Records. MTV has pulled the Nas video from the air until both Bad Boy Entertainment and Columbia Records have settled their apparent differences. We'll keep you posted as this story develops. Hmmm.......now where could Puffy have gotten the idea of a crucified rapper?? Next thing you know, he will have "Puff Life" tattooed across his abdomen. Is there anything this guy doesn't steal...I mean sample?....On the PJs (the new Eddy Murphy show), the main character said something this about a gumbo competition: At last....someone came up with something to end the East Coast/West Coast gumbo war, hear that! 2pac you did not die in vain. ....Bootleg of the Dayton Family who just released his solo debut "Death Before Dishonesty", has a verse about Pac. The song is called "Sophisticated Thugs" and it features Ras Kass. I was just listening to it and it is a really good tribute so check it out. Here is a small excerpt from the song: "All eyes on me/Hollerin' thug life on BET/ Gave the whole world the finger on MTV / Tupac Shakur he was born to be a renegade/ A product of the streets now look at what the streets done made" There is also a line about BIG which can be interpreted in a couple different ways. Here it is: "Biggie, you was true. You're nobody until somebody kills you." ....In this month's Maxim magazine, Pac is mentioned on page 34. It's called Glock vs. Glockenspiel which is about the gun glock vs. the German kokoclock. It breaks it down into catagories and one of them is about brush with fame. It says: "A glock figured prominently in the death of Tupac Shakur (picture of Pac) The glockenspiel in Munich celebrates the wedding of some dead Bavarian duke. The winner is a draw." ....The Hard Knock Life tour came through here the other night. I didn't go but I heard it was pretty good. A few other people that went in other cities emailed me some more info. In Atlanta, Jay-Z gave a lot of props to Pac and Biggie. He said Tupac was the greatest thug of all time and there would never be another. Then he stopped the concert and started playing "Hail Mary."....Changes is still going strong in Europe. It has reached #3 on the Swedish charts now, and #2 on the European top 20 countdown on MTV....In Washington D.C., Tigger, one of the hosts of BET's rap city and also a radio DJ there for WPGC 95.5, played on the radio a remix for the song Ha by Juvenile. It featured Pac, Biggie, and Grand Puba. It was layed out over the beat for Ha. My source called Tigger up and asked him if it's going to be in stores and he said he had no idea because he told my source, "I just recieved it in a magic Envelope." My source asked for a record label and he said that there wasn't one. It sounds like they may have just layed the lyrics from "Let's Get It On" over the Ha beat since that is the only time I can think of that those three were together on a track....A source from Inglewood was listening to Power 106 radio in California and said that Suge Knight called in and he was talking to Big Boy. Suge was pissed at C-Murder's song On My Enemies saying that that song was an unreleased Tupac track. He said C-Murder did the song word for word and he did not give Tupac any credit on the production for the song. Suge said that C-Murder is sneaky and he is a biter. At least somebody is sticking up for Pac on that theft. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 4-12: Sorry for no updates in awhile. I know a lot of people look forward to them but things are really slow lately and I have been very busy and out of town in Las Vegas, San Diego, and L.A. I will still be posting anything major that I hear but don't be surprised if I go longer periods without updating because of lack of info. I also want to thank everyone that takes time to email me with info, comments, and questions. If I don't respond right away, don't take offense because it isn't that I don't appreciate your letter, it is just that I am very busy and don't usually have time to respond immediately...In site news, I finished the new lyrics section which is accessible through the Discography. Now that there aren't many updates, I can focus a little more on site improvement....The Poetic Justice DVD came out a couple weeks ago and naturally I bought it. It is really cool because it has a director's commentary with John Singleton. He talks about different scenes and it is just really informative and you learn things about the movie that you didn't realize before. I only got a chance to see 1/4 of it but I learned that Ice Cube was originally cast for Tupac's role and Singleton gets really serious about the part at the beginning when the car pulls up to Pac and he asks what they are doing and they say they are looking for someone to jack. He said it is a very important scene because both Tupac and the guy talking to him are dead now. I am really anxious to see the rest of it and recommend it to anyone with access to a DVD player....Last month, Rated R from Thug Life was supposedly in the audience on MTV's Total Request show. However, I personally doubt it was him and I have heard others who have denied it was him....On Station Zero, the new MTV Beavis and Butthead style show for Hip Hop, the Bone Thugs video for "Crossroads" came on. One of the characters said something like: "Ohhhh.... this is that video where Master P tries to act like Tupac, isn't it?" ....There is a reference to Pac on Kingpin Skinny Pimp's new album entitled "2000 Rapdope Game" on song 3 entitled "Down 4 War (Pac & Biggie)." It says: "We can do like Pac and Biggie cause I'm down for war. I'm not a playa hater but I gotta settle the score." .....To add to a previous update, the Dutch rapper that said he met Tupac in New York was Ray from 2 Unlimited....Recently on MTV's "25 Large", which was a countdown of the top 25 most influential video's in hip-hop history and were picked by Hip-Hop artists and CEO's such as MC Hammer, Big Pun, Fat Joe, Russel Simmons, Wyclef, Snoop Dogg, Ice-T, B-Real, Missy, Mary J-Blige, and others. They all showed Tupac's "California Love" as the #5 Most Influential Hip-Hop Video in the history of Hip-Hop. Other Westcoast notables were Dre & Ice-Cube for "Natural Born Killaz" which was #7 on the countdown. Hype Williams talked about what it was like to shoot "California Love" with Pac. He said: "To this day, and probably for the rest of my life, being in tha desert with Tupac and 400 of his friends right after he got out of jail was the craziest thing that's ever happened in my life" Hype chose the "Cali Love" video as his #4 favorite video of all time, but he chose "Mo Money, Mo Problems" as his #3 choice as most influential video....One of my sources went to the Hard Knock Life tour in Montreal and DJ Clue mixed some Tupac tracks. He played "Hail Mary" and "Toss it up" between DMX and Jay-Z. After that they did a tribute to Biggie where they show a video about Biggie and ask for a moment of silence. Another source saw the show in Providence and said Method Man did a special rest in peace message to Tupac...In Word Up magazine, they had a piece on Tupac called "Tupac Revisited." It was about all of the alive rumors and "God Bless the Dead." They were also talking to a psychiatrist about how people refuse to let him go....On BET, they had a comedian on named Mark Hall who said Puff didn't blow up until Tupac and Biggie died and said Puff should be a suspect because he said he can't sing and that he can't even sample because sampling is taking part of the song and he took the whole damn thing....In case I didn't mention it, DJ Quick makes a dedication to Biggie and Tupac at the end of "You's a gangsta."....There are a couple references to Pac on Mase's Harlem World album. On the song Cali Chronic, he says: "Stand alone, 2 cops, thug, against all odds like 2Pac" and on the song Meaningful Family he says: "Comeback twice as nice and Makaveli you fools" ....The recent movie "8mm" has a web site up which includes open cases. One of these cases is Tupac's murder. It isn't that informative but it is good to see that they recognize Pac's murder as seriously as the others listed on the site. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 4-12: In the new Source magazine with C-Murder & Silkk, they have mini interview with Yukmouth, and at the end he says this about Pac: Source: And your first single is a tribute to Tupac? Yukmouth: Yea, the song is called "Still Ballin" and its a dedication to Pac. He had a song called "Str8 Ballin" on this Thug Life CD, I did this as a way of showing him that even after he's gone, we are still trying to put the West Coast on the map. I feel anyone thuggin it out on wax has to give it up to him on at least one of their songs because he was the first to do it." ....Pac is featured on MC Breed's new album "It's All Good", but it's just a remix of "Gotta get mine"....In the new Blaze issue with DMX on the cover, Death Row has an advertisement for Chronic 2000. It says there will be 4 unreleased Dr. Dre songs from the Death Row days, 2 unreleased Tupac songs and songs from The Outlawz and Scarface. I even have a possible track list which could be wrong but we will find out for sure when it is released. Here is the tracklist I received: Disc 1 Chronic2000-VK featuring:Treach from Naughty By Nature Gotta Love Gangstas/The Realest featuring Scarface and Richie Rich Top Dogg Cindafella-Top Dogg* Who Do U Believe In-2pac featuring:Kadafi I Thought You Knew/Mac-Shawn featuring E-40 and Daz Curiosity/VK Its Going Down/Mac-Shawn featuring Daz and Tha Realest Dont Forget Where U Came From-Swoop G Like It Or Not-Soopafly Easy 2 B A Soldier When There Aint No War-The Realest featuring Swoop G & Lil' C Style Beatufil Lady-Danny Boy featuring K-Ci Stand Strong/Tha Realest featuring Danny Boy and Jewell We Don't Love Em/Top Dogg Because of You Girl/Daz and Kurupt featuring The Realest Disc 2 Roll With Us-Tha Dogg Pound Drinks On Me-Captain Save M' & Ant Banks Late Night-2pac featuring The Outlawz They Wanna Be Like Us/The Realest featuring Top Dogg and Doobie OG to BG/Dr. Dre, the Realest, Daz and Kurupt Wanna Be Loved/Michel'le featuring VK I'm Coming Home-The Realest featuring:Jewell I'm Country-Doobie Presenting Milkbone/Milkbone The Things Your Man Won't Do-VK Now What-Capricorn Ride or Get Rode On/Bad Habitz Mr.Officer-Michel'le featuring:Captain Save M' & El Dorado I was told that Tha Realest is the Tupac soundalike we have heard about....The new single by the Black Eyed Peas called "Karma" has a quote that goes: "Who shot 2Pac & Biggie, Now I'm comin' after you like V,W,X,Y,Z" .....Here in Phoenix, they had HipHop March Madness on Power 92.3. They started off with 64 songs and put them up against each other by having people call in with their vote. In the end, Tupac's "I Get Around" won the tournament....Speaking of "I Get Around", if you missed the latest Davey D newsletter, it talked about how it was originally intended for Digital Underground. Shock wound up giving it to Pac and Digital's label, Tommy Boy, wasn't very happy once it turned out to be such a big hit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 4-12: There was another tragedy since my last updates. The sad thing is, stuff like this happens everyday but the media only seems to cover it when it is a rapper. Here is the story courtesy of CNN: New York rapper murdered NEW YORK (CNN) -- Rapper Freakie Tah, a member of the hip-hop group the Lost Boyz, was shot to death on Sunday morning as he left a party. Witnesses say the rapper, whose real name is Raymond Rodgers, was killed by a ski-masked gunman who walked up behind him and shot him once in the head before fleeing the scene. Robbery was not the motive, police believe. The Lost Boyz, made up of boyhood friends who admitted being former small-time drug dealers, had a best-selling album in 1996 called "Legal Drug Money." The title was a reference to going straight after seeing a fellow drug dealer shot. Rodgers is not the first rap star to be shot. Rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, who had multimillion-selling albums like "2Pacalypse Now" and "All Eyez on Me," was wounded in a November 1994 shooting in New York and then fatally shot in September 1996 as he sat in a car in Las Vegas. He was 25. In March 1997, 24-year-old rapper Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. However, since that story was published, more has developed. Here is the story from the Associated Press: Three Charged in Rapper's Killing NEW YORK (AP) -- Three men were charged in last month's shooting death of rapper Freaky Tah of the hit hip-hop group the Lost Boyz. Kelvin Jones, 29, Raheem Fletcher, 22 and Ryan Frith, 24, all of New York, face second-degree murder charges in the death of the rapper, whose real name was Raymond Rodgers. Jones, the alleged gunman, was arrested Wednesday in Albany, New York police spokesman George Nagy said. Frith, who allegedly drove a van used in the shooting, was arrested Thursday in New York. Fletcher, who police believe provided the van, has been in custody since last Friday. Rodgers, 27, was slain March 28 as he left a party in Queens. A gunman approached him from behind and shot him once without speaking, witnesses said. Nagy said the slaying was part of an ongoing dispute, the details of which were unknown. The Lost Boyz, four boyhood friends who admitted to being former small-time drug dealers, had a best-selling album in 1996 called "Legal Drug Money." The title was a reference to going straight after seeing a fellow drug dealer shot. Among there other hits are the singles "Me and My Crazy World," "Music Makes Me High" and "Get Up" and the album "Love, Peace & Nappiness." Two other nationally known rappers have been shot to death in recent years. Rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, who had multimillion-seller albums like "2Pacalypse Now" and "All Eyez on Me," was killed in September 1996 as he sat in a car in Las Vegas. He was 25. In March 1997, 24-year-old rapper Christopher Wallace, known as Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, was shot to death in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. Among his hits was "Ready to Die." ....There have been a couple references to Tupac in recent issues of ESPN magazine. There was a little piece where it says "Tulsa's Hill won't hit the court without spinning Tupac" and in the March 22nd issue, they had a picture of Arizona's Jason Terry (my favorite college player) in his bedroom and above his bed was a poster of Tupac when he is in that warehouse flipping off the camera with "Tupac Amaru Shakur 1971-1996" at the bottom. It was on page 68....That's it for now. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 3-10: There was an unexpected news release today from MTV so I figured I better post it before I went on vacation. Here it is: Dr. Dre And Death Row Records Release Competing "Chronic 2000" Albums Rap elder Dr. Dre, who broke huge in 1992 with his multi-platinum "The Chronic" album -- which also introduced Snoop Doggy Dogg to the world and most recently gave us Eminem-- has been referring to his next record as "The Chronic 2000." But Dre's one-time Death Row Records partner -- the currently incarcerated Suge Knight -- appears to like the title as well,and Death Row will release its own "Chronic 2000" album next month. Death Row's "Chronic" is a compilation of remixed and previously unreleased tracks that were recorded when Dre was still employed by the label. That album also includes leftover tracks from Snoop, the late Tupac Shakur -- and a Tupac Shakur sound-alike. Dre's new "Chronic", on the other hand, will contain all-new material, including tracks with Eminem and a reunion with Snoop. A spokesperson for Suge Knight told MTV News that Death Row has been planning to release its "Chronic 2000" compilation for more than a year, and Dre has said that he has no plans to change the title of his album either. That sounds like a typical Suge move just to spite Dre. I think it is pretty funny. Which one do you think will be better? I just opened a new Voting section for it so check it out....MTV premiered the "All About U" video today. Great job MTV at premiering a video that has been playing on BET for months....Changes is #3 on the New Zealand charts after debuting at #7 a few weeks back....I heard MuchMusic did a short special on Biggie yesterday....Thug Immortal has moved up to #29 on the UK Video Hit List Chart....From Panama, the channel called SCN, Southern Command Network, which is an army channel had an hour long program dedicated to Tupac. It was about his life, his death, his poetry and even played the infamous clip from God Bless The Dead. They also showed how the Internet has been used to spread lies to make people think Pac is alive....After getting such a negative response over C-Murder's copy of Tupac's bootleg, I put a new section up to vote whether No Limit is disrespecting Pac or not. I also plan to notify the estate of this copy. I will post any info I hear. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 3-9: I was driving home today and I noticed that Biggie was getting a lot of airplay on the radio. Then it dawned on me....today is the 2 year anniversary of his death. I finally got a chance to see the UltraSound for him on MTV last night. It really drives me crazy how things get distorted by the media to make Biggie and Bad Boy look like victims of Tupac and Death Row's attacks. It bothers me knowing that people out there that don't know any better are believing it....After posting the last group of updates, I got a lot of letters about the Lauryn Hill reference that Eminem made. I thought most people knew that story but I guess not. Basically, Lauryn Hill has been rumored to be a racist for a long time now. She has denied this on MTV but the story is that a few years back, she was asked about something relating to poor reception of her music or something like that and she replied that she would rather have her kids starve than a white person buy her music. I haven't found a reliable source for the quote but a friend of my girlfriend's went to a Fugee's concert in Tucson and they were trying to get the crowd to chant "Fuck the white people." Based on that, I personally think that there is a good possibility that the rumor is true and to hear Eminem make reference to it was great. The one thing worse than a racist is a hypocrite so to see her on the Rosie O'Donell show acting all sweet and getting hyped so much for the Grammy's without anyone paying attention to the possible truth to that rumor kind of gets to me....It is "Hip Hop Week" on MTV this week and there was an UltraSound called "Ghetto Superstars" that featured Wyclef Jean, RZA of Wu-Tang, Mase, and Nas. They were talking about coming from nothing and making it big and then they talked about their favorite MC's. Nas talked about Rakim and then Mase said "Even though I'm on Bad Boy, My favorite MC of all time is Tupac." He also said that Pac's rhymes were the realest and how he just didn't care what he said and that he stayed real. Then he said that whenever he needs inspiration for writing songs he listens to Nas's Illmatic, Raekwon's joint, BIG's Ready to Die, and Pac's Makaveli....TLC recently had a top 40 countdown on MTV and Cali Love was like #6. In other MTV news, they are supposed to be airing a special this week about the rise and fall of Death Row Records. Also, Tupac is up for MTV's Most Influential Hip Hop video so get out there and vote for him at the MTV website because it is a close race between him and DMX....Good news from Billboard. 2pac's Greatest Hits has been certified 5x platinum....I am really outraged after hearing the latest stunt from No Limit. C-Murder's album was released today and the shock comes on track 13 entitled "On My Enemies." This track is the same as the bootleg track by Tupac, "When we ride on our Enemies", where he is dissing Biggie, Fugees,and Mobb Deep. C-Murder just changed some of the lyrics and the beat slightly. Inside the cover of the CD, it didn't mention who produced it or anything. Throughout the whole CD, he has references to Tupac and on song 13, he says this track is a dedication to Tupac. He also sends shoutouts to Badazz and Outlawz. Just because you give a dedication to the creator of the song doesn't mean you can completely copy the song. Here is the copy, I mean song, courtesy of Cory's No Limit Page...Changes recently moved up from #14 to #4 in the German charts. It is a new entry on the Swiss charts at #24....On Yukmouth's new CD, on his first single "Still Ballin" which is a remake of "Str8 Ballin", he talks about Tupac. On the hook he says: "Don't cry dry yur eyes, says pac we still ballin, still ballin ballin ballin just look up in the sky, say pac we still ballin still ballin ballin ballin poor some liquor on the ground, say pac we still ballin still ballin ballin ballin to think, only if he could see us now still ballin " There are other lines on the album which take obvious shots at No Limit like: "aim an infared at the head of a rapper trying to make a living off a dead man" "they stole every song you made," "you act like Pac, but all ??? stole from ???, if Makaveli was alive he would've rolled on you fools." Napolean also takes a shot at Mobb Deep on the album by saying "Havoc you talk about the gat then why don't you grab it"....On Dubee's album "aka.Sugawolf" that came out on Young Black Brotha Records in '96, in the inside cover Khayree writes: "This album is dedicated in loving memory of The Mac, DJ Cee, Lil Rod, Tupac Shakur(RIP). To my nigga 2pac, I was blessed to be able to work with you. You are one of the most incredible artists & visionaries of this century. Your positive influence will continue to live through all of us. Many misunderstood your strong aggressive energy, but you were a soldier from birth & sooner or later, all soldiers depart from this life. So from one black man to another, I salute & honor you & all of your phenomenal achievements, against the odds & you against the world, you prevailed. May God always bless you.-From The Heart of Khayree." ....Dear Mama is going to be re-released in Holland since Changes has been so successful there holding the number one chart position for 3 weeks now. Also in Holland, TMF did a one hour live show on Tupac's life, an interview with his mother and some other people of Amaru Records (Edi) and they asked the people on the street what they thought of him. They also asked the Dutch rap scene and some DJ's what they thought of Pac. One of the rappers had met Pac in New York twice and said that he was just a nice guy who was very intelligent....Changes is #2 on the Danish Pepsi Pop chart....I was just reading the latest Newsweek and they had a small article on Eminem. They said: "But hard-core lyrics are no surprise from a protege of Dr. Dre - the studio guru who gave us N.W.A.,Snoop Dogg, and 2pac" What? How did Dre give us Tupac? I swear, what planet do these people live on? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 3-9: In Brotha Lynch Hung's latest album released in 1997, he gave a shout out to Tupac and on the recently released Blacc Market Records compilation "No Face Killaz" they gave a RIP shoutout to Pac....Last week on the Hit List UK-Videos, Tupac's Thug Immortal was number 32....In DJ Quik's song, "You's a gangsta", he dedicates the song to Tupac and Biggie at the end....The U.S. Army orders CD's to be played in Bosnia, and on one of the CD's, #288E January 22, 1999, the bootleg Happy Home appears. It is kind of funny thinking that even the US Army is buying Pac bootlegs....Above the Rim was shown on UPN as part of Black History month. It aired on Feb. 24th and 28th. Ossie Davis and Rubee Dee, legendary actors and philanthropists, who worked with Malcolm X in his prime announced the cast. First Duane Martin, Leon, and lastly Tupac. They said that Pac's lyrics "reflected life on the street" and Ruby said: "What a talent"....There's a documentary on BIG coming out in the theatre's late this year. It depicts him as a saint, but shows concert footage and him and Pac together. It's underground right now but it shows Pac as a jealous person who was upset that Biggie blew up while he was in jail. Who actually believes that?....Here is an article which appeared in an L.A. paper awhile back but I don't think I got a chance to post it: SUSPECT CHARGED IN TRIPLE MURDER Murder charges were filed against a man accused of shooting a trio that included a key figure in the killing of rapper Tupac Shakur. Michael Reed Dorrough, 24, of Long Beach was charged on Tuesday with three counts of murder with special circumstances that makes him eligible for the daeth penalty, the Los Angeles County district attorney's ofice said. Dorrough allegedly shot to death Michael Stone, 41; Gerry Stone, 24; and Orlando Anderson, 23, Friday at a Compton car wash in a dispute investigators believe was about money." ....Recently, on VH-1 Gospel at the Hard Rock Cafe, MC Hammer performed a song written by Tupac entitled "Unconditional Love." During the interview before the song was played, Hammer stated that all of the credit for the song goes to Tupac and that he (Tupac) wrote the song in a day and the next day it was recorded....The new Naughty By Nature single "Do My Dirt All By My Lonely" has a reference to Tupac in the line: "wait....Above The Rim, word to Birdie, I'm from Jersey leaving Niggas acting nerdy" ....Recently on the show "Early Edition", Coolio played a rapper whose manager, Tone Loc, was trying to kill him for his money. Coolio played a rapper who wanted to try a different style and his manager was against this so he planned to kill Coolio. Tone Loc said that "A dead rapper would bring in a lot of money." Where would that idea come from?....On a recent edition of MTV Jams, "Changes" was number 1 and Ananda introduced it by saying (quoting from "Bomb First) "Westside Ridah Comin Right behind ya" and then proceeded to say "Shouldn't have ever messed with him"....In recent UK news, on SKY 1, Jenny Jones had a show called "the impact of gangster rap" and it was on for an hour and talked a lot about Tupac and showed a lot of footage and pictures of Pac. There were people there up on stage who were down for Pac and there was a guy called the ‘Reverend’ and he was talking about how wrong people are who say Tupac was just violent and deserved to die, because they themselves are violent in wanting someone to die. He went on to talk about how people only see the bad side of Pac and should listen to Dear Mama, Keep Ya Head Up and Brenda’s Got a Baby....On the music channel, The Box, in the UK, Tupac's Changes is at number 1 and has been there for five weeks and its getting airplay from most popular radio stations....The ‘Trapp - You Never Heard’ album which was released in the UK a few months back was pulled off the shelves of most record stores last month....HMV UK says that Fatal's album ‘In the line of fire’ has been banned from release in the UK but I'm not sure why....There's a video/music channel called VIVA which is a german channel that is as popular as MTV Europe and they have a Hip-Hop feature every week and they always have some famous guests appearing. They recently had Nas on and the guy asked him to which rapper he looks up to. At first Nas was like "you know, I'm more like doin' my own thang" but then he said "well, some people might not like me sayin' that I developed lots of respect for Tupac." He also mentioned that although they had dissed each other in previous albums, there's nothing but love now....Finally, there probably won't be any new updates until late March because I am going on vacation. I am heading up to Las Vegas on the 18th so I plan to go to the corner that Pac was shot on to pay my respects like I always do when I am there. I want to take a moment to thank everyone that takes time out of their day to send me Tupac related updates. After nearly three years, I keep thinking that the updates are going to quit coming but it is just amazing to see people emailing me everyday to give me some material to use in the updates. I can't thank you all enough because the updates wouldn't be going without your help. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 3-1: ABC's Nightline recently did a 30 minute special on Tupac (click on the link for a transcript of the show). They went over the alive theory, talked to Davey D of KMEL, and interviewed students about their ideas about him. They compared him to Elvis, Paul McCartney, and Jim Morrison with respect to the alive theories that surround them all, and that every generation seems to have one. They also featured several Tupac websites, not including mine :( ....On WCW Thunder, Rey Mysterio Jr. kicked the door of Lex Luger's limo and screamed out "Thug Life."....Changes is #2 on Nicaragua's charts. I even heard that Pac is very popular in Arabic countries with his music appearing on their TV shows. Talk about worldwide fans....On the new Geto Boys CD, one of the producers goes by the name Simon. Anyone know who this Simon is and if it is the same one that produced the Makaveli album?....In Bone's song BNK (Black Nigga Killa), Layzie Bone says: "Rest in peace my nigga C, Makaveli, Biggie Smalls and Eazy E" ....There is a Tupac reference in the UGK song "Take It Off." James Jones (Pimp-C) says: "I miss that boy Pac, I'm sippin' liquor tryin' to grip the chrome..." ....Inside the cover of Gonzoe's album, it says: "Today is February 3rd 1998. 1 day before my 22nd Birthday which makes 2 decades, 1 year, 11 months, & 1 half day of war for the love of my niggaz & hate of being defeated. Outlawz Ride Forever. Children Of The Makaveli. Young Ritzy Outlawz" ....On the compilation "Isolated in the Game", there is a Tupac reference. On track 10 called "Real Geez" by San Quinn, he says: "...Rest in peace Tupac, where's Makaveli? Probably hiding in a cut, waitin for the funk..." ....On Ray Luv's new album "Coup D' Etat", the last track, "Chasin Heaven Raisin Hell", is dedicated to Tupac. In the beginning of the track, Ant D.O.G. says this about Pac: "What I cant stand the most is though? How muthafuckas be tryin to get paid of that nigga, they wouldnt even hollered or try to ride wit him, or saying all this other shit when he was alive but now everyone talkin bout we love you 2pac, tryin a go platinum, phony ass niggas man, I just wish I could say how much nigga, really missed you & loved you before you had to leave us, but next time I see ya on tha other side nigga you'll recognize me I might look different, I might sound different but youll recognize the realness nigga, I'll be ridin on the other side with you baby boy, Much Love." I couldn't agree more. Very well said.... I heard that a recent Davey D newsletter claimed that Pac's "Unconditional Love" and "God Bless The Dead" were being released as singles, one by Interscope and one by Death Row....After a TQ performance in Germany, MTV Germany had an interview with him. They asked him several questions and one caller asked him what he thought about the East-West conflict and about Tupac. Basically, TQ answered that the media blew the whole East-West feud up and that it was more hype than real. About Tupac, he said that he felt a great loss since his death because Tupac was the shining star on the West Coast and that he was one of his heroes. He said: "....I felt like somebody took my hero away from me..." ....I heard from Pac's estate that C. Delores Tucker has appealed both decisions against her. They were scheduled to argue the motion for sanctions against her and her attorneys on Feb. 26 but I haven't heard how it went yet....On the UK video hit list, Thug Immortal is number 37....Queen Latifah´s latest album, "Order In Court", is dedicated to her dead brother, Tupac and Biggie. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 3-1: Here is a story I got off of MTV News: Eminem Shrugs Off Critics By Praising Tupac Rapper Eminem's debut album, "Slim Shady," arrives in record stores this week, and although it hasn't really impacted the streets yet, the record has already drawn controversy for tracks that some consider misogynistic and homophobic. Hardcore Eminem fans know that he's prepared to take any flak he gets -- and that his attitude to such criticisms may be best summed up in the single that preceded "My Name Is," which was entitled "Just Don't Give a Fuck." In that song, Eminem evokes the name of the late great Tupac Shakur, a rapper who was no stranger himself to controversial lyrics. In an interview with MTV, Eminem talked about why he considered Shakur to be such a hero. "Tupac was definitely the greatest songwriter that ever lived," Eminem said, "I really feel that. Tupac wasn't necessarily my favorite MC, as I look at emceeing as a little bit different aspect. But with Tupac, you could feel his words, you could feel what he was saying." "That's how I want the world to perceive me," he continued. "Whatever I say, I want [people] to know that I ain't just saying it just to say it. I'm saying it 'cause I mean it." Eminem has just wrapped a handful of promotional dates, including a weekend appearance at the "Brooklyn, Vermont" music fest, and a concert last night at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, California. No word yet on if Eminem has become the first artist to sign on for this year's Lollapalooza, as the rapper has suggested he'd like to see happen, but we'll keep you posted. ....On the official Eminem website, eminem.com, this quote appears in the bio: "I do say things that I think will shock people," he says. "But I don't do things to shock people. I'm not trying to be the next Tupac, but I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet. So while I'm here, I might as well make the most of it." - Eminem ....I have a quick correction to the Eminem line that I reported about earlier that was in his song Scary Movies. It should be: "Tell the medic to bring the medication, and quickly, I'm sicker then a 2pac tribute to Biggie!" ....There are also a couple other Eminem references I wanted to mention. On track 14, "Rock Bottom", he says: "I'm screamin like them 2 cops when Tupac shot 'em" I wanted to save this next line for last because it was my favorite. On track 13, "Cum On Everybody", he says: "I bought Lauryn Hill's tapes so her kids can starve" Most of you should know what he meant by that :) If not, you are probably a Lauryn Hill fan. More updates coming soon.... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-17: The following story is from SonicNet: DITC Rapper Big L Gunned Down In Harlem Member of Fat Joe's crew shot to death near his home; police have no suspects. Rapper Big L, a member of hip-hop star Fat Joe's DITC crew, was shot to death near his Harlem home Monday night (Feb. 15) and police are searching for a possible motive, police said. After receiving a report of gunfire from an anonymous caller, police arrived at 45 West 139th St. and found Big L dead on the scene at 8:30 p.m., according to Officer Theresa Farello of the New York City Police Department's Office of Public Information. The 24-year-old rapper, whose real name is Lamont Coleman and who lived nearby at 104 West 139th Street, had been shot "numerous times in the head and chest," Farello said. There are no suspects in the case and the motive for the shooting remains unclear, according to Farello. Lt. Ellen Caniglia of the NYPD's 32nd Precinct, which is handling the case, said that while they're actively investigating the crime, police currently have no leads. "We're not going to be able to solve it unless someone comes forward ... we're looking for information," she said. Caniglia declined to speculate on possible motives for the killing. Big L had no criminal record, she said. Big L released his debut album, Lifestylez Ov Da Poor & Dangerous, in 1995; among the album's songs were "No Endz, No Skinz," "Street Struck," "Da Graveyard" and "8 Iz Enuff." In a review of the album, hip-hop magazine the Source praised Big L's "ill animated lyrics" and "metaphors that stun." Last year, Big L appeared on Fat Joe's Don Cartagena album; along with Fat Joe, Lord Finesse, Showbiz and Ag and Diamond D., Big L was a member of the Bronx-based DITC (Diggin' in the Crates) Crew. The rappers, including Big L, released several singles together as DITC, including last summer's Tommy Boy/Fat Beats release "Dignified Soldiers." The crew is scheduled to release its first album as a group in May, tentatively titled "All Luv," according to Zuhairah Khaldun, a publicist for Tommy Boy Records, the label for the project. Khaldun said that several tracks featuring Big L's vocals already had been finished for "All Luv," which also will feature platinum rapper Big Pun. Khaldun said "All Luv" was "highly anticipated" both inside the label and among journalists and fans. "There's something about a supergroup that's appealing to people," she said. Lt. Caniglia said that Big L's murder was being handled as a priority by the police. "All homicides are a priority," she said. During their performance at a rap/rock benefit concert held Tuesday night (Feb. 16) in the Manhattan club Brownies, local hip-hop artists the Arsonists paid tribute to Big L by asking the audience to join them in a moment of silence in his memory. "We've lost another member of the hip-hop community," a member of the group said from the stage. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-17: Here is a recent story from the Associated Press: Rap Foe's Defamation Suit Dismissed A judge dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by a gangsta rap critic against two news magazines for their reports on her earlier lawsuit against the estate of slain rapper Tupac Shakur. U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter threw out C. DeLores Tucker's lawsuit against Time, Newsweek, writers for those publications, and Shakur estate lawyer Richard Fischbein. Buckwalter ruled that Mrs. Tucker, a former Pennsylvania secretary of state, was a public figure in the eyes of the law. That means she had to prove that Time and Newsweek wrote the stories with ``actual malice,'' knew they were inaccurate and would ``embarrass and humiliate'' her and her husband, William. The Tuckers did not meet that burden of proof, Buckwalter ruled. ``There is a vast difference between being annoyed and/or embarrassed on the one hand, and being disgraced and ridiculed to the extent that one's reputation is harmed in the estimation of the community, on the other,'' the judge wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday. The Tuckers' $10 million lawsuit against Shakur's estate said the rapper's lyrics, in which he rhymed Mrs. Tucker's name with an obscenity, caused emotional distress that led to ``a loss of consortium.'' A subsequent article in Time referred to ``claims that lewd remarks made about her ... caused her so much distress that she and her husband have not been able to have sex.'' A Newsweek article referred to claims that the lyrics ``iced their sex life.'' Mrs. Tucker said the ``consortium'' complaint had nothing to do with sex. The Tuckers' lawsuits are still pending against dozens of news outlets, including The Associated Press, that carried stories on the initial lawsuit. Buckwalter last month threw out the lawsuit against Shakur's estate, ruling that the references to Mrs. Tucker on Shakur's ``All Eyes on Me'' album were ``unpleasant at best and vulgar at worst'' but not libelous. Shakur was shot to death in Las Vegas in 1996. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-17: I had a couple reports about WCW Monday Nitro a few weeks back. Someone was holding a sign that said "Where's 2pac?".....Did anyone catch the Biggie BioRhythm on MTV? They did the life of the Notorious B.I.G and Pac was in a lot of it. They said that the reason Pac made the song "Hit Em Up" was that Tupac was angry at Biggie beacuse he claimed that Big took his style. Wasn't it because Biggie was in on the New York set up? They also mentioned Pac pulling a gun on Biggie at the Soul Train music awards because it was the first time Pac had seen BIG after he had been shot in NY. When interviewed and asked about Pac, BIG said "I don't like duke, and duke don't like me...so...."....I wanted to correct a previous update where I said Pac was #1 on MTV's Total Request. It was actually MTV Jams....On the song "Cops And Robbers" off of DJ Clue's CD there is a reference to Tupac. A rapper named Muggs says: "representin' BIG/ live like Pac did/ shells couldnt stop the kid." There is also a reference to Pac on Mariah Carey's "Breakdown" remix. Layzie Bone says: "Pac said keep ya head up" ....Billboard did a top 50 for songs in the past 40 years that have the word "love" in them. The "How Do U Want It/California Love" single came in #40....There is a Houston group called Woss Ness and they have a video dedicated to Tupac. All of the members have R.I.P 2pac "Makaveli" on them and the video has a lookalike Pac doing memories of the shooting....On Eightball & MJG's "On Top Of The World" (1995 Sauve House), on track 11 "In The Line Of Duty", Ball says: "I wonder if the world would be shocked if we did like Pac and bust at cops everytime we stopped" ....There is an unreleased track that is supposed to appear on Snoop's new album featuring Pac. The album, Top Dogg, is set to be released in late spring or early summer and will reunite Snoop with Dre. There will also be songs featuring Dmx, Dogg Pound, and the No Limit soldiers. No word on which unreleased track it will be....3XKrazy's "Blood Rush" album that features Pac will just be his verse from The Governer's album "Floss Mode", but with a different beat. This track will also be featured on the "3 Beam Circus pt.2" compilation from Swerve Records....Changes has entered the charts in Holland at #1. This has only happened five times in Holland charts history. The last time was Elton John's "Candle in the Wind."....In the new Source with Mase on the cover, they disect each song from Meth's Judgement Day and when they did "Suspect Chin", he says that it was directed at all the fake thugs out there. He also says there are some real thugs in the world like Noreaga and Tupac....On the new Ghetto Mafia album, they give a shout out to Pac...I heard that Gang Related aka Criminal Intent is also going by the name "Gang Land" in Europe now....The Changes single was released in the UK last week and has reached #3 on the UK charts which isn't very common for a hiphop artist....In Eminem's song called "Scary Movie", he says: "get an ambulance here quickly/I'm sicker than a Tupac dedication to Biggie/" ....There is a song called "Wanna Play" on Nas's upcoming album where he mentions Pac. He says: "Niggaz thought I was sleep like B.I.G. and Pac did/may they rest in peace but while I'm alive I pop shit." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-17: The new TIME magazine did a cover story on hip hop culture and how it has taken over America. It mentions Tupac several times and has two pictures of him in it. Lauryn Hill is on the cover of the issue....Not surprisingly, the "official" Tupac web site is trying to bleed some more money out of fans by selling a book which has a bunch of Pac's fan letters in it. I have included the picture to the right. Come on, that is just plain greedy. I have over 13,000 letters from his fans, feel free to send me $29.95....It's time to settle the God Bless the Dead mystery. Here is the story from Vibe: Don’t Believe the Type Is Tupac alive and making records? On the Web, urban legends spread life cyberfire The Tupac Shakur rumor mill got a kick-start this past November when Amaru/Death Row released his Greatest Hits album. Surely we’ve all heard by now about how Tupac, taking a cue from the writings of 16th-cenruty Italian military strategist Machiavelli, faked his own death. When Pac fans played the new album and listened to the previously unavailable track “God Bless The Dead,” some took the line “Rest in peace to my mother fucker Biggie Smalls” as proof that Tupac was alive and well, probably hiding out somewhere, like Jimmy Hoffa and Elvis Presley. How, fans asked, could Tupac be dead as he was rapping about the Notorious BIG, who met his maker six months after Tupac was killed in 1996? Internet newsgroups have given the myth momentum. At least one Netizen has come up with as many as “30 Reasons Why Tupac Could Still Be Alive.” But on closer inspection the story seemed a lot weaker. It turn out there was another Biggie Smalls, Tamar Harris, a friend of Tupac’s boy Stretch who died long before the Biggie we all knew did. (This person should not be confused with the diminutive white rapper Biggy Smallz, who forced BIG to change his stage name.) ....In that mtV cliche show, they did one about underwear and pools. Tupac was in it for the I Get Around video....Remember how MuchMusic rated the "Do For Love" video the cheesiest video of 1998. Well here is their response: In Fromage we do not usually question or criticize the musical content of a video. Obviously music genres and styles vary as does a listener's musical taste. Rather, in Fromage we question the imagery used in certain videos. This is the case with Tupac's "Do For Love" video. The song is great! We do, however, question the use of bad cartoon animation and sloppy, crude claymation to depict the late Tupac. Surely, Tupac did not need to be reduced to a cheap "Gumby" character just to sell a few more cd's. With the resources that the production company no doubt had at its disposal, bad concept aside, the fact that the animation is so poorly done only adds insult to injury. The dearly departed deserves a more dignified depiction don't you think? The video (not the song) was, in our opinion, cheap, exploitive and shoddily made. It didn't need to be. And that's why the video was our number one choice for Fromage '98. ....Here is a Real Audio clip of that new Mobb Deep song with Noyd called "Like Makaveli." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-3: I just got the following story in from MTV News. Looks like ODB dodged a bullet on this one: Ol' Dirty Cleared In Police Shoot-Out Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard will reportedly not face criminal charges stemming from an incident last month in which police claim the rapper shot at officers who pulled him over in Brooklyn. The New York local news channel NY1 reported on Thursday that a grand jury in the case ruled that the rapper, real name Russell Jones, should not face charges in connection with the incident. As we first reported last month, police arrested the rapper on the evening of January 15 charging that O.D.B. fired at officers who pulled over a Chevy Tahoe carrying the rapper and his cousin, Frederic Cuffie. However, the rapper maintained his innocence, and officers could not link a weapon to O.D.B. or to Cuffie in the weeks following the incident. The rapper was imprisoned for a week before posting $150,000 bail on January 22. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-3: I heard some very good news this last weekend. Let me quote my source: "the judge in the Tucker case granted the Estate summary judgment and determined that Tupac did not libel CDT in the songs. The opinion is real good for our side." It's good to see that the estate is putting C. Delores Tucker in check because somebody needed to. Here is the official story on the judgement: "Anti-rap crusader C. DeLores Tucker's lawyers didn't listen to the lyrics before claiming that the words of slain rap superstar Tupac Shakur defamed their client, a former Pennsylvania secretary of state. This was a big mistake, because the lawyers got the allegedly offensive lyrics "flat out wrong," according to a federal judge in Philadelphia. U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter yesterday dismissed Tucker's $10 million defamation case against the rap star's estate and the estate's lawyer, Richard Fischbein. "It seems that this whole lawsuit may not have been necessary if someone had carefully reviewed the lyrics...and in the context of the entire song in which they appeared," the judge wrote. Attorney Stephen J. Kastenberg, who defended Fischbein, called the ruling, "A pro-First Amendment, pro-free speech decison that upholds the right of musicians....to speak out on social or political issues in their own vernacular." Tucker's attorney couldn't be reached for comment. In a lawsuit filed in 1997, Tucker and her lawyers had complained of one song, entitled "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch," contending it portrayed Tucker as a prostitute. But the lyrics cited by Tucker's lawyers were actually "snippets of words" separated by many verses and run together as if a continuous statement, "a gross and deliberate misrepresentation," one of Tucker's attorneys recently admitted. Tucker's trial lawyer said he didn't know how this happened, the judge noted. The song was about the "self-destruction of a young woman whose own fatalistic choices lead" to a tragic end. The only reference in the song to Tucker "does not tend to injure her reputation, her business or profession, or expose her to public hatred, contempt or ridicule," the judge said. In another song, "How Do You Want It," Shakur used one common slang word that begins with "mutha" to refer to Tucker, who had criticized his work. The judge said the word was "an epithet which is unpleasant at best and vulgar at worst" but not libelous." ....I had some good MTV news as well. Changes is #1 now on the Total Request countdown so maybe our combined voting effort is working. It is #1 on the MTV Top 20 Countdown too. Also, the commercial for the "9 days that rocked the 90's" special did not order the events correctly. Tupac's murder came in #2 and they kind of included Biggie's murder at the end of the Tupac segment. Chris Connely even said "in my opinion, the death of Tupac Shakur had the biggest impact on the 90's, it was his death that marked the end of gangsta rap."....There is an ad in the new Source (page 232) for a spring release of the Outlawz new album, "Neva Surrenda", from Rap-A-Lot....On MTV, Brandy was on the Total Request show and Carson asked her if she liked Tupac. She replied "oh, I love him, once I got the chance to meet him and I freaked out, I am just really glad that his music continues to live on today."....According to Rolling Stone Magazine, the new movie that is soon to be released by E-40 entitled "Charlie Hu$tle: The Blue-Print of a Self Made Millionare" is said to have some never before seen Tupac footage. 2pac's Greatest Hits is #3 out of 20 in the Rolling Stones reader's poll and was the only rap album in the top 20. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 2-3: There are two Tupac references on the new Redman album, "Doc's Da Name 2000". On the song "D.O.G.S.", he says: "Get a country nigga gun bustin/Like they saw Tupac/With 2 glocks/Still thuggin" On "Brick City Mashin'" Redman says: "I get around like Tupac and Shock G." ....Keith Murray mentions Pac on his new album, on the song "Bad Day." He says: "The way they doin' me, I can't stand it / branded as a social bandit / but I'm a man and I'ma handle it / I'm not the first and I won't be the last / Just look at how they did Pac and Tyson in the past" ....I can't remember if I have mentioned this before but there is now a class at the University of Northern Iowa that studies Tupac's life and music....Changes was chosen 99% hot in a "hot or not" contest by the biggest radio station in Holland, "RADIO 538."....I heard that Changes is #1 on most of the charts in Malaysia. It is good to see it doing so well all over the world....A couple weeks back, the Houston Chronicle had a blurb about Tupac. They were talking about the riot-like things that seem to happen at most Tyson fights and mentioned that "Rap Star Tupac Shakur" was involved in a lobby fight while attending a Tyson fight, and then shot to death later in the evening....There are a couple Pac references on the new Nas album, "I Am". Nas says: "Don't take the pussy if she fighting, cause you saw what happened to Tupac and Mike Tyson" On the track "Still We Will Survive," he says: "Dear 'Pac... We had words cuz the best is supposed to clash at the top/But kept it brotherly when we see each other and stopped/... After you left/I got no sleep/Thinkin 'bout how real us niggas would be/If we united/A nation of thugs, who could fight it?/... Will there ever be another MC as nice?/Will you return to us like the resurrection of Christ?" ....MTV recently aired a special called "Ultra Sound Rock and Roll Feuds". There was a short segment on the Eazy E\Dr. Dre feud and a long segment on the Tupac\Biggie feud. They just presented the story behind the feud and talked to a few people about it....There is a Pac reference on OFTB's compilation "Return of the West." On track 14 called "No Enemies", they say: "They not killin me/cowardedly/like they did Biggie/or Tupac Shakur from Oakland that was our niggie" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-27: News has been a little slow lately which has caused the lack of updates but I have a few pieces of info to post and I will try and get a few more things posted tomorrow. First, in site news, all of the album review sections have been set up and I want to thank the people that have contributed their reviews which are all very well written. I am also going to be updating the message boards soon. I have designed a new message board system which will have the exact same format but it will get rid of the need to login every time you want to post and will be more efficient....Here are a few pieces of info that aren't necessarily new but you may have missed them. On The Luniz first album, "Operation Stackola", they have a track called "Plead Guilty." Yukmouth mentions Pac on it. He says: "Jumpin off the rooftop to lock my ass up like 2pac, captured" ....On the Luniz second album, "Lunitik Muzik", on track 10 "Killaz on the Payroll", they mention Pac in the line: "A million souljas died in this urban street war/ before the deaths of Biggie & Tupac Shakur." They also have a song dedicated to Biggie, Pac, Seagram & Rappin Ron called "Y Do Thugz Die?" produced by QDIII....On Richie Rich's last independent album, "1/2 Thang", before "Seasoned Veteran", on the back cover, it has Richie Rich and someone else wearing black shirts that say "Free 2Pac"....The movie "Ride", which starred Malik Yoba, Lady of Rage, Snoop and others, had a reference to Pac. Towards the end of the movie, this black guy tells this tattooed white guy: "You white 2pac lookin muthafucka!" ....On The Dogg Pound's first album "Dogg Food", in the booklet, on Kurupt's thank you's, he says: "2Pac-(We blazin soon as ya feet touch ground)" ....On Master P's West Coast Bad Boyz Vol.1, on the track "Headin 4 the Jack" featuring C-Bo, Master P mentions Pac in the line: "Bumpin 2pac, muthafuckin Thug Life" ....On the Gonzoe aka Young Ritzy Outlaw, album "If I live & Nothing Happens", the intro is called "Young Ritzy Outlaw" where EDI Mean swears in Gonzoe as an Outlaw. Here is what it said: EDI:Introduction to the Outlaw lifestyle, Young Ritzy..Gonzoe, step to the plate my nigga. Gonzoe:Here I go. EDI:Got a couple of questions to ask you. Gonzoe:I'm ready. EDI:Do you solemly swear to Operate Under Thug Lawz As a Warrior? Gonzoe:I solemy swear to Operate Under Thug Lawz As a Warrior. EDI:Is your enemy, my enemy? Gonzoe:Your enemy's my enemy. EDI:My friend your friend? Gonzoe:Your friend's my friend. EDI:Are you sure? Gonzoe:Yes. EDI:Makaveli lives on, Khadafi lives on! Gonzoe:Thru me, thru you. EDI:I heard that, make it happen nigga! He also has a track called "Ice pick bubble & grind" featuring Kastro where he says "Forever Makaveli" and mentions the Outlawz. The track "Serenade My Life" features The Outlawz and Gonzoe has "Outlaws" tattooed on his stomach. Speaking of tattoo's, Bad Azz has the same tattoo of the cross on his abdomen as Pac did on his back....On the new Heltah Skeltah "Magnum Force" album, on the track with the Outlawz (Young Noble, Napoleon & Storm) called "MFC Lawz", one of the Heltah Skeltah members says the following lines: "Outlawz & MFC forever ride why not/ mad ass fuck I ain't get to meet Khadafi and Pac." "Nigga you dont like what the fuck you hear? then get the fuck on! Makaveli Rest In Peace, Killa Khadafi Rest In Peace." In the thank you's, it says: "Special Big Up 2 Outlawz" and on Rock's RIP shoutouts it says: "...Khadafi & Makaveli. We Miss U All!!" That album also lists 8 upcoming releases including the One Nation album. It is the last one listed but no cover is shown....Yukmouth has a track on his new album called "Still Ballin" that is a dedication to Pac and in one verse he says: "God Knows/Kastro, EDI & Boo signed to get the cash flow." which could mean that most of the Outlawz signed with Rap-A-Lot including Gangsta Boo (3-6 Mafia) who is either an Outlaw or is just signed to Rap-A-Lot. Spice1 has also signed with Rap-A-Lot....The Dogg Pound's new album "Dogg Shit" has a track called "Money, Carz & Bitchez" that features The Outlawz and Gonzoe....C-Bo has his own label called "West Coast Mafia" and is going to drop his group "Mob Figaz" album pretty soon. It will feature The Outlawz and others....3XKrazy will drop their third album called "The Blood Rush" and will feature Tupac on one track....On the new Bad Azz album, on track 11 featuring Kurupt, there is a Tupac reference in the line: "Tupac is dead, stop questioning life cause when you have to talk to the feds that's the test of your life" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-27: Since we had such a huge impact in the Billboard online voting pushing Pac to number one, I think we should use that power to hit MTV and vote for Changes as the number one video in the Total Request Countdown. Just go to this MTV site, click on "Play My Song", and choose Changes as your request....I had a report that Tupac was possibly being featured in a show on the A&E channel called Scandal. It was about stars who were caught up in scandals and one of the first things they showed was the clip of Pac being led out by police in New York for the rape charge. Has anyone else seen this?....On Silkk The Shocker's new album, on the song "End Of The Road" which is track 11, he says: "Rest in peace Biggie, Rest in peace Pac" He is listed in the linear notes too....Tupac's "How Do U Want It" was #5 on Aaliyah's favorite video countdown on MTV. It was the strip club version. Speaking of MTV, there is a special next Saturday called "9 Days That Rocked The 90's" and they show the pictures of the people in the commercial along with the number next to them. Tupac was number 4 and Biggie was like 8 or 9. So what was the problem? Puffy was #2...Sounds like Puffy is in a little trouble. This clip is from People Online: "Sean "Puffy" Combs and rapper Heavy D are 50% responsible for a stampede at a party that left nine people dead in 1991, a New York state judge has ruled. The City College of New York, where the party was held in a gymnasium, bears the rest of the responsibility, Court of Claims Judge Louis Benza ruled. The people were killed when fans rushed a celebrity basketball game and party sponsored by Combs and Heavy D. One of those injured, Nicole Levy, 25, filed the lawsuit. Benza said school officials knew the event was oversold and failed to provide adequate supervision of the crowd, in part by abandoning security responsibility to Combs. "Their pounding and their cries for help did not dissuade Combs' people from closing the door, precipitating the eventual deaths and injuries that occurred," Benza wrote." ....More trouble for Death Row. The following is from MusicBlvd: Death Row and Priority Records Sued Over Gang Related Death Row Records hasn't been slapped with a lawsuit since the seemingly continuous flow of legal briefs filed in 1997 -- until now. The label, along with its distributor Priority Records, is now being sued by Orion Pictures over the movie soundtrack Gang Related, which starred the late Tupac Shakur, who recorded for Death Row. Filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday (Jan. 12), Orion is suing for breach of contract, promissory estoppel, common counts (money had and received), and accounting. In brief, Orion is claiming they are owed, by Death Row and Priority, $100,000, allegedly promised as an advance against any royalties from sales of the 1997 album, which featured such artists as Shakur, Ice Cube, Mack 10, Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, WC, and others. Orion claims they are owed more than $1 million in royalties from the soundtrack. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-27: I am sure everyone has heard about it but here is the story on ODB from the AP: Rapper ODB was arrested on a charge of attempted murder after a shootout with police -- the latest addition to a growing non-musical rap sheet. Russell Jones -- the real name of the Wu-Tang Clan singer who is also known as Big Baby Jesus -- and another man were driving a sport utility vehicle with its headlights off when police tried to pull them over in Brooklyn. An unmarked police car with four plainclothes officers chased Jones after he tried to flee, police said. He was pulled over, and when two officers approached, two shots were fired from the driver's side, police said. Police returned fire as Jones drove off again. No one was injured. Another police car stopped Jones a few blocks away, and he was arrested. Police found the second man shortly after in a nearby building and questioned him. He was released and was not charged in the incident, said officer Olga Mercado, a police spokeswoman. Jones, 29, faces charges of attempted murder, attempted aggravated assault on a police officer and criminal possession of a weapon. It was the fourth time the rapper has been arrested since July. In November, he allegedly threatened to kill his former girlfriend -- the mother of their 1-year-old child -- after climbing over a security gate to enter the property where she worked. He was charged with threatening to kill security officers last September at a blues club in West Hollywood, California, and in July he allegedly stole a pair of shoes in Virginia. Jones faced various larceny, assault and fraud charges going back to 1987, Mercado said. He has also been accused of failing to pay court-mandated child support to three of his children, police said. At the Grammy Awards last year, Jones crashed the stage and hijacked a microphone from singer Shawn Colvin. Angry at having lost in the best rap album category to Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, Jones complained that he had spent a lot of money for new clothes because he thought he would win. ....Jamie Foster Brown from Sister 2 Sister magazine is reporting that there is a movie in the works about the Notorious B.I.G.'s life. It's a bio-pic that will be released in theaters. S2S was told that it's called "Ready to Die." Biggie's mother, Voletta, will be in the film. So where is the Tupac movie at? It better not be some lame HBO movie based on Armond White's book either....In the new Rap Pages, there are 3 articles on Tupac. There is a story about Death Row finally giving Afeni Shakur Pac's masters on October 8th, 1998. There is also a story about Afeni settling the lawsuit with Tupac's father, and the third story was a full page on the lawsuit against Trapp. By the way, I just received a bunch of info on Trapp which I will post in a future update....At the KTFM Winterjam in San Antonio on the 9th, Roger Troutman (the man on the voice box for California Love) was there and he had everybody stand up. Then he said: "I'd like everyone to put their hands in the sky for the lost brother, Tupac Shakur!" ....In last month's The Source magazine, they had a five page interview with DMX. The interviewer asked him what he thought about Tupac and his career and DMX replied with one word: "Martyr." I also wanted to post the Real Audio clip in which DMX supposedly dissed Tupac. A lot of people say it isn't him but I wanted to post it so everyone could hear and decide for themselves. Here is the DMX freestyle. It is pretty bad quality so if anyone has a better quality version of it, let me know. Also, in case you missed the Tyson vs. Botha fight, Tyson came out to the intro of DMX's album. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-16: First, in site news, the Discography continues to be updated with lyrics and single\promo information. One new addition to make the site more interactive is the album review feature which has been completed for 2pacalypse Now and Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. It lets you post your review of the album so check it out. The reviews for the rest of the albums will be working soon....The new Brian McKnight single with Kobe Bryant mentions Pac on the back of the CD. It says something about it possibly being written by Tupac and samples being taken from I Get Around....I had a couple things to mention about that Blaze article which rated Pac as the #7 MC of all-time. Of course, many people noted how the number 7 resurfaced. The one thing I found funny which I didn't mention in the previous update was that there is another Top 10 in the magazine about the most highly debated. Tupac came in number 6 there, and it says something like, "We at Blaze are already preparing ourselves for the numerous amounts of death threats we are going to recieve for not putting Tupac as number 1 greatest MC ever." ....After 2pac's Greatest Hits collection fell out of the Billboard top 10 after 3 weeks, it dropped to #17. Three weeks ago, it was slated as Billboard's greatest gainer jumping to #11, two weeks ago, it moved back into the top 10 at #6 with 162,000 units sold and this week, the album jumps all the way back to #3 which is higher than it debuted. Changes is #32 on the Billboard singles charts too....In a 1998 interview, Daz said he was going to include, on the Makaveli & Dillinger album, a song him, Pac and Scarface did on the day "Smile" was recorded. It was called "Never Sleep Again." I have also gotten a lot of email asking for the release date of that album. I have only heard Spring of '99 but I expect a longer delay than that....At the WWF 1998 Royal Rumble, one of the people in the audience (first row by the entrance way) was holding a poster sign that said "TYSON KILLED TUPAC." I'm not buying that one....At the American Music Awards, Master P and family performed "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to My Homies." He gave Tupac and Biggie a shout out. He said "Tupac and Biggie, the greatest rappers."....In my previous updates, I mentioned that the Vibe tribute book had been updated. I wanted to add to that update that the only thing changed in the book is an updated timeline and discography....The new Rappages magazine has a lot of good Pac updates concerning a lawsuit against Trapp and others associated with the thieving of Pac songs. I am going to try and find more out about the Trapp situation....I heard that they started playing the "Changes" video on MTV Europe now....I have gotten a lot of feedback about the possible Pac references on DMX's album. I'm not going to post anything more about them because they are pretty vague and everyone has a different opinion on who he is talking about (i.e. the Lox talking about Puffy, the Lox about Jay-Z, Canibus, JaRule, etc.) When asked about the Pac comparison in a recent interview, DMX said: "As far as being a fair comparison I don't think so. I'm just honored 2 be compared 2 him." I also wanted to correct a lyrical mistake from the last updates. Contrary to my previous post, DMX says: "tha realist? u gonna feel dis, when u faced yo death / sorry i didn't know / nigga don't waste your breath....." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-6: I want to thank everyone who voted for Tupac in the Billboard online voting process. The voting closed and thanks to everyone that voted, Tupac shot up from #11 to finish at #1....Thanks to the people the emailed me to answer my question about DMX being in the Made Niggaz video. He is not which is backed up by his quote from a recent MTV News interview and from a Vibe interview when asked about the comparisons between him and Tupac. To MTV News, he said that he never met the man (Tupac) personally but he was a strong minded black man and that's what America fears. To Vibe, he said how great Pac was and doesn't understand the comparisons considering he never even met Pac. The director of the video also emailed me and told me it was Fatal that was hugging Pac...There is an updated edition of the Vibe book about Tupac in stores now. I am not sure exactly what was updated but it was a N.Y. Times best seller....I heard that a few other Pac sites reported that Puffy told the N.Y. Times that he is going to be releasing 7 new Biggie songs with 3 of them dissing Tupac and other West Coast artists. Puffy is claiming that they are not being released to start beef but because they are the only unreleased songs of Biggies which are left and he wants them to be heard aka $$$$....On the Blackalation album, The Confident One gives a shout out to Pac at the end of his track. He says: "Yeah One time, One time from the heart, we gonna dedicate this to Tupac, Makaveli we love you man. You done touched all our lives you know what I'm saying..." ....On Mac Dre's "Stupid Doo Doo Dumb" album on one of the tracks, he says something like: "Collecting mail like 2Pac's mama" ....On King George's album "Tru Playa", there are several references to Pac. On the second track someone says something like: "This situation with 2Pac got me running around packing two glocks..." On a later track called "When People Die," King says: "I guarantee that you see 2Pac again." ....Eminem's Slim Shady EP, "Murder Murder", has a sample from Tupac's "Me Against the World" album from the song "Outlaw"....The music channel, MuchMusic, had a countdown for the "cheeziest" video of 1998. They chose Tupac's "Do For Love" video as the worst video of the year. If you want to email them about it, the address is muchmail@muchmusic.com....The "Changes" video was the MTV Jam of the week last week....Here are the results of the Power 106 countdown that I mentioned before New Year's Eve: #10 Snoop: What's my name #9 Keith Sweat: Last Forever #8 Biggie: Big Poppa #7 George Clinton: Atomic Dog #6 Run DMC: Peter Piper #5 Puffy: I'll Be Missing U #4 Tupac: I Get Around #3 Sugar Hill Gang: Rapper's Delight #2 Roger & Zap: More Bounce #1 Dr. Dre & Snoop: Nuthin' But a G Thang Other Tupac songs in the countdown were: #303 All About U #215 Keep Ya Head Up #167 2 of Americaz Most Wanted #132 I ain't mad at cha #119 Smile #45 How Do U Want It #29 Dear Mama #17 California Luv -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-6: In last week's National Enquirer or The Examiner, some tabloid, there was an article titled "Is Tupac Shakur Really Alive: Shocking New Proof." This one page article goes into some of the common reasons and theories to dispute his death and at the bottom shows a picture of Tupac with cuts through his skull and chest, the infamous autopsy photo. It also points out the various tattoos on his body to further verify that it is him. ....In Monday's Online People Magazine email, they had a piece about what is in and out in 1999. They said: "Kurt was murdered OUT; Tupac is alive IN." ....In a previous update, I mentioned a bonus track by Snoop off the Westside Riderz album which is only 1 minute long. This bonus track is by Snoop and Mack 10 and appears on Mack 10's newest album, "The Recipe." This one minute is part of Snoop's verse....1 in 21 has been rereleased in the UK but it is a remix album and the remixes are of all the tracks on the 1 in 21 album. The track list for the album is: 1) Tupac Interview (this is a news report of Tupac's death and then a clip from an interview with Pac and it finishes with Yo-Yo talking about Pac) 2) Never Be Beat (remix) 3) Panther Power (remix) 4) My Burning Heart (remix) 5) Case of the Misplaced Mic 6) Static (Sex Mix) (This is actually Raise up of These Nuts that was on the Heat compilation) 7) Never Be Peace (This is slightly better quality than a bootleg but not CD quality) 8) Static (Raggamuffinmix) Tracks 2 and 4 contain very minor changes....Blaze magazine, the new one from the editors of Vibe recently released an issue which included an article on the top 50 MC's of all time. Rakim was rated the best MC of all time. KRS-One was #2 followed by Biggie, Big Daddy Kane, and Ice Cube but Pac came in a distant #7. Although I don't think Pac should have been #1, #7 doesn't seem right to me. Oh well, just an opinion. If you want to share your opinion with the people at Blaze, email them at mail@blaze.com....In regards to my previous update about the song "We Don't Need It," the song on the Sunset Park soundtrack by Junior Mafia is not the same as the diss song that was played on that Toronto radio station....I also found out that the video that CDNow is selling called "Tupac vs. BIG" is just a compilation of a few videos from each....The remix of Ras Kass's "Ghetto Fabulous" going around featuring Makaveli and Dre is off of DJ Rectangle's "Wax Assassasin Megamix."....There is another edit on the GH album in "Unconditional Love." At the end of the first verse: (bootleg version) - "And I ain't worried about a damn thing, she still love me, with unconditional love" (GH version) - "And I ain't worried about a damn thing, with unconditional love" ....In the new Word Up magazine 1999 issue, there is a full-page ad towards the end of the magazine from a company called Destiny that is selling a whole bunch of Tupac memorabilia. There is everything from postcards, to necklaces, to earings, pins, greeting cards, bracelets, money clips, keychain/cd opener, dog tags, etc. There are 18 different items....I have a few more specific quotes off the new DMX album, one of which is obviously about Pac. On one song, the Lox say: "Used to be my dog, you was in my left titty. Screamed ride or die, I thought you would die with me. Found out you a bitch you can't even ride with me. Now its a war and you ain't on the side with me." and on song number 6 he says on one of his verses: "tha realist? u gonna feel dis, when u faked yo death / sorry i didn't know / nigga don't waste your breath....." You could argue either way on the first one but the second seems obvious to me....This morning on MTV, Ananda was getting people off the street and asking about music concerns for 1999. When asked what they expected to happen in the new year of hiphop, one of the girls Ananda interviewed said "I can't wait til 2pac shows up cause he's coming back" and Ananda started talking about people seeing him in Mexico and the other girl said "Yeah, we all know he's alive" and Ananda said if Tupac were smart, he would be in Mexico to get out of the cold....In the new February 99 issue of The Source, they reviewed 1998, and in one section called "Bricklayers: Albums that fell short of the hype that surrounded them & rarely made it into your shopping bag," they had Fatal Hussein's album "In The Line of Fire" listed as one of them. Here is what they said: "Despite numerous promotional pictures with the late Tupac Shakur, heads never responded to Fatal's claim to our hero's throne." I also heard that there is a good interview with DMX in it and he talks nice about Pac....MTV News did a feature on the Grammy's and the recent nominees. They mentioned Pac along with other great artists who never won a grammy like Kiss and the Beach Boys. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update 1-4: Happy New Year everyone! Year 5 for the site and in site news, there are a couple new interviews in the Interviews & Articles section, the Discography continues to be updated with lyrics and promo info, there are a couple new poems in the Poetry section, additional information and links have been added to the N.Y. shooting article, and there is a new article in the Special Feature section about one of my viewers' trips to Clinton Correctional Facility where Pac was jailed....I had some kind of funny news that shows that Trapp is stealing from more people that just Tupac. The funny thing about Trapp's album "You Never Heard" is that in St. Pete, FL, there is a D.J. group called Bass Style Express that is known throughout Central FL. They are the ones around that get most of the new Pac stuff in that area. If you have heard the Trapp album, then you might have noticed that there are little inserts during certain parts of the Pac songs that say something like "motherfuckin express" or "ever lasting bass." That is what Bass Style Express does on all of the Pac songs that they have put out and now they are also found on the Trapp album in the same places. So not only is Trapp bootlegging Pac, he is just taking someone else's bootleg, recording songs from it, putting his name on it and selling it at national chain stores....Snoop Dogg was on MTV UK news round up a couple weeks ago and he said he left Deathrow because Dre, the producer, was gone, Suge, the CEO, was gone and his best friend Tupac was gone....The new DJ Clue album has Clue and the other artists all over it shouting "Clueminati" like Killuminati. Then, inside the cover it says R.I.P STRETCH and BIG but no Tupac....Concerning the new DMX album, I have gotten a lot of letters from people thinking there were references to Pac on it. Track 3 is called "Pac man" and is a skit. I listened to it and couldn't really decide whether it was related to Tupac or not. The other track people have been asking about is "We Don´t Give A Fuck." Speaking of DMX, I know that he was close to signing with Death Row at one point in time but someone recently told me that he appears briefly in the Made Niggaz video hugging Pac. Can anyone make a positive ID on this one because it happens really fast?....I mentioned a song in a previous update called "We Don't Need It." There is a song off the Sunset Park soundtrack with this name but I'm not sure if it was the same song played on that Toronto radio station....Recently on the Jamie Fox show, Jamie Fox was pretending to be a doctor to impress Fancy's friends and there was this guy that was choking on the floor. Jamie was like, "don't go into the light.....if you go to heaven, tell Tupac that his record is still bangin'.".... Recently, it was announced that African-American reporting pioneer Trudy Haynes was returning on Dec. 31st. In a quote from the press release, it says "Throughout her broadcasting career, Trudy Haynes has conducted interviews with a virtual "who's who" of news and entertainment from President Lyndon B. Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr. and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis to Sylvester Stallone, Denzel Washington and Tupac Shakur."....They played a new song by Yukmouth of the Luniz on 93.1 WZAK in Cleveland. In the song, he talks about everyone bitin' Tupac and he said something the Outlawz signing with Rap-A-Lot Records....There is a new video for sale at cdnow.com called "2pac vs. Biggie." Anyone know what this is?....In Murder Dog magazine, there was an interview with Snoop and Mystikal. The interview with Mystikal doesn't pertain to Pac but the Snoop interview does. He basically says that Pac and Suge were great friends and had a brother relationship. He also credits himself with bringing Pac to Deathrow....In a song off Mystika'ls new album "Keep it Hype," he makes the following Pac reference: "Thuggin like Pac, hoodlum like Dugrey" I received the following tracklist for the upcoming Makaveli & Dillenger album. However, these have been wrong in the past so don't take it as a definite tracklist. Here it is: 1. "Makaveli Greeting" - 2Pac 2. "So Many Enemies" - 2Pac and Daz Dillinger 3. "If U Can't Beat Us" - 2Pac, Jewell and Tha Dogg Pound 4. "Mystery Murderer (I say fuck 'em!)" - 2Pac, Outlawz, and Daz Dillinger 5. "Right Between Tha Eyez" - 2Pac, Snoop and Daz Dillinger 6. "Thug Passion 2" - 2Pac, Daz Dillinger, Too $hort and Jewell 7. "Can Ya Hollar At Us?" - 2Pac and Daz Dillinger 8. "Changes" - 2Pac 9. "Erase tha Facez" - 2Pac, Soopafly, Nate Dogg and Kurupt tha Kingpin 10. "Original Inmate" - Daz Dillinger, Soopafly and Chocolate Bandit 11. "In Tha Ghetto" - 2Pac, Daz Dillinger and Lady V 12. "The New and Untouchablez" - 2Pac, Tha Dogg Pound, Nate Dogg and Tray Deee 13. "Makeveli Who?" - 2Pac and Daz Dillinger 14. "Luv Potion" - 2Pac 15. "Makaveli Outro" - 2Pac and Daz Dillinger -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 Updates 1997 Updates(a) 1997 Updates(b) 1998 Updates(a) 1998 Updates(b)

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