2Pac and Biggie were going to be label mates on Diddy’s Bad Boy Records
Revealing that Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. were both signed to Bad Boy Records is ‘Pac’s brother, Mopreme Shakur.
On Tuesday (October 17), Mopreme gave an interview to The Art of Dialogue and revealed that before signing with Death Row Records when he was released from prison in 1995, 2Pac was thinking about joining the label East Coast, Diddy’s Bad Boy Records.
“At one time ‘Pac was thinking about signing with Bad Boy before making a deal with Death Row. He wanted to be part of a black label. He wanted to be with his people. He wanted to be with his brothers.
But there was Biggie, who ‘Pac was having trouble with. Biggie was part of Puffy’s label, and ‘Pac was convinced that Puffy would protect Biggie in their feud and that this would cause him more problems”.
Mopreme also discussed 2Pac’s up-and-down friendship with former Thug Life member Big Stretch, who was with him the night he was shot in November 1994 at Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan. Stretch was killed a year later.
“Pac and Stretch were best friends“, he said. “Stretch was with him when Quad was shot. After that, Stretch went on tour with Biggie. So anyone familiar with our circle, immediately understood that it was a very strange and ambiguous move, since ‘Pac was having problems with Biggie and eventually got cut off”.
The sudden change of direction of his friend Stretch and the problems with Biggie led Tupac not to sign to Diddy’s label.
2Pac signed to Death Row Records when Suge Knight visited him at the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York and put up the money to get him out of prison in late 1995.
There are stories about this deal and that ‘Pac would sign the contract while on death row on a napkin or a piece of toilet paper. Explaining how things went down is the late rapper’s childhood friend, David S Ash, who was there during the meeting and who disputed this claim in a recent interview with The Independent.
“It all happened legally“he said, recalling the moment Knight and his lawyer interrupted one of the rare visits he was able to have with his friend. “They wrote it all out right there in front of me. 2Pac told Suge the things he needed: a car, a million dollars up front and a house for his mother. Then he looked at the contract and said to Suge, “OK cool, let’s do it.” And this was the moment the contract was signed“.
