Snoop Dogg has seen a lot in his career, including the aftermath of Tupac’s Las Vegas shooting. Speaking with Logan Paul on the Impaulsive podcast, The Doggfather revealed he fainted after traveling to Vegas to see his Death Row, label mate.
“When we drive to Vegas to see Pac, we got to Suge [Knight] house first, so we haven’t even seen Pac..We just talking to Suge, and he got the head wrapped up and he telling us what happened and [saying] ‘Pac gonna be alright, he going to pull through he got shot nine times before he going to be alright.’
We feeling like it’s gonna be alright until we go to the hospital and see that it ain’t alright. He got tubes in him..When I walked in, I could just feel like he wasn’t even there and I fainted.”
Snoop revealed Pac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, helped him regain his composure. “She was like, ‘My baby ain’t never seen you weak. I don’t want you to be weak in front of him. You go in the bathroom and fix yourself up and you go back in there and you talk to him and you tell him how you feel.’”
Snoop Dogg and Tupac were two of the most prominent rap artists in the ’90s, both representing the West Coast as members of Death Row Records and maintaining a close friendship. Amidst rumors of tension between the label imprint, the dynamic changed a bit but not enough to where the “Gin & Juice” artist wouldn’t stop by to see Pac in his time of need. Snoop recently recalled his final moments with the “Dear Mama” rapper on Logan Paul’s podcast Impaulsive.
Snoop drove to Las Vegas after Tupac was shot in a drive-by shooting. He told Paul “We feeling like it’s going to be alright until we go to the hospital and see that he ain’t alright. He got tubes in him, and it’s like when I walked in, like, I could just feel that he wasn’t even there, and I fainted. Then his mother got me up and walked me to the bathroom, and had a conversation with me about being strong.”
Snoop has committed to keeping what they built alive as he recently purchased Death Row in a historic deal back in February. The 50-year-old recently released “Touch Away” featuring October London ahead of the Death Row summer album. Check out Snoop Dogg recounting the unfortunate experience on Impaulsive above.
This past Saturday, Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G., would have turned 50 years old. Among the many, many celebrations of the Brooklyn rapper’s life and legacy over the weekend was a Twitter Spaces event hosted by Tidal. Thousands of listeners tuned in to hear B.I.G.’s contemporaries, friends, and peers share their stories and remember the giant-sized footprints he left on hip-hop despite his short reign.
One of those peers was Jay-Z, who said that a void was left behind by the deaths of Biggie and his friend-turned-rival Tupac. “That’s a big void,” he admitted, before allowing, “Others stepped in to fill it as well, not just myself.”
Jay received praise from Sean “Diddy” Combs, Biggie’s benefactor as the founder of Bad Boy Records, who told him, “You filled them shoes, though. You came in and we definitely give thanks. You definitely came, and I just know how much Big really looked up to Jay. They looked up to each other. That is crazy you had to step into the shoes of two people. That’s all it was was those two people. They had things on lock.”
He continued, pointing out how, before the two titans’ deaths, Jay was still something of a neophyte, having only released one album, Reasonable Doubt, in 1996. Unfortunately, by the time he’d released its follow-up, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, both Tupac and Big had been gunned down. “Hov was coming,” Diddy explained to the Spaces listeners, “but it was like these two cats was just so big… I think Hov kept the art of it going and took where they was at and took it even higher.”
In addition to the celebration on Twitter, Big’s birthday was honored by the city of New York with commemorative MetroCards, a series of murals throughout the city, and a crown atop the Empire State Building.
The original album cover art painting from Tupac Shakur’s The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, recorded under the pseudonym Makaveli, will be auctioned by Riskie Forever in collaboration with Zelus, a company that aims to revolutionize the way people interact with art and finance, and Heritage Auctions.
Makaveli front cover
Working with Heritage, Zelus will auction the original record cover painting from now until June 18 together with a one-of-a-kind NFT that includes a never-before-heard tale from Riskie about the piece’s beginnings. On a 29″ × 47″ canvas seen via a 35″ x 53″ frame, the original painting was produced using airbrush and mixed media. The NFT will deliver a one-of-a-kind collectible experience related to a piece of hip-hop history to the buyer.
On his podcast “Hotboxin’ w/ Mike Tyson,” longtime friend of Tupac Shakur and boxing legend Mike Tyson will discuss the original painting while showcasing the artwork. He’ll talk about his memories of Tupac, as well as the significance of the album cover in music history. On May 19, the show will appear on YouTube with special guests Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson.
“This episode was cool to shoot,” said Tyson. “Having the opportunity to honor Pac and have this painting here with us was awesome. It’s by far the most iconic hip hop album artwork of all time.”
On May 19, Heritage Auctions, located at 445 Park Avenue, will host the “HeritageNow” event. The auction will feature items like Frank Miller’s original cover art for The Dark Knight Returns Book One, which has never been auctioned before; Enola Gay Captain Robert Lewis’ contemporaneous first-hand account of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945; a manuscript in Mozart’s hand from The Marriage of Figaro; and other iconic, major moments in American and world history. As part of the exhibition, Heritage has included the Riskie Forever cover art painting.
“The Don Killuminati is, of course, now regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and its cover art by Riskie is no less a masterwork – a true collaboration between two geniuses that resulted in one of music and popular culture’s most indelible images,” said Heritage Auctions’ Executive Vice President, Joe Maddalena. “It’s one of the few album covers ever created that merited critical discussion – there are so many theories behind its meaning – and it’s an honor and thrill to offer this not just as a piece of music history, but as a true work of American art.”
Riskie sold the original physical artwork he made in 1996 for The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory’s album cover to a long-time fan in 2015. However, in 2021, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the posthumous album’s publication, Zelus assisted Riskie Forever in reclaiming the artwork. Tupac was introduced to Riskie by Suge Knight, and after seeing Riskie’s portfolio, Tupac insisted that his label pay him to create a picture depicting Tupac crucified on a cross, just like Jesus, complete with a crown of thorns. Tupac was seen the artwork just days before his sad demise.
“I remember giving Pac the painting officially, I knew then this was something special,” said Riskie Forever. “Now to be able to celebrate that legacy while creating something truly new and unique – that’s something I’m incredibly proud to be a part of.”
This fall, a new docuseries about Tupac Shakur and his mother, Afeni Shakur, is coming to FX and Hulu. Dear Mama offers “an intimate wide-angle portrait of the most inspiring and dangerous mother-son duo in American history, whose unified message of freedom, equality, persecution, and justice are more relevant today than ever.” The series is directed by Allen Hughes and will air on FX and appear on Hulu the next day. Since yesterday was Mother’s Day, FX shared a teaser from the show featuring Afeni explaining her unique parenting style.
“It was my responsibility to teach Tupac how to survive his reality,” she says in voiceover, as black-and-white photos of Afeni with a baby Tupac appear on the screen. “So, Tupac do something wrong: ‘Take your little sorry self in that corner, get the New York Times, and let’s have a debate about it. Not a discussion, a debate. Let me hear what your idea is, stand up, defend it.’” Naturally, Tupac’s seminal 1995 single “Dear Mama” plays over the title card.
Afeni Shakur was a former member of the Black Panther Party and later, after her Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer son’s death, founded the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation while running a media company also named after him. She was also the executor of his estate until her death in 2016.
The pioneering Tupac Shakur Wake Me When I’m Free exhibit in Los Angeles has been extended through the summer of 2022 due to great demand. The Shakur Estate-sponsored exhibit, which debuted in January and is set to close on May 1 in Los Angeles, has received a slew of excellent reviews.
For the balance of the show’s run in Los Angeles, the exhibit has announced a new campaign to open its doors to children, offering free tickets to any public school group (grade school, middle school, high school) and their chaperones.
Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho of the Los Angeles Unified School District toured the museum experience with more than 70 kids from around the district to kick off the program. Following the tour, Superintendent Carvalho, the exhibit’s Creative Director Jeremy Hodges, and Rob Light (Head of Worldwide Music, Partner & Managing Director of entertainment and sports firm CAA) engaged students in a debate.
“Inspired, powerful, meaningful: These are just a few of the words our students used to describe the exhibit Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When I’m Free after our visit,” Superintendent Carvalho said. “These students joined our test pilot for the Los Angeles Unified Cultural Arts Passport, a new program to provide all students with access to arts and cultural enrichment. I’m thrilled that the exhibit will extend its offer of free tickets to all public school student groups to visit and learn about Tupac Shakur’s life and legacy.”
WMWIF is a 20,000 square foot curated facility akin to a contemporary art museum that presents Shakur’s music, poetry, and never-before-seen artifacts in a museum-like setting. Guests move through a variety of surround sound environments, each filled in technological curiosities. WMWIF ponders the larger implications of his activism, music, and revolutionary art. As they travel through his unusual life, the audience is taught and enlightened through a maze of emotions.
WMWIF is a museum experience sanctioned by the Assata Shakur Estate, and it was created in collaboration with Round Room Live, CAA, Universal Music Group, and Kinfolk Management + Media. Nwaka Onwusa, Chief Curator and Vice President of Curatorial Affairs at The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and award-winning Creative Director Jeremy Hodges and his firm, Project Art Collective, are leading WMWIF.
This past weekend, Nas was sued by well-known rap photographer Al Pereira sued Nas after the rapper posted a 1993 picture of himself with Tupac and Redman outside Club Amazon. According to HipHopDX, Nas allegedly shared the photo without permission or licensing the image. It’s a situation that many artists have found themselves in recently. In 2019, Justin Bieber was sued for sharing a photo of himself, a case that was settled for an undisclosed amount. Ariana Grande and Dua Lipa have also been sued multiple times for the same reason.
Photographers are able to file these lawsuits if they are the exclusive holder of the copyright of the photo, even if the person they are suing is in the photo. However, Snoop can’t seem to fathom how this makes any sense. In a new video he posted on Instagram, he questions the logic of it all. “How’s a mothaf*cka suing Nas for a picture that he in?” he said before adding that photographers have “lost y’all mothaf*ckin’ rabid ass mind.
“When you take a picture of a n****, that picture ain’t yours,” Snoop continued. “That’s a mere likeness-type situation. You’re borrowing my likeness. We need new laws to help us as artists, man, because it’s a bunch of mothaf*ckas selling pictures with my face on it and I don’t get sh*t ‘cause they took the picture. Can anybody help me with that? Just a basic question.”
As for Nas and Pereira’s lawsuit, the latter says the picture’s worth decreased in value since Nas posted it in 2020. Pereira also registered the photo’s copyright in 2017.
Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Last fall marked the 25th anniversary of Tupac’s death. Meanwhile, next month will mark the 25th anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s death. Since their deaths, hip-hop has experienced the loss of other major rappers. Some examples include Nipsey Hussle and Young Dolph, who were shot and killed in 2019 and 2021, respectively.During a recent interview with HotNewHipHop, Rick Ross spoke about how impactful their deaths were to this generation.
“Losing Nipsey and Dolph for this generation, I’m sure, was just as equivalent or greater to what [Notorious] B.I.G. or ‘Pac was for my generation,” he said. Nipsey was shot and killed outside of his Marathon Clothing store in South Los Angeles back in 2019 and Young Dolph was murdered inside of Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies in Memphis last fall. Rick Ross collaborated with Nipsey and Dolph throughout their careers and he even tried to sign Nipsey to his label, Maybach Music Group, at one point.
Rick Ross’ comments come after dropped a video for “Little Havana” with The-Dream — a track from his recently-released eleventh album RIcher Than I Ever Been.
You can read Ross’ interview on HotNewHipHop here.
Nipsey Hussle is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.
Of all the many rap beefs in the history of hip-hop, none has been as brutally dissected — and deadly — as Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac’s East Coast/West Coast spat. Things reached a head when Tupac dropped the supremely insulting “Hit ‘Em Up” in June of 1996, which besides being lyrically pointed at Big, Puff and Mobb Deep, rode samples of two Junior Mafia tracks in “Get Money” and “Player’s Anthem.”
While Biggie got his shots own shots in over the years (“Who Shot Ya?” came out months after Tupac was shot at Quad Studios in November of 1994, although Biggie never admitted it being pointed at Tupac), there was more in store from Biggie that never fully materialized the way he ended it to. In an interview with The Art Of Dialogue, Junior Mafia member and Biggie’s cousin, Lil Cease, shed more light on the epic beef and what might have happened if things went as planned:
“Big wasn’t gonna put forth a full effort into a whole full song dissing Tupac… Big was kinda more like just sprinkling on it,” Cease said of “The Ugliest,” a J-Dilla produced track that featured Busta Rhymes. Biggie delivered the verse, “And the winner is, not that thinner kid / Bandanas, tattoos, my fist never bruise / Land still cruise, Frank White paid his dues.” While Tupac wasn’t name-checked, it was clear who the lyrics was pointed at, and the diss was strong enough for Busta to not put the song on the album it was earmarked for, The Coming, but this was hardly the epic shot that Biggie thought he could take with a little help.
Cease says the original plan was for Nas and Busta to do the heavy lifting on the diss which could have really lit a fire under the beef. But that’s not how it went down.
“It’s not a diss if you don’t say their name. Ya gotta say somebody’s name if you wanna call it a ‘diss record’” Cease says. “If you’re just throwing subliminals, that’s only for that man to hear and figure out ’cause you’re gonna say something that only he would understand like, ‘Alright, he’s talking about me.’ Big didn’t say his name… It was for Busta Rhymes’ song at that. The song never came out — supposed to been Busta Rhymes, Nas and Big. It was produced by Q-Tip. But everybody never did their verse after Big did his. Nobody laid the verse on it, so the song kinda just pushed away. ”
Nevermind that Cease confuses Dilla with Q-Tip as the song’s producer (Tip was famously J Dilla’s manager), but had Nas and Busta joined Biggie in the spat, “The Ugliest” could very well have topped “Hit ‘Em Up” as the piece de resistance of the Tupac/Biggie beef.
