(soft bright music)
♪ Yo ♪
♪ Some people love me and they don't even know ♪
♪ I have a hard time loving myself ♪
♪ Some people judge me and they don't even know ♪
♪ I have a hard time judging myself ♪
♪ Life is ugly but I gotta pay ♪
- All the papers, they building me up.
Now they destroying me on the same image
that they perpetuate.
- Hey you know, I'm just trying to keep it 100%, you know?
It's my neighborhood, so.
- [Narrator] Two worlds destined to collide.
Two of the most talented rappers on the scene,
both committed to revealing the truth
about the struggles of street life,
social injustice, and racial inequality.
The biggest difference between Tupac Shakur
and Biggie Smalls, they represented different coasts.
- Don't get it twisted, this is not my real life.
This is not how my real life is supposed to be.
I'm not supposed to be really having
all these villains in my life.
- [Narrator] East Coast versus West Coast,
the biggest rivalry in music history,
ended up in the death of both artists
just as their careers skyrocketed.
♪ Yo ♪
♪ Fa-Fa-Famous ♪
(soft hiphop beat music)
- [Narrator] Born June 16th, 1971
in the East Harlem section of Manhattan,
Lesane Parish Crooks was renamed
just before his first birthday after Tupac Amaru,
an 18th-century South African revolutionary who was executed
after leading an uprising against Spanish rule.
- Tupac, it's meaning determined to overcome my obstacles.
- [Narrator] This renaming comes as no surprise
when you learn that his parents,
Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland, were revolutionaries,
active members of the Black Panther party in New York.
- So when the Panthers hit, the government panicked,
and they had a thing called a COINTELPRO.
And they felt like the Panthers were detrimental
to American society, so they raided every Panther's house,
especially the ones who they felt like
could do the most damage as an orator.
So my mother was nine months pregnant,
no, seven months pregnant.
They put a match to the door and said, "Fire, fire."
And you know, it's like 5:00 in the morning.
So my mother opened the door and they just burst in,
put a shotgun to her pregnant belly,
and put a gun to her head and said, "Don't move.
Bye bye bye," and said, "You're under arrest."
- [Narrator] Just a month before Tupac's birthday,
his mother Afeni was tried in New York City
as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial.
21 Black Panther members were arrested
and accused of planned, coordinated bombing
and long range rifle attacks on two police stations
and an education office in New York City.
- [Interviewer] So you were right in the middle
of the storm- - I'm still in the storm.
- Early on. - I'm still in the storm.
As a matter of fact, (chuckling) my mother was in a book,
there's a book about my mother
called "Look for Me in the Whirlwind",
and I like to think that's my motto.
- [Narrator] Eventually the trial collapsed
and all 21 were acquitted of all charges.
Just one month after his mother was freed,
Tupac Shakur was born.
He would go on to be a revolutionary in his own way,
changing the landscape of music
with the intensity of hip-hop lyrics
about the harsh realities of life for so many.
(soft soulful music)
Christopher George Latore Wallace was born
in Brooklyn, New York on May 21st, 1972.
His parents both hailed
from the Caribbean island of Jamaica.
His mom Voletta taught preschool, his father Selwyn
was a welder and local Jamaican politician.
Selwyn left the family when Biggie was two,
but Voletta worked two jobs to send her son
to a private school, the Roman Catholic
Bishop Loughlin Memorial High School, but Biggie
subsequently transferred to the George Westinghouse
Career and Technical Education High School.
Alums include rappers DMX, Jay-Z and Busta Rhymes.
Biggie had excelled in English, but often played truant
at Westinghouse, and dropped out in 1989 at age 17.
(soft soulful music)
Acquiring the childhood nickname Big
because of his plus-size girth,
he began selling drugs at 12, working the streets
near his mother's apartment on St. James Place.
Voletta worked long hours and had
no inkling of her son's activities.
After quitting school, Biggie stepped up the drug dealing,
and was soon in trouble with the law.
He received a five-year probationary sentence in 1989
after being arrested on weapons possession charges.
The following year he was arrested
for violating that probation.
The year after that he was charged with dealing cocaine
in North Carolina, and reportedly spent nine months in jail
while waiting to make bail.
Taking the stage for the first time in 1984,
Tupac participated in a fundraiser at the Apollo Theater
for presidential candidate Jesse Jackson.
- I did a play at the Apollo Theater for Jesse Jackson
when he was running for President, it was for his campaign.
- [Interviewer] Was this always
kind of an ambition of yours?
I mean, did you have a show business bug as a youngster?
- I mean I caught it then, but at the time
it just seemed like the fun thing to do,
'cause I was 13, I mean.
But I caught the bug when I got on the stage
and all those people was clapping, so that's when I got it.
But really I just enjoy expressing myself.
Anytime I can express myself,
I can let some of the pain go from a childhood like mine.
So that's why I enjoy the acting.
(soft thoughtful music)
- [Narrator] A move to Baltimore, Maryland happened
the same year, when Tupac's mother lost her job.
After two years at Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School,
there was a welcome transfer
to the Baltimore School for the Arts,
where acting, ballet, poetry, and jazz
were on offer to the creative teenager,
who often performed in Shakespeare plays
depicting the timeless themes of power, politics,
violence, and love he had seen firsthand in his early years.
The School for the Arts opened up Tupac
to an unexpectedly eclectic range of music,
including U2, Culture Club, Kate Bush and Sinead O'Connor.
Tupac was a popular student at Baltimore Arts,
known for his humor and ability to mix with everyone.
His mother moved to Marin City, California,
just north of San Francisco.
Tupac thought that moving away from Baltimore
would leave behind the life of poverty
in a neighborhood riddled with crime,
but California proved to be even worse.
He said that the poverty he encountered in his early years
helped him relate to many people,
and here his mother Afeni succumbed to crack addiction.
(soft soulful music)
Biggie began rapping as a teenager
to entertain people in his neighborhood.
After he got out of jail, he made a demo tape
as Biggie Smalls, named after a gang leader
from the 1975 movie, "Let's Do It Again",
also a nod to his childhood nickname.
He had no serious plans to pursue a career in music,
but the tape found its way to the "Source" magazine,
who were so impressed that they profiled Biggie
in their "Unsigned Hype" column in March, 1992.
From there, Biggie was invited to record
with other unsigned rappers.
This recording came to the attention of Sean Puffy Combs,
an A&R executive and producer who worked
for the leading urban label, Uptown Records.
He started there as an intern in 1990.
Combs arranged a record deal for Biggie,
but left the label soon after,
having fallen out with his boss, Andre Harrell.
Combs went on to set up his own imprint, Bad Boy Records.
In the summer of '91, a new record company, Interscope,
were looking for up-and-coming hiphop artists.
In a stroke of good luck, the daughter of the millionaire
who founded the company, Ted Field,
had heard Tupac's demo and loved it.
So in August '91, he signed the Interscope deal.
While living in Oakland, Tupac recorded his first album,
"2Pacalypse Now", featuring the singles
"Brenda's Got a Baby" and "Trapped".
He went from being an unknown
to having a platinum-selling record.
The album traces the story of a young Black male
from start to finish, teenage pregnancy,
poverty, drugs, police brutality,
but it also draws on his personal problems.
♪ I hear Brenda's got a baby ♪
♪ But Brenda's barely got a brain ♪
♪ A damn shame, the girl can hardly spell her name ♪
♪ That's not our problem ♪
♪ That's up to Brenda's family ♪
♪ Well let me show you how it affects our whole community ♪
♪ Now Brenda really never knew her Moms ♪
♪ And her dad was a junkie putting death into his arms ♪
♪ It's sad, 'cause I bet Brenda doesn't even know ♪
♪ Just 'cause you're in the ghetto ♪
♪ Doesn't mean you can't grow ♪
♪ But oh, that's a thought ♪
♪ My own revelation ♪
♪ Do whatever it takes to resist the temptation ♪
♪ Brenda got herself a boyfriend ♪
♪ Her boyfriend was her cousin. ♪
♪ Now let's watch the joy end ♪
♪ She tried to hide her pregnancy ♪
- [Narrator] Before he had the chance to put anything out
on Bad Boy, Uptown released music that Biggie recorded
during his brief stint at the label,
including a remix of Mary J Blige's "Real Love"
in August, 1992, that featured a guest verse
from the Notorious BIG.
In June 1993, the label released the Notorious BIG's
first single as a solo artist, "Party and Bullshit".
With the thrill of his first record appearing on MTV,
a shocking incident occurred when Tupac
was severely beaten in the head.
- Basically, I walked across the street, 17th and Broadway.
The police officer stopped me on the sidewalk
and asked to see my ID.
They sweating me about my name.
The officers said, "You have to learn your place."
They were charging me with jaywalking, so I was riffing,
arguing about why would they charge me
with such a petty crime.
So I kept yelling, asking them to give my citation
and let me go about my business.
Next thing I know, my face was being buried
into the concrete, and I was laying face down in the gutter,
waking up from being unconscious in cuffs,
with blood on my face,
and I'm going to jail resisting arrest.
That's harassment to me, that I have to be stopped
in the middle of the street and checked,
like we're in South Africa, and asked for my ID.
Officer Boyovich repeatedly slammed my face into the floor
while Rogers put the cuffs on me.
That's not called for, for jaywalking.
- [Narrator] He had a $10 million lawsuit,
which they said they would settle,
but Tupac said that nobody cared.
What people did care about was what blew up over the news.
They didn't see him being beaten up for jaywalking,
with his head and eye bloodied and bruised.
All they wanted to see were the images of him
coming out of jail in handcuffs.
It was a traumatic experience,
but a rite of passage for him.
Pac came from a family where police
had killed the people close to him.
After the Oakland police had beaten him, be changed.
He settled for $42,000 because he was tired
of being in court, knowing that he could
have gotten more money, but settling for it to be over.
Often complaining that he was misunderstood, Tupac remarked,
"Everything in life is not all beautiful.
There is lots of killing and drugs.
To me, a perfect album talks about the hard stuff,
and the fun and caring stuff.
It seems like a lot of the sensitive stuff
I write goes unnoticed." (soft thoughtful music)
That same year as he worked on music for his debut album,
Biggie Smalls met Tupac for the first time.
Their encounter detailed in Ben Westhoff's book,
"Original Gangsters", occurred at a party
held by an LA drug dealer.
They ate, drank and smoked together, and Tupac,
already a successful recording artist, gifted Biggie,
then unknown outside of New York, a bottle of Hennessy.
After that, Tupac mentored Biggie whenever the two met up.
At one point, Biggie even asked if Tupac
would become his manager.
"Nah, stay with Puff," Tupac said,
"he will make you a star."
Biggie was particularly concerned about money
around that time, because he became a father in August
to Tiana, his daughter, with high school sweetheart Jan.
It has been reported that Biggie went back to drug dealing
until Combs learned what he was up to and made him stop.
Life changed for Tupac when he auditioned for "Juice".
In the movie, Tupac plays the part of Bishop,
whom he describes as a psychopath,
but is also just a misguided, lonely young kid.
Tupac could relate to his character.
He said that he just let himself go during filming.
He stopped caring and worrying about what people thought.
In turn, he portrayed the character to a point
where he felt nothing was fake.
He took everything in his life and internalized it.
He said that the character of Juice helped him.
It allowed him to feel trust
and let him trust his instincts.
"Poetic Justice", the second film Tupac starred in,
was where he had to really act.
The character Lucky was caring, hardworking and responsible,
a complete reversal of his previous role as Bishop.
- Lucky is a responsible father, committed father,
trying to deal with some pain from the past,
and trying to get through daily survival
in South Central Los Angeles.
Anytime it's a role for a young Black man
that deals with pain, that's my role,
I'm made for that role.
So Lucky as well as the last role I did,
Bishop, they both fit me perfect.
- [Narrator] The Notorious BIG's debut album
came out on Bad Boy in September, 1994,
a month after "Juicy", his first single for the label.
The album "Ready to Die" was certified gold
within two months, double platinum the following year,
and eventually quadruple platinum.
"Big Poppa", the second of the album's four singles,
was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance.
♪ Keep banging ♪
♪ I love it when you call me Big Poppa ♪
♪ Throw your hands in the air ♪
♪ If you's a true player ♪
♪ I love it when you call me Big Poppa ♪
♪ To the honeys getting money ♪
♪ Playing niggas like dummies, uh ♪
♪ I love it when you call me Big Poppa ♪
♪ You got a gun up in your waist ♪
♪ Please don't shoot up the place ♪
♪ Why, 'cause I see some ladies tonight ♪
♪ That should be having my baby ♪
- [Narrator] "Ready to Die" marked a resurgence
in East Coast hiphop, and Biggie was widely acclaimed
for the narrative ability he displayed on the album's
semi-autobiographical tales from his wayward youth.
♪ Biggie Smalls, Junior MAFIA ♪
♪ Represent, baby, baby ♪
- [Narrator] Tupac's second album arrived in February, 1993.
It was a critical and commercial advance,
and a stark departure from the violence
found on his debut studio album.
The album produced Pac's first set of mainstream hits.
"Keep Ya Head Up" is considered
one of the best rap tracks of all time.
Grounded by a sample from the Five Stairstep's 1970 track
"Ooh Child", Tupac's sentimental remake,
"things are gonna get easier",
remains rap's hallmark ode to Black women.
♪ Keep ya head up ♪
♪ Ooh child, things are gonna get easier ♪
♪ Keep ya head up ♪
♪ Ooh child, things'll get brighter ♪
♪ Oh, keep ya head up ♪
♪ Ooh child, things are gonna get easier ♪
♪ Keep ya head up ♪
♪ Ooh child, they're gonna get brighter ♪
♪ Hey yo, I remember Marvin Gaye ♪
♪ Used to sing to me ♪
♪ He had me feeling like Black was the thing to be ♪
♪ And suddenly the ghetto didn't seem so tough ♪
♪ And though we had it ♪
- [Narrator] Many consider it one
of the most profound rap songs ever made.
It is often referenced by other artists in their work,
building Tupac's persona as a very influential rapper
with a social conscience.
- People love to, you know, have mercy and sympathy
for everything from the animals to the whales to fur,
to everything except us, your youth.
The ones who you give no attention to,
who become adults with no compassion, you know what I mean?
And I feel like if you walk by a street,
and you was walking on concrete and you saw a rose
growing outta concrete, even if it had messed-up petals,
and it was a little, you know, to the side,
you would marvel at just seeing
a rose grow through concrete.
So why is it that when you see some ghetto kid
grow outta all of the dirtiest circumstances,
and he can talk and he can sit across from you,
make you smile, make you cry, make you laugh,
all you can talk about is my dirty rose,
my dirty stems, and how I'm leaning crooked to the side.
You can't even see that I came up outta that.
- [Narrator] There was an underlying tension
between the rappers on the East and West Coast.
At the Tupac picnic in Watts, California,
Tupac was instrumental in getting rival members
of the Crips and Bloods gangs to sign the Code of THUG LIFE,
which detailed dos and don'ts
for being a righteous thug and man.
- T-H-U-G-L-I-F-E, the hate you gave little infants,
F-U-C-K everybody.
Meaning what you feed us as seeds,
grows and blows up in your face, that's THUG LIFE.
- Luck names like Tupac Shakur, Flavor Flav,
Snoop Doggy Dogg.
- [Reporter] Reverend Calvin Butts is leading a crusade
against violent rap from his pulpit in Harlem.
- We're not against rap, we're not against rappers,
but we are against those thugs.
- Yes I am gonna say that I'm a thug.
That's because I came from the gutter and I'm still here.
I'm not saying I'm a thug 'cause I wanna rob you
and rape people and things, I'm a businessman.
I mean, you know I'm a businessman
because you find me at my places of business.
You don't find me up in, you know what I'm saying?
I don't understand this.
- What do you think about-
- [Narrator] It was written by Tupac together
with his stepfather Mutulu Shakur,
and with the help of some original gangsters.
This code was his way of maintaining some control
within his devoted following,
who may have interpreted thug more literally.
- People that are not involved with the street gang,
with the drug trade or the illegal business at all.
You know, all that kidnapping and shooting drive-bys
out the car, we against that,
and people who perpetrate that, they have to deal
with the consequences when they go to jail,
'cause that's who's gonna enforce this code,
and the THUG LIFE that's on the street.
It's like we cleaning up the dirt.
I can't change what the dirt that's here,
but I can put all this dirt in one corner,
you know what I'm saying?
And somehow have some order here.
And for that they need to give me a little leg room,
you know what I'm saying?
Let me do what I wanna do,
because nobody else is gonna do it.
Nobody else wants to do it.
- [Narrator] Undeniably, words would often
get Tupac into trouble.
Lyrically he felt like he would and could not hold back
on what he wanted to say.
If he tried to police this free flow,
it would give him writer's block.
As he was young and still relatively new
in the media spotlight, he didn't always think
before he spoke in interviews.
One example is when Tupac appeared on TV
to explain his side of the story
as to why he was fired from a movie.
It all stemmed from when the Hughes brothers
took Tupac to court, after he assaulted them
during a music video shoot they were directing.
The show's host, Ed Lover, attempted to cover his mouth
so that Tupac did not dig an even deeper hole,
but it was too late.
- I beat up the directors to "Menace II Society".
Let me tell the whole world.
- [Ed] All right, tell them how you did what you had to do.
- These chunk punk slump, you know what I'm saying?
- [Crew] Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
- You'll have a chance to come here and rebuttal today.
- No they won't, they better come now.
Check this out, they fired me but did it
in a roundabout punk snitch way.
So I caught them on the streets and beat their behinds.
You know what I'm saying? - Okay, goodbye.
- I was a menace to the Hughes brothers.
- Let's go to commercial. - And it ain't over.
I still got more for you chumps.
- Okay, let's go. - I read what you
said about me. - Let's go.
- I'm gonna kick their ass. - Let's go.
- [Narrator] The Hughes brothers used the MTV footage
in court to help get Tupac convicted of assault.
He served 15 days in jail.
The trouble didn't stop there.
Tupac and three other men were charged in New York
with sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room.
- [Interviewer] Hi Tupac, how you doing?
Can you tell me how you're doing today?
- Well, I just had to listen to the prosecution's
closing argument, and it was just so far from the truth
that it really just has me drained at the end of the day.
But I'm leaving it in the hands of the jury.
I'm learning a lot about people's innermost fears
in this trial because as far,
it's not even about my trial no more.
It's just about loud rap music, tattoo-having thugs.
It's not even about me no more.
It's about, you know, some nightmare
that these people are having.
- [Interviewer] She's talking about THUG LIFE and all that,
trying to- - Yeah, she's like,
"He's definitely guilty.
Anybody with THUG LIFE tattooed on their stomach is guilty."
What type of reasoning is that, you know what I'm saying?
We got different backgrounds.
We come from two different places.
Just because I look different than her
doesn't mean that I'm a sodomizer or a raper.
They've said it in the,
I can't understand why it's disclosed.
They talking about, there's no evidence
that I ever sodomized her,
even though you put that all over the paper.
And every time they take a quote out of this courtroom,
they take a quote from outta her mouth, which is,
you know, the stuff to put me in jail.
It's nothing that's been true.
I just want, print the facts so everybody can sort it out.
My life is ruined because nobody
has a chance to get the facts.
- [Interviewer] And the facts is that there was
no semen found. - No semen found,
no forcible entry, no entry into the anal.
No nothing, none of that, you know?
- [Interviewer] No fingerprints on the gun.
- No fingerprints on the guns, you know what I'm saying?
The only time ever there was an act of sodomy,
she admitted she did it to me.
I should be, you know, putting charges on this girl
sodomizing me on the floor of a dance club.
Why am I in court, you know what I'm saying?
Get my life ripped apart.
But I'm here, I'm gonna go through it just to show
that I have faith in the American system.
But for me to have faith in the American system,
these juries and everybody else has to,
you know what I'm saying?
Play the same role and to keep an open mind.
I'm already convicted.
My whole life has been turned around, lost every job,
I lost everything, every opportunity.
I can't buy cars, can't get rent, can't get none of that.
But I'm still a survivor, you know.
I'm still coming to court, still smiling,
still signing autographs.
But soon I'm gonna go crazy, you know what I'm saying?
And it's up to the world, you know?
America eats its babies.
We, no matter what y'all think about me,
I'm still your child, you know what I'm saying?
You can't just turn me off like that.
- How old are you, 23? - 23.
- [Interviewer] So you feel that your career is-
- But what am I, yeah it is.
Why would I own a gun?
I've registered guns, you know what I'm saying?
I'm a legal owner of guns-
- In California. - All in California.
So I came to New York,
I wanted to be an illegal gun runner now.
You know, that's what they want you to believe.
I wanna start erasing, why?
Come on man, every, this is all about my image.
This has nothing to do with me, this is all about my image.
It's like MTV, all the papers they're building me up,
now they destroying me on the same image
that they perpetuated, you know what I'm saying?
I'm selling records, this is what I do for a living.
I'm selling records.
Don't get it twisted, this is not my real life.
This is not how my real life is supposed to be.
I'm not supposed to be really having
all these villains in my life.
- [Narrator] He was released on $50,000 bail,
but on the night of November 30th, 1994,
the day before the verdict in the trial was to be announced,
Tupac was shot five times, twice in the head,
twice in the groin area, and the most severe wound,
a gunshot through his hand hitting an artery in his thigh.
- [Reporter] Shakur was apparently attacked by robbers
as he and three other men arrived
in a New York City recording studio early this morning.
A man identified as Shakur's manager was also wounded.
Shakur and his road manager are currently on trial
on sex abuse charges.
- [Narrator] Checking himself out of Bellevue Hospital
against doctors' orders, Tupac claimed
he did not feel safe there, it was his time to leave.
Unsolicited phone calls fueled his paranoia
and he couldn't sleep.
Tupac felt like a prisoner to fame,
and even said he wanted to die at this point.
- [Reporter] Shakur was found guilty of sexually abusing
a woman last November in a New York hotel room.
The jury acquitted him of more serious charges,
sodomy and illegal carrying a weapon.
Shakur, who was shot five times Wednesday
during an apparent robbery attempt,
was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read.
- [Narrator] He was attacked while entering the lobby
of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan,
and robbed by two armed men in army fatigues.
He would later accuse fellow recording artists Sean Combs,
Andre Harrell and Biggie Smalls,
whom he saw after the shooting, of setting him up.
Also suspected of being involved in the attack
was his close friend and associate, Randy Stretch Walker.
In his defense, Biggie said they were
in the recording studio, and did not know
Tupac would be there.
Once they heard he was downstairs,
Lil' Cease went to get him,
but returned with news that he had been shot.
When Biggie's entourage went downstairs to investigate,
Tupac was being taken out on a stretcher,
still conscious and giving the finger to those around.
He survived the attack but believed Biggie
might have something to do with it,
even though they did make it downstairs
to see him after the incident.
Tupac said the crew looked surprised and guilty,
but Puffy claimed they showed him
nothing but loving concern.
- I'm not guilty.
People should look me in my eyes.
They should look me in my eyes.
Anybody thinks I've committed that rape
should go get "Brenda's Got a Baby" and "Keep Ya Head Up",
and listen to them thoroughly.
I have no patience for anybody that doubts me, none at all.
It's too hard out here, you know what I'm saying?
If my people don't stand up for me, who is?
I understand these white folks looking at me like that,
'cause they don't know me.
They didn't hear "Keep Ya Head Up".
That ain't no fluke.
You know, "Keep Ya Head Up" ain't no damn come up.
I didn't do that for to be smiling in my face,
to say, "Oh, he's cool."
I did that for my art, so that they do try
to put a rape charge on me, my sisters could say,
"He ain't about that."
Now if my sisters can't say that,
he won't hear another "Keep Ya Head Up" outta my mouth.
- [Narrator] Drawing lyrical inspiration
from the impending prison sentence,
poverty and troubles with the police,
"Me Against the World" is described
as Tupac's most introspective album, his magnum opus.
The albums hit the shelves while he was still in prison.
It helped shift his image from that of a gangster rapper
to more of a gangster poet.
On "Dear Mama", Tupac empathizes
with his mother's difficulties raising him.
He details his childhood poverty
and his mother's addiction to crack cocaine,
but argues that his love and deep respect
for his mother supersedes bad memories.
In 1990, realizing her habit was out of control,
she enrolled in a 12-step program
at a drug and alcohol treatment center,
and reconciled with her son who was at this point
a successful recording artist.
The "Dear Mama" video features an appearance from Afeni.
She reenacts her reconciliation with a lookalike of her son,
as Tupac himself was serving
his prison sentence at the time.
While in prison, his album quickly climbed the charts,
and the video struck a chord with many.
♪ And even as a crack fiend, Mama ♪
♪ You always was a black queen, Mama ♪
♪ I finally understand ♪
♪ For a woman it ain't easy trying to raise a man ♪
♪ You always was committed ♪
♪ A poor single mother on welfare ♪
♪ Tell me how you did it ♪
♪ There's no way I can pay you back ♪
♪ But the plan is to show you that I understand ♪
♪ You are appreciated ♪
♪ Lady, don't you know we love you ♪
♪ Sweet lady, dear Mama ♪
♪ Place no one above you ♪
♪ Sweet lady, you are appreciated ♪
♪ Don't you know we love you ♪
- [Narrator] With a $1.4 million bond
posted by Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records,
in October, 1995 after 11 months,
Tupac was released from Clinton Correctional Facility.
Freedom brought creativity and within two weeks
he had recorded 24 tracks, saying that it was the best way
to vent, instead of paying some psychotherapist 50 million.
"California Love" was released as Tupac's comeback single.
It was one of his most widely known
and most successful singles, reaching number one
on the Billboard hot 100 for two weeks.
His release from prison seemed
almost like a rebirth for Tupac's creativity.
Up to that point, he'd mostly been an insular artist,
with ideas and thoughts aimed in specific directions.
"California Love" gave him the stellar widescreen treatment
that the Notorious BIG would get later.
It was just a glimpse of what he might achieve
as a rap superstar.
♪ Out on bail, fresh out of jail, California dreaming ♪
♪ Soon as I step on the scene ♪
♪ I'm hearing hoochies screaming ♪
♪ Fiending for money and alcohol ♪
♪ The life of a Westside player ♪
♪ Where cowards die and the strong ball ♪
♪ Only in Cali where we riot not rally, to live and die ♪
♪ In LA we wearing Chucks, not Ballys, that's right on ♪
♪ Dressed in Locs and Khaki suits, and ride is what we do ♪
♪ Flossing but have caution, we collide with other crews ♪
♪ Famous because we throw grams ♪
♪ Worldwide, let them recognize ♪
♪ From Long Beach to Rosecrans ♪
♪ Bumping and grinding like a slow jam ♪
♪ It's Westside, so you know the Row ♪
♪ Won't bow down to no man ♪
- [Narrator] With Suge Knight of Death Row Records
being one of the most powerful, feared men
in the music industry, and a central figure
in gangster rap's catapult to massive commercialization,
Tupac's new contract wasn't just about music,
it also marked his acceptance into Suge's powerful group,
known to have strong gang affiliation.
♪ That's what they're all about ♪
- [Narrator] West Coast/East Coast rivalry was gearing up
just as Tupac was released from jail.
The East Coast was Bad Boy and the West was Death Row.
As with everything, business profit
in terms of sales matter, and so the popularity
of the artists and how many records they sold were key.
New York City was the birthplace of hiphop,
and artists from LA felt they weren't given
the same media coverage and public attention
as those on the East Coast.
But for Tupac it was more personal than this.
Being from the East Coast, Tupac's allegiance was there,
and he was not pleased with East Coast rappers
like Diddy and Biggie wanting to dirty up
everything he had worked for, so he turned up the heat
with music videos satiring the ongoing feud.
Now he was involved with Suge Knight and Death Row,
and the situation became a completely other thing,
a war with blood split and threats made.
It started at the Source Awards in New York.
Knight flew in many people from Death Row.
They got booed when they were coming up for their awards.
Suge Knight's famous remarks that night
became the first real shots in a deadly battle.
- Like I tell Tupac, keep his guards up, we ride with him.
(audience shouting)
And one other thing I like to say,
any artist out there wanna be an artist
and wanna stay a star, and won't have to worry
about the executive producers
trying to be all in the video, all over the record,
dancing, come to Death Row. (audience booing)
- [Narrator] In a provocative move, Tupac made a song
with Faith Evans, Biggie's wife.
Shortly after he wrote the song, "Hit 'Em Up",
a classic battle record.
It played a major role in exacerbating
the East Coast/West Coast hiphop rivalry.
Following its release, the East Coast rappers
who were insulted by the song
responded through their own tracks.
As said by longtime collaborator Johnny J,
"The ferocity of Tupac's raging vocals
was entirely authentic," explaining that
it was initially fueled by his anger
against Biggie and Bad Boy Records.
♪ I ain't got no motherfucking friends ♪
♪ That's why I fucked your bitch, you fat motherfucker ♪
♪ Take money, West Side, Bad Boy, take money ♪
♪ You know who the realest is ♪
♪ Niggas, we bring it too, take money ♪
♪ That's right, take money ♪
♪ First I'll fuck your bitch and the clique you claim ♪
♪ Westside when we ride come equipped with game ♪
♪ You claim to be a player but I fucked your wife ♪
♪ We bust on Bad Boys niggas fucked for life ♪
♪ Plus Puffy trying to see me, weak hearts I rip ♪
♪ Biggie Smalls and Junior MAFIA some mark-ass bitches ♪
♪ We keep on coming while we're running for your jewels ♪
♪ Steady gunning, keep on busting at them fools ♪
♪ You know the rules ♪
- [Narrator] Biggie began working on his second studio album
in September, 1995, and continued into the following year,
but there would be more trouble.
In March, 1996, he was arrested after chasing
two autograph hunters with a baseball bat in Manhattan,
threatening to kill them.
He was sentenced to a hundred hours of community service.
Months later, police raided his house in New Jersey
and found 50 grams of marijuana and four automatic weapons.
That same summer, he was charged with beating and robbing
a friend of a concert promoter at a New Jersey nightclub.
And then in the fall he was arrested again,
this time for smoking marijuana in his car in Brooklyn.
The war of words rivalry took a deadly turn
on September 7th, 1996.
The MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas was the venue
for a Mike Tyson boxing match Tupac was watching.
On the way out in the casino lobby,
Tupac and his bodyguards got into a fight
with Orlando Anderson, a member of the New York Crips,
which would have deadly repercussions.
- Prior to the day that Tupac was shot
on September the 7th, I arrived in Las Vegas
September the 6th, the day before.
That day we were told not to bring our weapons
into the club after the fight.
Not to have our weapons on our person,
to either leave them in our hotel room
or to leave them in our vehicles.
- [Interviewer] Has there ever been a situation
where you were told to leave your weapon prior to this?
- We were never told prior to September the 7th
to leave our weapons anywhere, other than the fact,
if we were going out of the state of California by airplane
to a video shoot or on tour, we knew common sensely,
we couldn't carry a weapon on the airplane.
So more than likely we would've left
our weapons at that time.
But we were never told, there was never a meeting held
specifically to tell us to leave our weapons, period.
The fight was boom, boom, boom, boom, the fight was over.
After the fight, Tupac's and Suge's thing
was to go to the back where, you know, Mike's dressing room.
So we went backstage.
We go backstage, and we're waiting on Tyson
to come back there, and Pac's back there,
and he's all excited.
You know, his boy just knocked out Seldon, you know.
"50 blows, 50 blows, you just hit 50 times.
You count 'em, you count 'em?"
So you know, I'm back there with him and everything
and Suge is back there.
So sugar says something to Pac,
and then the next thing I know, we're leaving.
Tyson didn't even make it out the arena to come down.
Everyone shows up and one of the homeboys,
one of Suge's homeboys, name is Travon, he comes over
and he whispers something in Pac's right ear,
'cause I'm on his left.
He whispers something, next thing I know,
Tupac takes off running.
He took off running and I went off running behind him,
and when he turned the corner,
there was this guy standing there,
little did I know who he was.
He ran up to him and he swung, (mimics punching)
and then the guy swung back, and then Pac weaved,
and then Pac swung again.
And at this time there was like three or four blows thrown.
Tupac had this medallion on that he had recently purchased,
and it broke.
When it broke, he went down to pick it up.
When he went down to pick it up, I grabbed him.
When I grabbed him, I threw him against the wall.
So I had him out of the fight.
At this time everyone else is running up,
as clearly the MGM footage shows.
The guy's Orlando Anderson, now that we know who he is.
They're into this brawl, and I have Tupac
against the wall now at this point.
The fight ended, we had to get out of there.
Little did I know, earlier when they had left me,
I had already walked all through the MGM.
So everybody's taking off going in the wrong direction.
I go, "No Suge, Suge, this way, this way," right?
And then he's like, "No, this way."
I go, "Suge, I was just here all day, this way."
So they followed, and we followed, we got our way out
and we took off and walked back over to the Luxor.
You get back over to the Luxor, Suge said,
"Hey, I'm gonna go up and change.
Pac said, "Hey, I'm gonna go up and change."
We'll meet back out in the valet."
"All right, cool."
We're down in the, at this time we left his room.
We're down in the valet park and we're waiting on Suge.
Suge shows up.
While we're down in the valet, all of the hoochies,
all of the groupies, everybody that knew Tupac and Suge was,
"Suge, can we go to the club Suge?
Pac, can we go?"
Suge said, "Let's go."
He and Pac was walking to Suge's BMW, I'm walking with them.
When we get to the car,
Pac turned to me and goes, "Yo Frank."
He pulled the keys out, he handed me the keys.
He goes, "Drive the little homies,
because we're gonna be drinking tonight
and you'll be able to drive us back."
So I was like, "What car you want me to drive?"
He goes, "Drive Kidada's car."
And I didn't even know where the car was.
I go, "Where is it?"
He goes, "It's right there."
He goes, "The homies'll show you where it's at."
So I was like, "All right."
So Suge gets in his car, he and Pac,
and the entourage is starting to form now.
Suge takes off, I'm right behind him.
I'm the bodyguard on point.
Theoretically and honestly, there should have been
three or four more bodyguards with us that particular time,
going from there, going to Suge's house,
and going back to the the club
that night for the after party.
Later on I found out that with security, that there,
it was 22, about 20 to 22 security personnel for this night.
Everyone was called to Club 662 to set up the security
and get the people rolling in over there.
So all of the security was there.
Michael Moore, who was with me earlier that evening,
supposedly had met us at the MGM.
His story to me was, Al Giddens,
who was the supervisor now for security at this point.
Al Giddens told Michael Moore to, "Fuck that.
You go and come to the club."
And he was like, "Well Tupac told me
to come over to the MGM."
And he was like, "No, we need you over here.
You get over here."
So Mike went over to the club.
So I was the only one left with Pac.
Keep in mind, my weapon was in my car.
I didn't have a phone, I had no way of communication.
Reggie was also over at the club.
Reggie normally is Suge's bodyguard,
and Reggie is always with Suge.
That night, why he wasn't with Suge, only Reggie knows that.
(soft expectant music) (car zooming)
At this time everyone in the car, not just me,
looked at the gas and was like,
"Yo Frank, we're gonna run outta gas."
I was like, "What y'all want me to do,
pull over and get gas?"
I go, "You know if we pull over, we lost them," right?
So I said, "I can't pull over.
I might as well take the chance and run outta gas," right?
Thinking we're just gonna go to Suge's,
and from Suge's back to the club.
But the light had been on forever at this point,
on the gas light.
- [Interviewer] How long were you all, were at Suge's house?
- We were, when we got to Suge's house,
we were at Suge's house probably a good 30 minutes.
Suge went in, he changed clothes, you know,
they were all just BS-ing a little bit.
When Suge finally came out, hopped in his car,
we came through the security guard
that guards the homes going into Suge's place,
there had to been 20, 30 cars out on the road
just waiting for us to come out, to follow us.
We leave outta Suge's, again we're flying,
70, 80 miles an hour going back toward Las Vegas Strip.
We get back on the Strip at this point,
and why the car didn't run outta gas is a miracle
right now to me, because it should have.
We get back on the Strip.
We're proceeding to go down the Strip.
It's a fight night, the fight's over.
The Strip is jam packed, crowded.
We're probably about in front of the Excalibur hotel,
which is right by Tropicana on the Las Vegas Strip.
Tupac and Suge was in the car in front of me,
and their music was playing pretty loud,
'cause we could hear it.
And there was bicycle cops, a couple bicycle cops pulled up
and one of them went over to Suge's side and asked him,
I guess to turn down the music, I'm assuming.
And then the next thing I know, Suge opens the door,
steps outta the car.
He and the cop walks to the back of the car,
and he opens up the trunk.
The car was brand new,
didn't have a license plate on it.
So he looked in the trunk and well,
I'm just sitting there and I'm thinking,
"Oh shit, I hope they don't get popped."
He let them go, so now we're still in gridlock traffic.
So we, you know, proceed to go down the Strip.
We're going down the Strip, Pac and Suge are up there,
doing their thing, talking.
Myself and Outlawz, we're in there,
you know, listening to their music.
We get to Flamingo off of Las Vegas Strip.
We gotta turn right.
We make a right off of the Strip.
The next light is Koval.
Little did we know that anything was about to happen.
(soft foreboding music)
We pull up to the light.
I am the second car, actually I'm the third car.
One of Suge's homeboys was in front of Suge,
which never, ever, ever happened
with anyone being in front of Suge.
Then another one of his homeboys, Travon,
was to the left of Suge,
which would've been to his side of the car.
So you got Travon to the left,
you have K-Dove in the front, and you have me in the back,
and we're sitting at this light.
September, it's hot, sticky,
and we're all just sitting there,
pretty much just vegging out,
waiting on the light to change.
Then all of a sudden I noticed this white Cadillac.
Cadillac pulls up and it was not like a thought of mine
that something was about to happen,
because in the entourages we're proceeding
to go to Club 662.
People are, I mean, women are like,
"Yo Pac, Pac, Suge, Suge."
And, "Can we go, can we go?"
You know, groupies and things like that.
So it was not anything out of the ordinary
for this car to be pulling up,
thinking that something's gonna happen.
And as soon as the car pulled up, my head turned back
and I'm looking, and I'm watching the car.
Malcolm, who is sitting in the seat behind Yak Fula.
Yak Fula was in a passenger seat with me up in the front,
and K, was K Castro, was directly behind me.
Before the Cadillac pulled up, we were all just vegging,
they're looking out toward the right.
Cadillac pulls up, we notice it,
and then all of a sudden this arm comes out,
and the arm comes out,
and it just started firing immediately.
And I'm like, "Oh my God."
And all you see, and all you hear.
(soft poignant music)
(siren wailing)
They had Suge out of the vehicle on the ground,
and as I was approaching him,
the blood was shooting up out of his head.
So I'm yelling, "Let him up, let him up.
He's with us, he's part of the entourage."
And when they let him up,
Tupac is still sitting in the passenger seat,
the door's still closed.
So Suge says, "I could do it, I could do it.
It's my car, I'll open it."
The door was actually stuck.
So Suge got over there, opened the door,
and we pulled Pac out of the car.
When we pulled him outta the car,
we lied him down on the side of the car,
and I'm kneeling down at this time,
and I'm talking to him like, "Pac man, Pac, Pac."
And he's like (panting), he's trying to breathe.
And then he goes, "(panting) I can't breathe."
(soft poignant music)
- [Narrator] Las Vegas police never arrested anyone
in connection with the cold-blooded murder,
even failing to follow up with Yaki Kadafi,
a member of Tupac's entourage who was there that evening
and claimed he could identify the assailant.
It seems too much of a coincidence that two months later,
Kadafi was murdered before he could
give his damning statement.
One theory comes from Russell Poole,
a former LAPD detective.
He believes that Suge Knight set up Tupac's murder.
This might seem unlikely, considering Knight
was hit in the shooting, but Detective Poole
thinks he had his own motives for the contract killing.
Apparently Knight owed Tupac a lot of money.
Some accounts point up to $10 million.
Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, backs up the theory
as she sued Death Row Records in 1997
for mishandling her son's funds,
and withholding millions of dollars from Tupac.
Seemingly more proof for this theory comes by way
of the fact that Tupac intended to leave Death Row Records,
firing his lawyer at the time, David Kenner,
who in addition to being Suge Knight's lawyer,
also wrote up Tupac's agreement with Death Row Records.
A week after the lawyer was fired,
Knight invited Tupac to the fateful boxing match.
- I saw no reason why anyone would sit in a vehicle
or next to anyone, that they would put a hit on someone
and be sitting next to them with the bullets flying
all through the car like it did that night.
Suge was a target as well as Tupac was.
I stick by that, I said that in my book.
Why would I have put in "Rolling Stone" magazine,
or with this Detective Poole,
as he said, I said these things.
Why would've I told him these things
when I didn't even put it in my own book?
It would've gone in my book
before it would go in "Rolling Stone" magazine.
I'm shocked at "Rolling Stone" magazine
would even print something like that
without checking a secondary source.
They could have gotten ahold of me through my publisher.
I never said that Suge Knight
was one of the shrewdest gangsters.
Suge personally never did anything to me.
He treated security very well, as I've stated before.
There was no beef with anyone in security with Suge Knight.
- [Interviewer] Do you have a idea why Tupac was killed?
- No, I don't. (soft somber music)
- [Narrator] In Orlando Anderson's initial testimony,
he said that Suge Knight was part of the brawl
in the lobby, but then later changed his story
to say that Suge had tried to stop the fight stating,
"I see him pulling people off of me."
One theory is that Anderson changed his story
because of a payoff by Knight himself.
The detective also claimed that the bullet wound
Knight received that night was never verified
by the hospital, eyewitnesses, or the police.
However, this finding conveniently contradicts
the 2014 Las Vegas report by Chris Carroll,
who insisted that Knight's head was gushing blood,
and he had clearly been hit in the head.
Carroll emphasized in his report 18 years later
that Knight expressed legitimate concern,
and believed it wasn't acting.
Greg Kading proposed a different story.
A former LAPD detective assigned to the case
in 2006, 10 years after the event.
Sean Combs, AKA P. Diddy,
the CEO of East Coast Bad Boy Records,
was whom he held responsible
for orchestrating Tupac's death.
Detective Kading met with Crips' gang member Keith Davis,
to confess on tape that P. Diddy paid him $1 million
to carry out the murder of Tupac and Suge Knight.
(uneasy ambient music)
He also said that Orlando Anderson,
who was in fact Davis's nephew,
was the one who pulled the trigger.
He also admitted to being in Anderson's car
at the time of the murder.
To quote Davis, "Orlando rolled down the window
and popped him, if they would have driven on my side,
I would've popped him."
Davis said that the motive for Diddy was fear and paranoia
that Suge Knight would strike first.
He also said that Tupac was only included in the hit
because P. Diddy was furious
about his diss track, "Hit 'Em Up".
Because of the shooting in 1994 and the aftermath,
Tupac repeatedly stated that he suspected Diddy
to be the perpetrator of the incident.
(soft somber music)
In 2011, Dexter Isaac, who was serving life in prison,
confessed that a P. Diddy associate hired him
to rob Tupac that night.
P. Diddy has repeatedly denied the claim stating,
"This story is pure fiction and completely ridiculous."
Another theory comes from Chuck Phillips,
a former "LA Times" journalist.
He believed that Orlando Anderson,
Biggie Smalls and the Southside Crips gang
were responsible for the murder.
The "LA Times" investigated the murder for over a year,
and came up with the following findings.
The Crips retaliated against the beating of Anderson
by shooting Tupac, Anderson was the shooter.
Biggie Smalls paid $1 million
for the supplied gun and murder of Tupac.
Biggie's motive for wanting Tupac dead?
His year-long feud was well documented.
His claim in "Hit 'Em Up" that he had slept
with Faith Evans, Biggie's wife, was reason enough.
According to the investigative journalist,
Biggie nor anyone who was affiliated with him
was not questioned by the police.
On March 9th, 1997, less than six months
after Tupac's murder, Biggie was shot and killed.
Biggie was leaving a party in Los Angeles
after the Soul Train Awards.
He was sitting in an SUV when another vehicle
pulled up next to his and shot him.
The shooter who fired at Biggie at least five times,
fled the scene.
Biggie died later that night, he was 24 years old.
A spokesperson for the LAPD
told "Business Insider" of Biggie's murder.
The case is still open.
As long as a case has not been solved, it remains open.
There are theories that Suge Knight could have had
something to do with either death.
People believe he wanted Tupac dead
so he wouldn't switch record labels,
or that he had Biggie killed out of revenge
for Tupac's murder, or that he had Biggie killed
to distract investigators from pointing the blame
for Tupac's death in his direction.
LAPD officer Russell Poole, who was a lead investigator
on Biggie's murder, once again accused other LAPD officers
of having connections to Death Row Records and Suge Knight,
who he thought planned Biggie's murder.
Poole believed that Knight had Biggie murdered
as revenge for Tupac's death.
He was ordered to stop his investigation on the case,
and retired in 1999.
Poole died of a heart attack in August, 2015,
while he was discussing the case
with LA County Sheriff homicide detectives.
At the time, he was working on a book about the murders.
According to a retired LAPD detective,
Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace,
believes that Puff Daddy and Suge Knight
are responsible for her son's murder.
Voletta Wallace told the "Daily Mail"
that the murder of her son, "Hurts me every single day,"
and that she has a very good idea about who killed him.
"They've done their investigation,
but they just refuse to move forward," she said.
"I don't know why they haven't arrested who was involved.
It seems to me that it's one giant conspiracy,
and someone is definitely being protected
somewhere down the line."
The cases remain unsolved.
With most of the major players now either dead
or serving lengthy prison sentences,
it seems unlikely that the actual circumstances
of Tupac or Biggie's murder will ever
be conclusively proved in court,
but it won't stop people from looking for answers.
(soft uneasy music)
Biggie's shocking fate spelt the end
of the East Coast/West Coast rap feud.
Two of the greatest rappers to ever pick up a microphone
were dead and gone.
Hiphop's reputation had been dragged through the gutter.
Nobody had any appetite for more.
(soft thoughtful music)
Tupac and Biggie endure as two
of hip hop's most iconic figures and most potent enigmas.
No other artists better illuminate hiphop's fault lines
between regional pride and mainstream success,
and the struggle to transcend
and elevate beyond humble origins,
while honoring the streets that raised them.
(soft thoughtful music)
(mellow hiphop beat music)