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This isn't "news" to anyone who's been into Hip-Hop since the 90's. Before 2Pac was killed, he often talked about the One Nation project. Rolling Stone magazine, only keeping one toe in the world of Hip-Hop just published an article on it because of a letter that was found. Here's the link to the article, which has a picture of 2Pac's hand written letter: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tupac-outkast-album-newly-unearthed-letter-reveals-planned-collaboration-20150206

Tupac Shakur's Foundation Is Gifting Us With New Music Soon Stacy-Ann Ellis Posted November 10, 2014 Even many years after his passing Tupac and his camp are making an impact on society. The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, founded in 1997 by his mom Afeni Shakur, is promising new tunes in the name of charity. Before you start thinking along the lines of an all-Pac-everything album, the promised new single—which will be available on 2pac.com for $.99—primarily features several hip hop stars and all sale proceeds will benefit the maintenance of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Kamil “Muszamil” Beale and Dame Grease are working with the foundation to not only push the single, but create a bonus mixtape with guest rappers for fans that download the song. Source: http://www.vibe.com/article/tupac-shakur-foundation-mixtape-fundraiser-2014?utm_source=sc-fb&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=Tupac

http://ambrosiaforheads.com/2014/08/tupac-explains-why-all-eyez-on-me-was-so-different-from-his-other-albums-audio/ August 14, 2014 | Published By 34 Tupac Explains Why All Eyez on Me Was So Different From His Other Albums A week removed from the artist’s return from prison in 1995, L.A. Times journalist Chuck Philips sat down with Tupac Shakur to talk about the making of his album All Eyez On Me and the societal implications of his music in between listening sessions at the studio. From the day he was released from prison, Tupac hit the studio to begin recording the classic album that recently hit 10 million in sales earlier this month. “I been in the studio since the day after I got out,” he said. “I got out Thursday, I been in here since Friday. About twelve hours a day. Up until they kick me out. It be dark and everybody gotta go to sleep, people be passing out, so I’m like, ‘Okay, I guess we gotta go home now.’ So then we go home, come back early in the morning, and do it again. I think we broke a record this time for any recording. I’m trying to do my album in less than a week so I can call my album 7 Days. But if I change the title I might do a couple more songs.” For Tupac, it wasn’t just about releasing new material. There were people who discredited his name, his music, and his lifestyle inside and outside of the media. With the firm belief that the messages behind his music were being relatively unnoticed and under appreciated, Tupac began creating an album for the ages to set the critics straight. When asked about the “sermon” style lyricism he buried in his previous material, Tupac explained his new approach to his music and what the “perfect album” means to him. “I’m not doing it no more cause I’m going unnoticed. Now I’m just gunna put out an album full of just, anger. Cause before that’s all they were saying. When I want you to cry, you gon’ cry. When I want you to feel sorry for this person, you going to feel sorry for that person. When I want you to feel, you know, we’re having fun. I want you to feel like you’re really, really having fun when you’re listening to the music. So, at the same token, life is not just beautiful. It’s not just having fun. It’s not all killing and drugs though. I’m not going to front. But, it’s not all fun. So the perfect album to me is when you talk about the hard ****, the sexy ****, the fun ****, the sad ****, the hurting ****. Know what I mean? And I feel like I have all that on all of my albums. This album right here, it’s not too many sympathetic songs cause I’m not caring. I’m mad, cause I’m like, all the critics all y’all talked about was **** that wasn’t on my album, so I figured I don’t even have to write that no more I can write whatever I want now. I thought I was being politically correct when I wrote my ****. But, um, now I don’t care. My **** is very un- PC. Maybe, you know what, just sitting here talking to you Chuck, I might call my ****, NC-17, no children under 17. Maybe they won’t get mad at me. What you think I should do?” Tupac also described the differences between his material before All Eyez On Me and after: “This album is a reaction to the backlash from C. Delores Tucker, Bob Dole, all those people that kept sweating me about the music,” he said. “Now, I feel as though this album is something for them to sweat. Before my album wasn’t even bad and they was calling me a gangster and just messing up my whole credit line and ruining my reputation. Look at my songs. On the first album, ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby.’ On the second album, ‘Keep Ya Head Up.’ On the third album, ‘Dear Mama.’ Where is the killer music? Where is the make-a-kid-wanna-jump-off-a-bridge ****? I just don’t see it. So now, this album, I didn’t try to make any ‘Dear Mama’s,’ any ‘Keep Ya Head Up’s,’ I just came straight with dealing with my own anger. I’m doing this just for what the music is [to vent] my anger. Getting everything I wanna say out since I can’t express myself in any other way. Plus I was locked down for eleven months so I gotta lot of stress and pressure to get up off my chest. I think I did it on this album. That’s why I stayed in the studio…I wrote only one song in jail. Everything else I wrote while we sat up in here drinking Budweiser. After the Budweiser is gone we have a song usually. With Daz, Johnny J, and I’m about to do one with Sam Sneed right now.” When asked for his own opinions about his music, Tupac described his real life approach to his sound, the implications of his personal actions, and the public’s own reaction to his music and personal life. “I think my music is good music,” he said. “I think the **** that I say, no one else says. Who was writing about Black women before ‘Keep Ya Head Up?’ Now everybody got a song about Black women. Who was writing about that when I was writing about that? Who was writing about their own problems? I wasn’t talking [blah blah blah], I was talking my real problems. I was really having problems with police. I was really having problems with life and just being Black and why the hell we gotta get stepped on so much? But then I’m making it, I thought I was successful when I’m still getting stepped on. How come I got a boot-print on my back and I’m successful? I just couldn’t believe that. So instead of me just bugging out and doing a post office move and just shooting everything up and going to jail for a million years, I just said, ‘**** it. I’m in here rapping. Why not just rap about some **** that’s really happening?’ That’s what I did. That’s when they started really kicking my ass for real. The IRS, every cop everywhere, any kind of candidate wanna come. It was to the point I was having cases everywhere I went. People just bump into me and be like, ‘Tupac hit me.’ It was getting retarded. Then you got the Vice President on TV saying your **** ain’t no good so of course it makes people think, ‘Oh my God, he’s a true menace.’ Then the newspaper going, ‘Oh, Tupac spit at the cameras,’ I’m spitting at the cameras because everybody—I’m not gonna do that no more, let me just say that, I changed—but I bet you everybody who hasn’t been in that position where you’re in your private life, you’re getting in your own car, you’re not at no premiere nowhere, and it’s fifty cameras there shoving there way into your car, you wanna hit…There’s a camera right here and I didn’t ask for it to be there and that’s my own personal space.” Tupac was eventually released from prison after Suge Knight and Jimmy Iovine posted his 1.4 million dollar bail so that he could begin recording the multi-platinum project, in addition to an agreement that he would record a grand total of three albums with Death Row Records. As the ink was drying from his recent signing, Tupac candidly revealed why he agreed to the contract. “There wasn’t nowhere else to go, no one else wanted to take me but the Row,” Tupac admitted that his upcoming double LP, like it or not, would be exactly the type of “trouble” that his naysayers were expecting. “They gon’ feel all eleven months of what I went through in this album,” he said. “I’m gonna hit’em with nothing but trouble, but good trouble. Trouble that bring money don’t bring pain. All I’m doing is talking ****, and I should be allowed to talk as much **** as I want.”

This is dope. Even if you aren't a huge 2Pac fan, this is worth listening to. It's 2Pac, just months before All Eyes On Me came out. The vision he has for the community and cleaning up violence is insane. His connection with the Hip-Hop community, the neighborhoods, and the church is pretty amazing. The connection with some of his legal troubles is pretty crazy too. People just wanted to stop this man, and they succeeded. Author Saniyka Shakur talks a bit more than necessary, but this is still great. Check it. http://thesource.com/2014/06/08/never-heard-conversation-between-2pac-saniyka-shakur-reveals-incredible-details-of-his-life/ Never Heard Conversation Between Tupac & Saniyka Shakur Reveals Incredible Details Of 2pac’s Life spencer | June 8, 2014 | 0 Comments Almost Too Real A conversation from 1995 between Saniyka Shakur (better known at Monstr Kody) and Tupac Shakur (not blood relatives) has recently been unearthed for your listening pleasure. The 22 minute audio is nothing short of incredible, containing a platitude of incredibly interesting topics that Pac candidly and (then) privately spoke on. According to Saniyka Shakur, who is the author of the book “Monster: Autobiography of an LA Gang Member” the conversation happened after he was released from Pelican Bay prison in 1995 just days after Tupac had also been freed from incarceration, and was the result of his wife accidentally pressing record on the answering machine . Some of the topics they speak about - Pac playing Kody in a film, set to be directed by a then unknown director, Antoine Fuqua (director of ‘Training Day’) - John Singleton is a coward - The Hughes Brothers are cowards - Pac speaks on who shot him (no mention of Biggie, Badboy etc) , and how the girl who accused him of rape was in with them and it was part of a bigger conspiracy. - What happened with the shooting at the police incident in Atlanta - What his experience in jail was like, all the politics and ****ery he dealt with as a result of being 2pac. The most incredible part of the conversation is when Pac passionately details to Saniyka a plan he has to restore the hood and bring respect back to the leaders in the community, as well as getting people registered to vote. The plan involved youth sports where famous rappers have individual teams and perform at weekly free block parties for the community. Your best to hear the man himself describe it (starting at the 4:35 mark) but take this quotable for example “Imagine me Redman, Trech, Ice Cube them typa.. gettin out , going up to the main drug dealer on that block, whos the ni#$a that run ****… look playa can you please have these streets clean” Seriously LISTEN TO THIS CLIP Speaking of Tupac, the play “Holla If You Hear Me” , which is based on his life and music will be opening to the public on June 19th, look for our review of it before then.

Not exactly the most interesting article. I was hoping to hear something amazing when I saw the title, but nothing amazing is really said. For one thing, it shows it complete distrust and respect for police after all they put him through. Why is isn't a dignified last look at him, it shows he wasn't weak in that moment. Tupac's Final Words Revealed by Police Officer on Scene of Murder Retired Las Vegas sergeant Chris Carroll was the first responder to rapper's 1996 shooting By Ryan Reed May 23, 2014 10:50 AM ET Tupac Shakur Ron Galella/WireImage The first police officer at the scene of Tupac Shakur's 1996 drive-by murder has revealed the last words spoken by the late rap legend. And they're not exactly peaceful. "He looked at me, and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth," says Chris Carroll, a retired sergeant with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, in a new feature with Vegas Seven. "And then the words came out: ‘**** you.’" Shakur was shot multiple times on September 7th, 1996. After leaving a boxing match with former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, the rapper and his bodyguards got into a scuffle with 21-year-old Crips gang member Orlando Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand casino. Carroll, who worked with the city's bike patrol unit, had also been watching the same Mike Tyson fight, but was unaware of the brawl taking place in the lobby. Later, a white Cadillac pulled up beside Knight and Shakur while they were stopped at a traffic light and one man began shooting out of the back window. Carroll was the first officer to respond to the grisly scene. "I grab the car door and I’m trying to open it, but I can’t get it open," he says. "[Knight] keeps coming up on my back, so I’m pointing my gun at him. I’m pointing it at the car. I’m yelling, ‘You guys lay down! And you, get the **** away from me!’ And every time I’d point the gun at him, he’d back off and even lift his hands up, like ‘All right! All right!’ So I’d go back to the car, and here he comes again. I’m like, ‘****er, back off!’ This guy is huge, and the whole time he’s running around at the scene, he’s gushing blood from his head. Gushing blood! I mean the guy had clearly been hit in the head, but he had all his faculties. I couldn’t believe he was running around and doing what he was doing, yelling back and forth." Carroll says when he finally was able to open the door, Shakur's limp body fell out of the vehicle, "like he was leaning against the door." "So I grabbed him with my left arm, and he falls into me, and I’ve still got my gun in the other hand," he continues. "He’s covered with blood, and I immediately notice that the guy’s got a ton of gold on – a necklace and other jewelry – and all of the gold is covered in blood. That has always left an image in my mind. . . After I pulled him out, Suge starts yelling at him, ‘Pac! Pac!’ And he just keeps yelling it. And the guy I’m holding is trying to yell back at him. He’s sitting up and he’s struggling to get the words out, but he can’t really do it. And as Suge is yelling ‘Pac!,’ I look down and I realize that this is Tupac Shakur." Carroll says he attempted to get a "dying declaration" of a potential suspect from Shakur, but the rapper was ignoring him at first. "And then I saw in his face, in his movements, all of a sudden in the snap of a finger, he changed," he says. "And he went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an ‘I’m at peace’ type of thing. Just like that. . . He went from fighting to ‘I can’t do it.’ And when he made that transition, he looked at me, and he’s looking right in my eyes. And that’s when I looked at him and said one more time, ‘Who shot you?’. . . He looked at me and he took a breath to get the words out, and he opened his mouth, and I thought I was actually going to get some cooperation. And then the words came out: ‘**** you.’ After that, he started gurgling and slipping out of consciousness." So why is Carroll coming forward with with information in 2014? Two reasons: Retiring from the Metro has allowed him the freedom to speak about the homicide case without being reprimanded ("It's been almost 18 years," he says. There's clearly never going to be a court case on this."), and he also didn't want "Tupac to be a martyr or a hero because he told the cops '**** you.'" Carroll says Shakur never spoke another word – remaining silent even when another officer tried to draw out a declaration in the ambulance. “As soon as he got to the hospital, he went into surgery and was heavily sedated, and I guess he went into a coma and really never came out of that, until they took him off of life support," he continues. "So that moment I talked to him was his last real living moment where he was speaking. I talked to the cop who rode in the ambulance with him. He said Tupac never came out of it, and he never said anything at the hospital. There was nothing else.” Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tupacs-final-words-revealed-by-police-officer-on-scene-of-murder-20140523#ixzz32a1j3s13 Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

This post goes out to Julie...and the other Left Eye/TLC fans on the board. Some of you know that in 2001, Left Eye tried to release her long awaited solo album, Supernova. The album was a crazy mix of wit and deep lyrics. The sound of the album was all over the place and it challenged listeners, as there isn't any other album like it. Long story short, after releasing it overseas, LA Reid wasn't going to release it in the US until she re-worked it...probably to make it more Hip-Hop or more like a TLC album. Long story short, Left Eye (a fellow stubborn Taurus) wasn't going to change it and LA's actions put her in a loop hole to take her solo project else where (even though LaFace/Arista released all her work with TLC). Instead of simply shopping a label who would have jumped at the chance, she took her connections to Deathrow (through 2Pac, which led to Kurupt and Suge) and signed with them. The plan was to create new music with a completely different vibe, while reworking some of her music from Supernova. She took on a grittier persona, N.I.N.A. Since hardly any new music was recorded, the personality in her music wasn't the different. It was just some of the harder edge of her that could catch glimpses of in some of her previous music. The shocker was when she went on 106 & Park with the Deathrow camp and played this weird character. TLC fans were annoyed, but we had to remember, this was all part of the game she wanted to play with the media. This is the same girl who fell off the face of the earth on purpose and made people she was missing...LOL. This certainly wasn't the real her, which can be seen in the amazing, yet irie Last Days of Left Eye documentary. I don't know that anyone would challenge this being a small part of her personality tho'...this is the girl who burned down her lying, cheating boyfriends house. This is the girl that pulled a gun on Clive Davis when CraZySeXyCOol had made over 75 million dollars, yet each of the girls only had $50,000 each. Anyways, Deathrow finished their work on the N.I.N.A project, but didn't release it since Left Eye's family requested that they didn't. A re-worked version of "Untouchable" with 2Pac was released to radio stations in 2002 but never got much attention. In the end, Left Eye wasn't going to go through with the N.I.N.A. project and was going to focus on new music with TLC before she passed. Anyways, this long intro is just leading up to a leaked version of the N.I.N.A. project. I, personally, really like it. It just captures a different side of her and changes the landscape for Supernova completely. And The Row Hitters actually give her lyrics a nice backdrop. The guests aren't bad either (though a few of them are lifted from Supernova). Check the links below for the leaked album. New Mixtape :: Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - N.I.N.A. 11/20/2012 You can download it here... http://hiphopisdream.com/n-i-n-a-new-identity-non-applicable/#.UKYIjuQ708A