L.A. Weekly (Village Voice's superior west coast cuzin) gets first-hand accounts from Shock G and Steele on what Tupac liked to eat.
And no reminisce on the One True Fallen G is complete without Ego Trip's classic 12 Pieces of Proof:
1. Photographs were never released of 2Pac in the hospital in Las Vegas after the reported “shooting.”
2. Despite a plethora of lyrics in which he rhymes about being “buried” upon his demise, 2Pac’s body was allegedly “cremated” the day after his “death.” Funeral services were canceled in both Los Angeles and Atlanta, and there was no viewing of his body.
3. In the video for the song, “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” (Death Row, 1996), released shortly after his “death,” 2Pac is presciently portrayed as an angel in heaven, thus suggesting that when he created the video he had already planned to stage his own “demise.”
4. For Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (Death Row, 1996), released two months after his “death,” 2Pac adopted the alias Makaveli in homage to Niccolo Machiavelli, the late-15th century/early-16th century Italian political philosopher. Machiavelli’s treatise, The Prince, advocates the faking of one’s own death as a means of combating one’s enemies.
5. The title, The 7 Day Theory, reflects the chronology of ’Pac’s staged “death.” 2Pac was “shot” on September 7, and survived on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and “died” on the 13th.
6. At the conclusion of The 7 Day Theory, 2Pac is shot dead, also foreshadowing his own real-life “assassination.”
7. In the video for “To Live & Die In L.A.” (Death Row, 1996), 2Pac is wearing the newest edition of the Nike Air Jordans. However, the shoes were not released by Nike until November—two months after his “death” in September. Also, in the video for “Toss It Up” (Death Row, 1996), 2Pac sports a pair of Penny Hardaway sneakers which were also not available until after the time of his “death.”
8. In the photograph for the ad promoting Fatal’s In The Line Of Fire (Relativity, 1998), Fatal and 2Pac are seen hugging in an unspecified location that resembles an exotic locale (perhaps Cuba), thus supporting the theory that 2Pac is in exile.
9. On 2Pac’s Greatest Hits (Death Row, 1998), ’Pac states, “Rest in peace to my nigga, Biggie Smalls,” at the opening of “God Bless The Dead.” 2Pac, however, was supposedly “murdered” six months before The Notorious B.I.G.’s death.
10. Bay Area rapper Richie Rich’s Seasoned Veteran (Def Jam, 1996), was released on the same day as The 7 Day Theory. On the 2Pac duet, “Niggas Done Changed,” 2Pac rhymes, “I’ve been shot and murdered/ Can’t tell you how it happened word for word/ But best believe that niggas gonna get what they deserve.” These lyrics suggest that 2Pac had planned his “death” to occur by the time of Seasoned Veteran’s release.
11. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s The Art Of War (Relativity, 1997) features a 2Pac duet entitled “Thug Luv.” At the conclusion of Bizzy Bone’s verse (1:15 into the song), his voice can be heard in the background chanting, “He’s alive, he’s alive, he’s alive.”
12. Real niggas don’t die.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
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