Tupac Shakur
Bad Boy Killa
“I fucked your bitch, you fat motherfucker!”
Even before the release of Pac’s post-prison album, as a means of publicly embarrassing and striking at the personal life of Biggie, Tupac had been seen out at several LA parties with his new wife and Bad Boy singer, Faith Evans who knew her husband had been carrying on an affair with Junior Mafia's Lil’ Kim had called Tupac “mad cool” in one interview and agreed to perform with him on his upcoming album. However she was startled and embarrassed herself to find out the song she starred on came out called "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch" was dedicated to her and Pac stated in The Source magazine interview that he had been having sex with Faith. Further more on the unreleased b-side cult collector hit, "Hit ‘Em Up" the ultimate-throw-down defamation track to Bad Boy Entertainment, spat venom at Biggie with his lyrics about Faith, “I fucked your bitch, you fat motherfucker!” This was a direct strategic war manoeuvre as learnt from books read in prison, (Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ and Niccolò Machiavelli’s ‘The Prince’) against his biggest enemy, Notorious BIG (or ‘Piggie’ as Tupac refers to him as.)
Soon after his first Death Row album dropped, Tupac confronted his east coast rivals Bad Boy’s Biggie and Puffy when they invaded LA for the ’96 Soul Train Awards. Backstage after their appearance, they faced off for the first time in almost two years. Suge stood beside Pac who answered threats from the Bad Boy camp who abused Pac from behind a wall of gun-heavy Crip security detail. Tupac, Suge and their Blood members were about to strike when one of the Crips drew a gun and the crowd dispersed. Several disparaging remarks were made through the medium of magazine interviews. One suggesting the two camps should box off in a charity event in Las Vegas. However, the coastal war grew monstrous when in April ’96 Suge declared his new venture of expanding Death Row Records to opening an east coast faction in Manhattan with Tupac promoting this move on an Oakland radio interview. New York industry took this as a distasteful insult. By this stage Tupac had publicly declared a war against east coast acts, releasing an infamous and very venomous b-side single "Hit ‘Em Up" which verbally fired shotgun slugs into the heads of any Bad Boy artist and associate, Chino XL, Wyclef Jean, Mobb Deep, Nas, Jay-Z, even on radio interviews Tupac violently antagonized the East/West feud warning parties of those against him of his deadly intentions.
The East/West war had reached a breaking level of devastation, the climax of every war indicated by death. This seemed evident to the entire hip-hop community when Death Row made their aggressive entrance in New York at the MTV Awards on September 7. It took 20 NYPD officers to separate and maintain safety between Death Row inmates and Bad Boy staff. Suge and Tupac spoke out on their Death Row East invasion. The animosity soared beyond control after this event between not only the coasts of the US hip-hop community but the major contributory parties, Bad Boy and Death Row Records.
This was the last public announcement to television Tupac would appear on.
Last Night In Vegas
“Frank I can’t breathe… I can’t breathe.”
The following weekend to the MTV Awards was Heavyweight champion Mike Tyson’s title defense against Bruce Seldon, an event Tupac and Suge Knight never missed. Since his release from prison from similar circumstance to Tupac’s, he has become a heroic figure for many gangbangers, black athletes and entertainers, and became a honourary member of the Death Row family. Tupac was always in the dressing room with Tyson before and after a fight as a close confidant. Suge Knight resided next door to him in Las Vegas, and the Death Row family was right there in Tyson’s corner. This weekend Tupac and Suge would enjoy the sun, casinos, women and the fight in Vegas like every other occasion in the gangsters’ desert. He entered Las Vegas with fiancé Kidada Jones, daughter of famous musician and owner of Vibe magazine, Quincy Jones. He would stay at the Luxor Hotel and later join up with Suge Knight and the Death Row entourage. The nearest accuracy to this night came from the account of his personal bodyguard, Frank Alexander who worked for Death Row under Suge Knight and Reggie Wright’s Wrightway Protection
Alexander was told by Death Row attorneys that he was not permitted in the state of Nevada to carry a firearm, as Death Row had failed to secure the appropriate clearances from the police. Alexander felt naked without a gun on his hip when on the job with Tupac. It was a must and he felt quite vulnerable. At this stage Tupac was losing big hands on the $25 blackjack table at the Luxor. Tupac was not sporting the gold chain with Death Row medallion seen as a strong sign of allegiance instead deferring to his $30,000 diamond studded replication of his own production company, Euphanasia which was a black angel fallen to it’s knees with head tilted down, backed by enormous wings and golden halo. This significant change caused a low rumble with fellow Death Row employees and Blood associates. Pac’s luck changed on the table and he stayed until later in the afternoon winning $1,400 to $2,000 a hand when he hopped over to the MGM Grand where the fight would later take place, via the footbridge. Tupac was not one to wait for anyone. His entourage kept up or lagged behind, including bodyguard Alexander who spent the afternoon chasing him down from casino floor to hotel rooms. The weather was typically steaming hot and Pac was refusing to wear his bulletproof vest.
At the start of Tyson’s scheduled fight, after the pre-fights Tupac was forced to wait at the entrance for Suge who held the front-row tickets. After some time, battling enclosing fans, Tupac grew impatient and threatened to buy his own tickets as it was getting close to the first bell. He stated he had no intention of coming to Vegas this weekend, in favour of spending the weekend in LA with Kidada. Suge finally arrived as Tupac quickly changed into a more amicable demeanor. They walked in, past celebrities like Rev. Jesse Jackson, NBA legends, Charles Barkley and Magic Johnson, with hip-hop acts Run DMC who were booked to perform later at 662 and Too $hort. They took their seats for two minutes as the fight was over 55 seconds into the first round. Tyson burst out of his corner throwing devastating punches at a furious rate dropping Seldon to the canvas in 109 seconds. Tupac was thrilled by this show of tenacity and continually boasted about the hits like a child at a circus yelling “Fifty blows, fifty blows I counted them.” Tupac headed down toward Tyson’s dressing room with his Outlawz and Death Row entourage only to be told by Suge they had to leave. Pac contested that this would be the first time he hasn’t gone back to congratulate Tyson personally on his achievement. Suge grabbed his arm and led him towards the exit with Alexander shortly behind. As they approached the main lobby of the MGM, Suge embraced Pac like close brothers, buffered by Pirus and security, a Piru Travon ‘Tray’ Lane whispered into Tupac’s ear to point out a man in the lobby. This worried Alexander who was responsible for Pac’s safety, even when in the company of Suge Knight. The man standing alone looking like he was expecting someone was Orlando ‘Baby lane’ Anderson a Southside Crip and member of Bad Boys’ LA security. Orlando with 7-8 other Crips had encountered Tray outside a Foot locker store in Lakewood Mall and snatched the Death Row chain from around his neck as they beat on him. Volatile as always, especially in the company of his Death Row family, Tupac walked up to Orlando and cleanly dropped him with a blow to the head after asking him, “You from the south?” he struck him before he could answer. Orlando cowered down as the mob of Death Row surrounded him with kicks and punches. Alexander had pulled Pac out of trouble, as he did so the link off his medallion broke, as he went down to pick it up he was pulled back again by the very strong Alexander and ushered him out the nearest exit, with the Outlawz, Suge and his Pirus behind him. The whole scuffle was caught on CCTV.
