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Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of double Elvis.

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Speaker 2: Tubac Shakur was a bad man, insanely talented and charismatic,

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Speaker 2: but nonetheless an objectively bad man. Before his twenty fourth birthday,

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Speaker 2: Tubac Skor had been arrested for beating another rapper with

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Speaker 2: a bat, for shooting a pair of off duty cops,

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Speaker 2: and had settled out of court for the shooting death

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Speaker 2: of a six year old boy. In the mid nineties,

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Speaker 2: he'd found himself embroiled in a highly publicized rape case

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Speaker 2: that had him looking down the barrel of a long

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Speaker 2: prison sentence, and still his talent and charisma could not

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Speaker 2: be suppressed. But as he began turning out iconic appearances

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Speaker 2: in major films, his legal troubles started breaking his bank.

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Speaker 2: He was broke, and so he continued to do what

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Speaker 2: he did best, make great music. That music you heard

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Speaker 2: at the top of the show that wasn't great music.

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Speaker 2: That was a preset loop for my melotron called Bosston

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Speaker 2: Nova Moving Strings MK.

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Speaker 3: Two.

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Speaker 2: I'm playing that loop because I can't afford the rights

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Speaker 2: to I'll Make Love to You by Boys to Men,

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Speaker 2: And why would I play that slab of motown Philly cheese?

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Speaker 3: Could I afford it?

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Speaker 2: Because that was the number one song in America On

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Speaker 2: November thirtieth, nineteen ninety four, and that was the day

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Speaker 2: that Tupac Shakur was shot five times in the lobby

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Speaker 2: of Quad Studios, the day that launched the charismatic young

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Speaker 2: artist into a devastating relationship with the media, a relationship

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Speaker 2: that would prove deadly for both him and his friend

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Speaker 2: and fellow star with the notorious Big On this episode

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Speaker 2: Boston Nova, Moving Strings, Motown, Philly Cheese, Tupac Shakur, media manipulation,

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Speaker 2: and Biggie Smalls, I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland.

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Speaker 2: For a promise of seven grand in sweatpant money, Tupac

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Speaker 2: Shakor agreed to guest vocal on a forthcoming bad boy

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Speaker 2: record single by Little Sean. The recording session at Manhattan's

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Speaker 2: Squad Studios on November thirtieth, nineteen ninety four would be

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Speaker 2: the end to a very long day. Earlier, Tubac hat

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Speaker 2: appeared in court to face charges of sexual assault, and

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Speaker 2: the pending verdict was not looking good as he headed

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Speaker 2: into the studio to make some quick dough with his manager,

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Speaker 2: Freddy Moore. Brother in law Zan Turner, and friend Randy Watkins.

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Speaker 2: The smell of blood and vulnerability was.

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Speaker 3: In the air.

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Speaker 2: Tupac's street smarts had him feeling une going into the session.

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Speaker 3: It had been arranged by a street.

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Speaker 2: Dude who had been blowing up Pawk's pager all evening

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Speaker 2: making sure he'd make it.

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Speaker 3: To the studio.

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Speaker 2: Tupac was stoned and paranoid as he shuffled past the

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Speaker 2: Times Square working girls towards the studio. His paranoia eased

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Speaker 2: momentarily when Little Caesar yelled from the window and told

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Speaker 2: Pak he was on his way down. He had ceased

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Speaker 2: went way back, but then he spotted a roughneck outside

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Speaker 2: the building. Thirty ish male wearing army fatigues to Tupac,

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Speaker 2: a clear indication that this dude was from Brooklyn and

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Speaker 2: his vibe.

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Speaker 3: Was not good.

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Speaker 2: His hat was pulled down real low, and he refused

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Speaker 2: to acknowledge Tupac or as to associates as they entered

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Speaker 2: the building.

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Speaker 3: This is not normal.

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Speaker 2: Tupac was one of the biggest stars in the country.

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Speaker 2: There wasn't a black man in America who didn't acknowledge

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Speaker 2: Pak with respect, jealousy, or both, and this just didn't

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Speaker 2: feel right. And then as Tupac and his boys entered

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Speaker 2: the building, the roughneck slipped in the door behind them

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Speaker 2: and he wasn't alone. Then the dude behind the desk

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Speaker 2: and the lobby they just entered got up, and now

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Speaker 2: there were three menacing dudes.

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Speaker 3: In the building with Tupac and his boys, and they

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Speaker 3: were packing.

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Speaker 2: They came up behind pack, guns drawn, yelling for everyone

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Speaker 2: to lie on the ground, and then they told Tupac

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Speaker 2: to hand over his jewelry, and he refused and bullets flew.

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Speaker 2: Tubac was shot five times, one in the hand, two

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Speaker 2: in the head, one in the thigh, exited through the

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Speaker 2: scrotum ouch. The attackers ran Tupac's jewels, all forty grand worth,

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Speaker 2: and disappeared into Times Square. Tupac dragged himself into the

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Speaker 2: elevator and somehow made it up to the Bad Boy

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Speaker 2: recording session. The elevator doors opened into a crowded studio and,

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Speaker 2: according to Pak, slumped and bloody in the elevator silence.

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Speaker 2: Everybody in the recording session, including the notorious Big and

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Speaker 2: Sean Puff Daddy Combs, they all just stared at Tupac

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Speaker 2: and nobody moved to help him. Even though his arrival

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Speaker 2: had been much anticipated and they were all confused by

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Speaker 2: his being there. It was at this point the Tupac thought,

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Speaker 2: and maybe they were surprised to see him alive. Whatever

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Speaker 2: the reason, there'd be time for speculating later. For now,

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Speaker 2: there were more pressing matters like the bullet wounds in

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Speaker 2: Tupac's head and scrolled him. Time to act fast. First

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Speaker 2: order of business, roll a joint. Next, call your girls,

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Speaker 2: your mama, and your girlfriend in that order, then call

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Speaker 2: nine one one. But when the cops arrived, Tupac was

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Speaker 2: greeted by Officer Craig McKernan, the arresting officer in his

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Speaker 2: sexual assault case. And when the cops saw Tupac's bullet

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Speaker 2: riddled groin, he greeted him with a smart ass, how's

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Speaker 2: it hanging, Tupac? The media reaction the next day was varied.

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Speaker 2: The tabloids reacted true to form. The New York Daily

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Speaker 2: News gave a nuanced take, scrawling rapper Tupac shot in

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Speaker 2: the head across its cover. A little known at the

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Speaker 2: time business writer named Malcolm Gladwell grabbed the byline at

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Speaker 2: The Washington Post in the middle of laboring through his

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Speaker 2: ten thousand hours of experience, and inside his article there

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Speaker 2: was a particular quote of interest from Tupac's attorney. It

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Speaker 2: reads like a quote from fictional Seinfeld attorney and Johnny

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Speaker 2: Cochran parody Jackie Chiles. My instincts tell me that this

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Speaker 2: looks like a setup, smells like a setup, and feels

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Speaker 2: like a setup. The seeds of a beef were being sown,

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Speaker 2: and the media was just beginning to smell a story,

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Speaker 2: but the bombshell expose was yet to come. After the shooting,

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Speaker 2: Tupac checked himself out of the hospital to appear in

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Speaker 2: court for sentencing, sitting in a wheelchair. He accepted his

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Speaker 2: four year prison sentence four months later. From behind bars

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Speaker 2: in Riker's Island prison, he gave Vibe magazine writer Kevin

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Speaker 2: Powell his account of the Quad Studio shooting, and it

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Speaker 2: was filled with innuendo, celebrity and drama. And about the

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Speaker 2: scene after being shot, he said, when we got upstairs,

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Speaker 2: I looked around and it scared the shit out of

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Speaker 2: me because Puffy was there, Biggie's there.

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Speaker 3: There was about forty dudes there.

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Speaker 2: All of them had jewels on, more jewels than me,

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Speaker 2: and this made me know it wasn't a robbery attempt.

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Speaker 2: The money was upstairs. Everybody was like real standoffish. Puffy

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Speaker 2: was standing back. I knew Puffy and about the street

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Speaker 2: dude who set up the session. Tupac recounted, he had

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Speaker 2: this look on his face like he was surprised to

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Speaker 2: see me. If he expected me, why was he surprised

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Speaker 2: to see me. I just beat the buzzer and said

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Speaker 2: I was coming upstairs. I was like, you're gonna have

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Speaker 2: to explain to me when I come out of the hospital,

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Speaker 2: why you set me up.

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Speaker 3: The media now had their story shit was on.

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Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety five, The Source was, as they say,

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Speaker 2: the shit to a young hip hop artist. Being on

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Speaker 2: the cover of The Source was bigger than being on

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Speaker 2: the cover of Rolling Stone. But another hip hop magazine

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Speaker 2: was making a name for itself. Famed record producer Quincy

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Speaker 2: Jones launched Vibe magazine as a direct challenge to the

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Speaker 2: Source's dominance. His vision was to devote each cover to

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Speaker 2: the black stars who had the power to transcend black culture,

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Speaker 2: to use the power of hip hop to go beyond

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Speaker 2: hip hop. Fuck Rolling Stone and the hell with having

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Speaker 2: your culture appropriated by the mainstream for Vibe, this is

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Speaker 2: about defining the mainstream and vibes. Riker's interview with Tupac

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Speaker 2: set the parameters for what would become the year's biggest

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Speaker 2: mainstream drama. The nineteen ninety five Source Awards may have

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Speaker 2: become infamous as the event that publicly served up the

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Speaker 2: famous East Coast West Coast beef, but Tupac's interview with

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Speaker 2: Vibe from earlier that year set the table, and when

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Speaker 2: the award show rolled around in August, Tupac was still

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Speaker 2: in jail, but his thinly veiled accusations from that interview

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Speaker 2: hung heavy in the air.

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Speaker 3: Madison Square Garden was.

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Speaker 2: Packed with a who's who of hip hop LA's death

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Speaker 2: row records. At the time, the biggest moneymakers in rap

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Speaker 2: rolled deep with the genius doctor Dre, his chart topping

156
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Speaker 2: protege Snoop Doggie Dog, and their super intimidating label Boss

157
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Speaker 2: should Night. The rumors about Knight were legend he freed

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Speaker 2: Dre from his previous recording contract with negotiating skills that

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Speaker 2: were more Crenshaw on El Segundo than Wharton in HBS,

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Speaker 2: and supposedly part of Knight's fortune was made from hanging

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Speaker 2: Vanilla Ice out of a ten story office building until

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Speaker 2: he agreed to sign over his royalties from his hit

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Speaker 2: song Ice Ice Baby, Truth or Legend. Everyone agreed that

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Speaker 2: Suge Knight was not to be messed with, not even

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Speaker 2: on the East Coast, and Brooklyn was in the house,

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Speaker 2: repped by the notorious Big riding high on the success

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Speaker 2: of his debut Ready to Die, released a few months

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Speaker 2: prior on Bad Boy Records, Harlem Mogul on the make.

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Speaker 2: Sean Combe's aka Puff Daddy was the brains behind Bad Boy,

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Speaker 2: which was selling tons of records and threatening death Row's

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Speaker 2: supremacy to market the label and himself. Puffy was in

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Speaker 2: constant promo mode, touring with artists, hyping them on stage,

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Speaker 2: appearing in their videos, and just generally using his own

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Speaker 2: charisma to sell his musicians and this record label. Dude

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Speaker 2: in the Spotlight thing was working out of the Spotlight

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Speaker 2: that night. Death Row was well wrapped with fifty West

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Speaker 2: Coast dudes, family friends, artists, label execs, bodyguards, some in red,

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Speaker 2: some in blue, and also in the crowd rappers from

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Speaker 2: Queen's Staten Island and Harlem, every part of New York

180
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Speaker 2: City and beyond Jersey even the Dirty South people in

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Speaker 2: the room later said the rivalry between the Borrows and

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Speaker 2: different factions was palpable. Everyone knew there was going to

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Speaker 2: be some bullshit and the volatility in the air that

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Speaker 2: he could feel it anticipation, excitement, tension. And then Suge

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Speaker 2: Knight took the stage wearing blood red to accept the

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Speaker 2: award for Best Soundtrack for the film Above the Rim.

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Speaker 2: First he thanked death Row, and then he had a

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Speaker 2: message for Tupac.

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Speaker 3: I'd like to tell Tupac to keep his guards up.

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Speaker 2: We riding with him, and then sug up Tupac's riker's ante.

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Speaker 2: He dissed Puffy Hard, a comment that was meant not

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Speaker 2: to accuse, but to demean, to antagonize any.

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Speaker 3: Artists that want to be an artist.

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Speaker 2: I want to stay a star and don't have the

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Speaker 2: warorry about executive producers trying to be all in the videos,

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Speaker 2: all on record dancing come to death Row. The reaction

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Speaker 2: was loud, booze and sheers, but mainly booze. Snoop raised

198
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Speaker 2: up out of his seat, turned back to the booing

199
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Speaker 2: crowd and began shouting in supporter shug. All of a sudden,

200
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Speaker 2: things went from tense to dangerous, real gangster shit. Sug

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Speaker 2: was talking about Puppy, a West Coast dude disrespecting an

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Speaker 2: East Coast dude in his hometown, and.

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Speaker 3: In effect, the discs instantly bonded the New Yorkers in

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Speaker 3: the room. Fucked the West Coast, fuck should Knight, fuck

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Speaker 3: death Row.

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Speaker 2: Sug and his entourage made it out of New York

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Speaker 2: without further incident, but the beef they made back at

208
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Speaker 2: the gardens cemented the source as the hip hop journal

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Speaker 2: of record and gave the media at the kerosene it

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Speaker 2: needed for the low burning flame Tupac ignited in his

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Speaker 2: Vibe interview a few months earlier, East Coast West Coast

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Speaker 2: was now a thing. The battle lines were drawn and

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Speaker 2: the media embedded themselves among the MC's in the front lines.

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Speaker 2: And soon shots literally will be fired.

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Speaker 3: We'll be right back after this word word word.

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Speaker 2: In retrospect, ViBe's interview with Tupac looked prescient. After all,

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Speaker 2: what was with biggie single who Shot You? If the

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Speaker 2: title of the song who Shot You didn't say at all?

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Speaker 2: Then its released a mere month after the bullet ripped

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Speaker 2: through Tupac's thigh and exited his scrotum cemented in Pock's

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Speaker 2: mind that Big and Puff were behind the quad shooting,

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Speaker 2: and the media was more than happy to report on

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Speaker 2: the speculation. Tupac told Vibe that even if that song

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Speaker 2: ain't about me, you should be like, I'm not putting

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Speaker 2: it out because he might think it's about me. Big

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Speaker 2: and Puffy, in their own interview with Vibe, asserted that

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Speaker 2: the song was written months earlier, originally as a track

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Speaker 2: for Mary J. Blige, but being too violent, it ended

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Speaker 2: up on the B side of Big Papa. Vibe magazine

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Speaker 2: was now arbitrating the juvenile beef within its pages, not

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Speaker 2: exactly what Q had in mind, but there were too

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Speaker 2: many people who wanted to read about it and too

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Speaker 2: many magazines to sell. Then, sug Knight posted one point

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Speaker 2: four million dollars bail to spring Tupac from Rikers, and

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Speaker 2: in exchange, Tupac signed over his recording rights to death

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Speaker 2: Row Records.

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Speaker 3: The beef went to eleven.

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Speaker 2: Coverage of Tupac's released from prison and newly minted death

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Speaker 2: Row affiliation extended beyond the hip hop press. The New

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Speaker 2: York Daily News ran the charmingly innocent headline jailed rapper

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Speaker 2: goes free as pals make one point four million dollars

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Speaker 2: in bail. The La Times embedded themselves in the studio

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Speaker 2: with Tupac days after release and coaxed out some hysterical

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Speaker 2: nuggets about his jail life. He watched Jay Leno, listened

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Speaker 2: to Russian Limbaugh, corresponded with Tony Danza. But these puff

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Speaker 2: pieces wouldn't last out on bail. Fresh out of Jail

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Speaker 2: and California Dreaming, Tupac wax poetic on the set of

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Speaker 2: the video shoot for the Doctor dre produced California Love.

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Speaker 2: The single took a sample from Joe Cocker's Woman to Woman,

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Speaker 2: Beyond the Thunderdome and Back, but the hair on this

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Speaker 2: dog was Tupac's blistering vocals send up of West Coast dominance.

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Speaker 2: Hip hop fans loved it a killer single, but another

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Speaker 2: single Tupac's Hit Him Up, would shot a personal light

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Speaker 2: on Pak's new West Coast lifestyle. It was a scathing

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Speaker 2: response to who shot You. In the lyrics, pawc ovisceraates

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Speaker 2: Biggie claiming to have slept with BIG's wife, Faith Evans

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Speaker 2: and threatens retaliation for the quad shooting. To paraphrase the

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Speaker 2: Texas poet. The beef was bad, and nationwide after Hit

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Speaker 2: them Up, rappers began to outwardly align themselves with their coasts.

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Speaker 2: Tupac took every opportunity imaginable to align himself for this

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Speaker 2: new West Coast brethren and to take shots at the

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Speaker 2: East Coast. The media covered it with bated breath, and

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Speaker 2: each new story seemed to beget another diss mainly from Tupac,

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Speaker 2: and the newspapers and magazines continued to fly off the racks.

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Speaker 2: In morning radio jocks added another level of insanity as

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Speaker 2: they talked about the drama on air, and record sales

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Speaker 2: soared a win win, right wrong. Biggie and Puff never

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Speaker 2: took the beef as seriously as Tupac and Sugar did.

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Speaker 2: They went out of their way to try and squash it,

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Speaker 2: and in September nineteen ninety six, Vibe cover story salaciously

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Speaker 2: and some would say regrettably, titled East Versus West Biggie

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Speaker 2: and Puffy break their Silence. They both earnestly defended themselves

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Speaker 2: against accusations that they had anything to do with the

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Speaker 2: quad shooting, but it was too late. Hit him up

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Speaker 2: across the line. East Coast Dudes, were turned up. In

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Speaker 2: the same article, vibelated on Thick stating from the Atlantic

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Speaker 2: to the Pacific, hip hop heads are proclaiming their California

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Speaker 2: love or exclaiming that the East is in the house

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Speaker 2: with the loyalty of newly initiated gang members. The story

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Speaker 2: then went on to quote doctor Dre with very little context,

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Speaker 2: as having said, pretty soon dudes from the East Coast

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Speaker 2: ain't going to be able to come out here and

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Speaker 2: be safe, and vice versa. Something had to give, and

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Speaker 2: something did. On September seventh, nineteen ninety six, in Las Vegas, Nevada,

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Speaker 2: after Mike Tyson knocked out Bruce Selden under a minute twenty,

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Speaker 2: Tupac sat in the passenger seat of Shugs BMW at

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Speaker 2: the corner of East Flemis Go Road in Cova Lane.

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Speaker 2: His Shug was at the wheel. Two girls in the

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Speaker 2: car next to them grabbed Tupac's attention. Then from out

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Speaker 2: of nowhere, a late model Cadillac rolled up along the

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Speaker 2: passenger side of the BMW inside four men two blocks.

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Speaker 2: Then countless bullets fired, one in Tupac's arm, one and

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Speaker 2: Tupacs die, two in his chest, the one in his

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Speaker 2: right lung the kill shot. Tupac Shakord died in a

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Speaker 2: hospital bed six days later. The reaction in the press

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Speaker 2: was both mournful and tasteless, with his family and fans

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Speaker 2: still grieving, The Philadelphia Daily News ran Tupac's picture on

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Speaker 2: the cover under a headline that just said it's a wrap.

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Speaker 2: According to Faith Evans, Biggie cried when he heard Tupac died.

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Speaker 2: In interviews after Tupac's passing, Biggie seems more shocked than saddened,

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Speaker 2: an important distinction, but you almost can't blame him. The

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Speaker 2: whole country was shocked and quote unquote gangster rap in

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Speaker 2: the death of one of its biggest stars was being

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Speaker 2: covered like a national epidemic, with a strange mix of

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Speaker 2: caution and cultural voyeurism. Before his death, the New York

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Speaker 2: Times Sunday magazine featured Tupac on its cover alongside Suge

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Speaker 2: Knight and Snoop, next to the headline, do you know

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Speaker 2: whose music your children are listening to? In defense of

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Speaker 2: the media, Tupac, Shook, and even Biggie to an extent,

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Speaker 2: all played their respective parts in the saga. The media

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Speaker 2: was just there to do what the media does. Tell

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Speaker 2: the story and se newspapers, magazines, and advertisements. The difference

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Speaker 2: here being that this story was too good to temper.

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Speaker 2: It was too easy to get taken in by, too

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Speaker 2: easy to slide a headline over the line from responsible

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Speaker 2: journalism to scandal. Rag and Tupac especially seemed to relish

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Speaker 2: in living up to the thug life caricature of himself

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Speaker 2: that the media couldn't get enough of. Cameras followed him everywhere,

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Speaker 2: and he left a trail of ink behind him wherever

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Speaker 2: he went. After he died, things felt unsettled, like there

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Speaker 2: was another shoe to drop, and like any good movie,

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Speaker 2: just when you think the madness is over, something happens

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Speaker 2: in the final five minutes to prove to you that

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Speaker 2: you're getting your money's worth.

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Speaker 3: And this something was.

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Speaker 2: Unfortunately, the death of the arguably more talented of the

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Speaker 2: two feuding rap stars than Notorious Big. On March ninth,

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Speaker 2: nineteen ninety seven, Biggie Small's was gunned down outside of

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Speaker 2: a Vibe magazine party while on a West Coast promo

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Speaker 2: tour for his upcoming album, aptly named Life After Death.

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Speaker 2: You can't make this shit up. Despite the enormous amount

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Speaker 2: of press the murders received, neither would ever be solved.

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Speaker 2: I have my own opinion of who is to blame

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Speaker 2: for the murders, and I believe that most anyone who

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Speaker 2: was involved with either artist knows who killed them. But

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00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:26,000
Speaker 2: this episode isn't a who done it? It's a holy

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Speaker 2: shit look at the way these guys willingly played the

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Speaker 2: roles the media wanted them to play to deadly results episode.

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Speaker 2: Tupac and Biggie had to have known where this is

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Speaker 2: all going. How could they not have felt the hate

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Speaker 2: rising on each coast. They read their own press, and

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Speaker 2: they knew the media would swallow every bit of beef

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Speaker 2: and spit it back out all over the front pages,

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Speaker 2: the TV screens, and the airwaves. We know celebrities are

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Speaker 2: a different breed. We know that rock stars and hip

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Speaker 2: hop stars do some of the most insane shit, and

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00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:59,520
Speaker 2: they often surround themselves with lunatics and criminals. They live

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Speaker 2: in a state of suspended adolescence. So yes, Tupac and

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Speaker 2: Biggie continuously upping the animosity toward each other while living

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Speaker 2: and working among stone cold gangsters is one of the

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Speaker 2: dumbest moves any two stars have ever made. But if

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Speaker 2: you weigh out the amount of shit talked by Tupac

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Speaker 2: and Bigie, it doesn't measure up to the amount of

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Speaker 2: shit talk the media covered and covered and covered. They

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00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:31,720
Speaker 2: couldn't get enough. The story had everything celebrity, crime, violence, infidelity,

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Speaker 2: and finally murder, and the media amplified the hype one

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Speaker 2: thousand percent. This story is really about the media being

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Speaker 2: incapable of resisting a too good to be true drama.

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Speaker 2: I had Tupac or Biggie been a little older, a

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Speaker 2: little wiser, maybe a little less hungry for the spotlight,

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Speaker 2: or a little less under the influence of their sales

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Speaker 2: driven record.

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Speaker 3: Company handlers, maybe.

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Speaker 2: Maybe they would have been able to put a lid

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Speaker 2: on the media's efforts to drive the narrative and in

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Speaker 2: effect de escalate the tension and ultimately save their own lives.

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Speaker 2: But that didn't happen, and now both are sadly gone.

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Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created

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Speaker 2: by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis.

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Speaker 2: Credits for this episode can be found on the show

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Speaker 2: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as

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Speaker 2: a Disgraceland All Access member. Thank you for supporting the show,

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Speaker 2: we really appreciate it, and if not, you can become

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Speaker 2: a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com

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Speaker 2: slash Membership.

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Speaker 4: Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode every month,

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Speaker 4: weekly unscripted bonus episode, special audio collections, and early access

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Speaker 4: for details, rate and review the show, and follow us

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Speaker 4: YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at Disgraceslampod Rock a

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Speaker 4: Roller

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Speaker 2: He the bed Don Man