Timesuck with Dan Cummins - 76 - Tupac & Biggie: Fame, Money, & Murder

Episode Date: February 26, 2018

Tupac and Biggie - two of the biggest hip hop stars of all time. And neither of them would see the age of 26. Their West Coast/East Coast rap feud helped sell millions of records, helped launch the career of Puff Daddy. It cemented Death Row Records as one of the greatest hip hop labels of all time. I listened to a ton of Tupac growing up. And who hasn’t heard some Biggie? But how much do we really know about either man? Well, after today’s episode, you’ll know a lot. Biggie, biggie, biggie, can’t you see that we’ve got to learn a little bit about you and Tupac’s history, today, on Timesuck. Support a fellow Timesucker who lost his home and belongings in a recent flood. Here's the GoFund link - please help if you can! https://www.gofundme.com/cf6quh-help-the-campbells Wanna be a Space Lizard"? Go here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast Sign up through Patreon and for $5 a month you get to listen to the Secret Suck, which will drop Thursdays at Noon, PST. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch. You get to vote on two Monday topics each month via the app. And you get the download link for my new comedy album, Feel the Heat. Check the Patreon posts to find out how to download the new album and take advantage of other benefits. Merch - https://badmagicmerch.com/ Want to try out Discord!?! https://discord.gg/tqzH89v Want to join the Cult of the Curious private Facebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" in order to locate whatever current page hasn't been put in FB Jail :) For all merch related questions: https://badmagicmerch.com/pages/contact Please rate and subscribe on iTunes and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG, @timesuckpodcast on Twitter, and www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcast And, thank you for supporting the show by doing your Amazon shopping after clicking on my Amazon link at www.timesuckpodcast.com

Two Pock and Biggie, two of the biggest hip hop stars of all time, and neither of them would live to see the age of 26. Their West Coast East Coast rap feud helps sell millions of records, help launch the career of Puff Daddy, cemented death row records as one of the greatest hip hop labels of all time. I listen to a ton of two Pock grown up. I listen to a ton of two Pock this week, and who hasn't heard some biggie, but how much do we really know about either man?

Well after today's episode, you'll know a lot. Biggie, biggie, biggie, can't you see that we've got a lot to learn about you and two-pocks history today on TimeSuck. Happy Monday time suckers. I'm Dan Cummins, aka the master sucker, the fourth leg of Bojangles. And this is time suck. Welcome to the cult of the curious, recording from the suck layer. Josh Krel monitoring the sound waves, making sure they go into your brain just right. Space Lister's the app has been updated. Hill Nimrod, new update that fixes pretty much

everything. Up now on both Google Play and the Apple app stores, the suck has been freed. So happy. That makes me so happy. Thank you, BitElixir. It's working great. I'm both my Android and on my iPhone. I love it.

Thanks to all of the Space lizards who made the trek to Corde of Lane for the first space lizard elite events. Just the other day, this past Saturday, I'm recording the suck, full disclosure, before our little get together, I'm gonna assume we had a great time. I'll be posting a lot of pics to confirm that on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at times I've podcasted.

Back on tour this week, standup shows in Minneapolis, March 2nd and 3rd at Cisapis brewing. Both the early shows are now sold out. Some tickets still available for the 10 p.m. shows. Brea Improv, SoCal March 8th through the 11th, hilarities in Cleveland, Ohio March 22nd through 24th, Salt Lake City April 20th through 21st, San Francisco tickets just went on sale. And more tour dates, including those San Francisco dates at Dan Cummins dot TV, big Southern tour, early April San Antonio now on the schedule for April.

Just added that at the end of the Houston and Little Dallas run there. And now time for time sucks 76, two-pock and biggie, fame, money, and murder. [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO MUSIC PLAYING [♪ OUTRO Biggie were just barely a year apart in age and they died within six months of each other. So it makes sense to bounce back and forth between their childhoods and their ascent to hip hop, super stardom and a little dueling timeline. Let's get it started. Shrap on those boots soldier, we're marching down ath, 1971, Tupac Shakur is born in East Harlem, New York City. He was born Richard William, Jr., but changed it later because of record label exec. Told him that no one was going to buy a hip-hop album from a dude named Dick Willie, Jr.

No, no, he was born a Lassane parish crooks, but 1972, which isn't a hot name. When he was just barely a year old, his mom renamed him after Tupac, Amarou, the second and 18th century Peruvian revolutionary, who was executed after leading an indigenous uprising against Spanish rule. And since dad didn't stick around, she didn't feel like it was fair to have him take dad's last name. And I gotta say, I grew that logic. You know your mom is a wee bit more intense than other moms when she names you

after a Peruvian revolutionary, even though you are not even like 1% Peruvian. Well, a Fina should core Davis. She was more intense than your average mom. She wasn't a homemaker. She didn't have a white color job. She didn't work as a checker at Safeway. She was a high ranking member

of the Black Panther Revolutionary Political Movement. Both of two-pox parents were Black Panthers, actually. Born Alice Faye Williams, met two-pox father, Billy Garland, while working for the Black Panther Party. Apparently, he was just a brief little fling, little brief romance. Alice Faye Williams met two-packs father, Billy Garland, while working for the Black Panther Party. Apparently, he was just a brief little fling, a little brief romance, not a lot of details available about it, but I am certain it involves a penis inside of a vagina and an overly relaxed

attitude towards birth control. Feney specialized in raising bill money from jailed panthers, which was an important organizational role considering the Black Panthers were constantly getting arrested, law enforcement hated them. Most because they openly hated law enforcement. Alfinia, excuse me, Alfinia, Alfinia operated alongside prominent black panther member, Geronimo Pratt, who would later be named two-packs godfather. Now Geronimo was born Elmer Pratt, not joking about that one. Hard to be taken seriously as a revolutionary when your name is Elmer as in fun, you know,

an Elmer Fud, not exactly a revolutionary, you know, he was more of a rabbit hunter. Killed a web, it's killed a web, it's killed a web, it's killed a web, whatever that thing was. Elmer renamed himself after the famous Apache warrior and he go to prison in 1972 for a murder charge that would later be vacated in 97 because the prosecution upheld key evidence from the jury such as the fact

that their key witness was an FBI informant. Whoops. Pratt claimed to be 350 miles away from Santa Monica when the murder occurred and 25 years, man, on a bullshit murder charge. God, after getting out, he left the country moved to the east african nation of uh... tanzania and i don't blame them and why we charge in first place well probably because he's a member of the black

pantoparty an organization formed a response to numerous acts of police brutality in nineteen sixty nine of fiendy and twenty other members of the party were jailed while facing trial on some trumped up charges of plan a series of bombings in New York City. Shakur was pregnant with two pocket at the time. Two pocket later, tell a reporter, I was cultivated in prison. My embryo was in prison.

After reading Fidel's Castro's history will absolve me while incarcerated, Shakur chose to represent herself in court, telling other accused panthers that if they were convicted, they were going to be the one serving jail time, right? Not the lawyers. Pregnant while on trial and faced a 30 year prison sentence, uh, Shakur interviewed witnesses and passionately argued in court. And she won. She and other members of the Panther 21 group were acquitted after an eight month trial

released from prison in May 1971. The following month she gave birth to a, birth to the same and then she changed his name to Tupac. She'd later say, I wanted him to have the name of a revolutionary, indigenous people in the world, a name of, excuse me, revolutionary indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood. That's pretty cool actually. Again, not your typical mom. Not going to be a typical childhood when that's your origin. A little more about the Black Panthers for removing a two-box childhood like who were they?

Well, the Black Panthers who deserve their own suck, truly, and I will get to them, sure someday. Kicked off in October of 1966 in Oakland, California. And apparently, they have nothing to do with the new Black Panther movie. Even though the comic book character that the Black movie is based on also debuted in 1966. The party was formed in October.

The comic came out in July, weird, coincidental timing, I guess. The Black Panther character also was the first mainstream African-American comic superhero. But, you know, I mean, I kind of wonder if the party took their name from the comic, supposedly not, but again, that's a very strange coincidence. There's also a possibility that the Black Panther party took their name from Pudy and Juju, issue number 58. Pudy gets a Black Panther and names it Hoody, which is how the band Hoody and the Blowfish got their name.

That issue of Pudy and Juju came out in August of 1966. Pudy gets a Black Panther and then Jujuuju freaks out because A, it's illegal to have a black panther for a pet. B, Juju highly allergic to cats and, uh, C, uh, Pudy told Juju that he got hoody for a really good price because hoody had eaten her two previous owners. So that, you know, understandably, uh, made Juju nervous. Well, luckily for Pudy and Juju fans, Hoody did not eat either of them in that episode. But she did eat Juju's pet goldfish muffin top.

And when Juju came home to find a black panther with a wet face and a missing goldfish, he'd had enough. And he's no more hoody Poodie, he screamed, but it was hard to understand him because his face was swelling up due to his cat allergy. So it's more like, oh, hoody Poodie. And Poodie was like, what?

No more Poodie Tudies and Jty was like what no more putty to these and jujitsu screamed no more hoody putty more like a and putty heard him that time and it was like what if we just keep him in the art then your face probably won't swell up as much and then jujitsu screamed to the two data p and they argued back and forth just exactly like that they went back and forth for two hundred and thirty five consecutive pages and by the time they were finally done arguing uh... hoody the black panther actually died of old age and and many of the readers have stopped uh... just you know following them

uh... it was it was one of the more popular issues you know the publisher realize that was uh... way too long for an argument and and i hope new listeners realize by now that i am joking about uh... putty and jiuuju. And they have a lot to do with time stock, but nothing to do with either Tupac or Biggie or the or they also have nothing to do with the black panthers. Anyway, the organization, the black panthers, founded in the wake of the assassination of black nationalist Malcolm X in 1965. And after police in San Francisco shot and killed an unarmed black teen named Matthew Johnson in September of 66 The black panther Parties initial reason for existence. You know was to form an organized armed citizens patrols

They would monitor the behavior of the Oakland police department as I said man They were formed in a response to continual police brutality against African-Americans in the 60s and As organizations typically do they evolved in 69 community social programs, became another core activity of party members. The Black Panther Party instituted a variety of community social programs, most extensively the free breakfast for children program. And they provided community health clinics

to address issues like food injustice. They were nationwide, but they had their largest presence in Oakland, San Francisco, kind of Bay Area, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Riggins, Idaho. Of course, kidding about the last one. There was not a large, but Black Panther movement in Riggins, Idaho. This is the culture two pop was born into, son of Black Panthers. No wonder, you know, the lyrics of so many of his songs would be so insightful, so intense. No wonder he emphasized social injustice

and rising up against the powers of B. And it was a harsh beginning for Tupac. If Fieny's life was so chaotic during his early years, the Black Panther Party was dying, but it still had active groups that held meetings and rallies that Fieny often attended, Karein Tupac wither, family friend and later publicist for Tupac,

Karen Lee, would say, I met Tupac for the first time at the Armory in New York City on 168th Street. I gone over to hear Minister Lewis Farrakhan speak at a rally and a Fini was there with him. He was a tiny baby about two months old. Shortly after two-box birth, a Fini was a free woman, but also she was an unskilled high school dropout and she had a hard time finding work. And that difficulty, you know, was compounded by her being an ex-panter once accused of conspiracy to bomb New York landmarks. That is not great to have on your resume when you're trying to get jobs in New York City.

I'm sorry, what was the last thing you just said? You went on trial for bombing a lot of businesses here in New York. You were going to pass. It's going to be a hard pass. Immediately following her release, she initially got, you were going to pass. It's going to be a hard pass. Immediately following her release, she initially got work, accepting invitations to speak at like colleges and universities such as Harvard.

But then when black radicalism stopped being chic among the white upper class, which happened pretty quick after she was released, her audience is vanished and then started her income. And she was also more into the black pants of movement than she was into being a dependable mom or provider. So that wasn't good for Pock. As an infant, two-pock crash in the apartments of random rally attendees on the couches

of relatives or often in homeless shelters. Two-pock recalled that they moved from Manhattan to the Bronx and back at least 18 times from the time he was born until he was 10 years old. That's a lot of movement. Two-packs, two-packs said that each time I had to reinvent myself. People think just because you're born in the ghetto, you're gonna fit in. A little twist in your life and you don't fit in,

no matter what. I felt like my life could be destroyed at any moment. Such a lifestyle had profound effects on young two-pock. You know, a risking equally profound consequences. He said I was crying all the time. He later told the interviewer, my major thing was I couldn't fit in because I was from everywhere. I didn't have anybody that I grew up with

Well, if any eventually found employment at a nonprofit organization and provided free legal services to the poor and by the time two Pock started kindergarten if any had married a man named Matulu Shakur no relation to her first husband and had another child a girl she named Shakira who'd go by sec and Okay, so now that's that let's give it, let's go over to the B.I.G. now. All right, uh, May 21st, 1972, less than a year after the birth of Tupac, another future hip hop star is born in New York City,

the notorious B.I.G. born Dilbert von Wrinkle's court, junior Esquire. Uh, of course not. That's a, that's a horrible name for a future hip hop star or anyone. That's a horrible name for any human. If you're Dilbert, if I apologize, if your name does happen to be Dilbert Von WrinkleSquirt, and I highly recommend you to change your name.

That's terrible. Christopher George Latour Wallace was born May 21st, 1972, in Brooklyn. His parents both hailed from the Caribbean island of Jamaica his mom Valetta ran a jerk chicken stand and his father ran a competing jerk's chicken stand. Uh, no, Valetta actually taught preschool and his pop cell one was a welder in local Jamaican politician. Sorry, uh, jerk chicken is, is about the only thing I really know about Jamaica. You can have to suck on some, some Jamaica stuff down the road.

Uh, his father in addition to having a job as a welder also had a whole other family back in London, England, and abandoned Biggie to return to them before Biggie was two, so that is unfortunate. Dad's not sticking around too much of that in this story, too much of that in general in society. Both Tupac and Biggie's dads don't hang around, and they were both the first born while Tupac would have a sister, Chris would remain an only child. Unlike Tupac, young big, he was well cared for by his mother.

She'd say, I made sure my son had education, a good mattress, clean sheets, good quality clothes. I gave him quality time. His mom had come from a nice middle class family in Jamaica. She could have stayed in Jamaica, had a nice middle class life, but she didn't want it. She wanted to explore the world. So she set off for New York on her own at the age of 17. Now while Chris may have had a positive maternal figure

in his life, she didn't live in a good positive neighborhood. She had a small apartment in between the Clint Hill and Bedford, a stiven set neighborhoods of Brooklyn, heroin and crack were sold on street corners. Family heard gunshots and police sirens way too often at night. And Christopher fell into a bad crowd early on. But because he was so intelligent and sneaky,

so polite and well-spoken when he needed to be his mom never sat. He sounds, you know, a lot like me, honestly, as a kid. I was a sneaky little bastard myself. Right? My parents had no idea I was doing anything. Best way to get away with criminal activity is to get good grades, not cause trouble in school,

which is not good life advice, by the way, young suckers. I did that, but I was very lucky not to get caught and derail my life. While raising Chris, Valeda went back to school, graduated with a teaching degree from Brooklyn College, and then immediately get in a job at a jerk chicken check.

I mean, school. She worked at a grade school. She was a grade school teacher. Chris began attending nursery school at two years and five months of age. And he could write his name by three. And he could make some bomb ass jerk chicken by two. I'm gonna stop with the jerk chicken now.

He went to a Catholic grade school, middle school, Queen of all saints. He excelled. He also spent a few months of every summer back with his mom's family in Jamaica. Did that tell you he was 16, his uncle there. Worked as a DJ in Reggae Clubs. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me to not say jerk chickens stand again?

I wanted to say it so badly. I wanted to say he was a DJ in a jerk chicken shack instead of Reggae Club. I guess I kind of did. I just had to get that thought on my head. Through grade school, Chris's house was a place to be. He had an Atari in television and a Cole Covision. I didn't even fucking know about Cole Covisions. I He had an Atari and an television and a Cole, Cavitian. I didn't even fucking know about Cole, Cavitians. I only had an Atari. Unlike two pop Chris's

early years were weren't as impoverished as he claimed them to be. He'd exaggerate kind of his, you know, his, his early poverty to get some street cred later. Very, very similar to how O'Shea Jackson, AKA ice cube would later do with NWA. Ice cube did grow up in South Central LA, but he grew up in a middle-class household. Never gang banged. It was never arrested. Chris grew up without a dad,

seeing his father rarely after the age of two, seen him for the last time in 1978, the age of six. His mom tried to make up for it by spoiling him, buying him everything he wanted, when she could afford it, you know, Timberlands, Tommy Hill figure, whatever he wanted to wear. Chris showed artistic abilities as a young kid, Voleta remembered him and being able to look at a picture in a magazine,

and then being able to sketch an exact replica freehand. At age 10, young Chris fell off a city bus and broke his right leg in three places, which would turn out to be a huge break for the family. His mom sued the New York city, a New York, and settled for five figures some. And then laying around the house for six months, Chris already a husky kid began to put on some serious weight, put on pounds to stuck around long after his leg healed. All right, back to Pock, 1981.

When two Pock is 10, his stepfather, Matulu, becomes a fugitive from justice. It was around this time that a minister asked two Pock what he wanted to be when he grew up and he would say revolutionary. Well, Matulu considered himself a revolutionary. He was a part of an organization known as the weather underground, a group that formed in 1968 in response to the failure of anti-war and civil rights movements to fully and effectively end the Vietnam war, eliminate racism and implement a vast range of reforms

for social justice. Now, their name was taken from Bob Dylan's subterranean homesick blues song. You know, it's, uh, you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. I don't know the melody because I refuse to listen anymore, Bob Dylan, because his voice is like fucking tiny tax being nailed into my face. I get that he's a fantastic lyricist. If I died and found out that hell was real now down there, somebody who sounds like Bob Dylan would be constantly serenading me. Anyway, the weather underground bomb targets across the United States throughout the 70s, selecting places they deemed emblematic of strife and

violence around the world. They wanted to get the attention of the authorities and had accomplished that objective earlier in the decade when a group of them Actually blew up three of their own members along with the townhouse on 11th Street in New York's Greenwich Village Two-pock stepdad made the FBI's most wanted list as a member of this group According to government prosecutors Matulu and the family began robbing banks and then armored cars by the summer at 1980 They supposedly had a mass more than $900,000. The cash was going to be used to finance a revolution. The perpetrators intended to transform the state's Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina into a territory inhabited only by black people.

So slightly ambitious plan. I don't know. I don't know how they kept talking themselves into thinking that was going to work, right? I mean, that's great. Do you got $900,000, but the US government, a little bit more than that in their reserves, a little bit more of an army. It's like, all right guys, we got $1 million.

Now let's take five states. Let's take five states and make them our own country. Oh, what people will fucking dilute themselves into thinking is possible. On the run from the law, Matulu was out of two pox early life. Surrounded by constant turmoil, two pox withdrew. He'd later say when I was young, I was quiet withdrawn. I read a lot.

I wrote poetry. It kept a diary. Poetry skills, not particularly valued in his family, among his mom's revolutionary compatriots. Certainly not valued in the tough ghetto neighborhoods where he lived, frustrated him. He didn't feel hard, like the folks around him as a kid. Pretty funny for a guy who would get a nationwide reputation for being super hard like a hard gangster type later in life. Two pox next daddy figure was a gangster who once worked for the infamous drug dealer Nikki Barnes, a fiendy's new boyfriend went by the name of legs.

That's how you know you got a solid boyfriend when they go by the name of Legs. I'm sorry, who's your new boy? If my daughter someday brought home a dude who went by fucking Legs, I hope in my fantasy part of my brain, I don't hear anything else. I immediately just walk across the room. I fucking grabbing by his shirt,

I just fucking lift him up, walk him to the front door, and literally throw his ass out of the yard. Just get the fuck out of here, legs, never come back. Don't you ever come back? Uh, yeah, legs. And two pock became very attached to legs. It was legs who introduced a fey need to crack cocaine.

See, that's what I'm fucking talking about. You find some guy named legs in your house, and then you're smoking crack a second later. She would say that was our way of socializing. He would come home. This is a quote. He would come home and stick a pipe in my mouth. Oh, wow. Shit.

Man. Turns out I've been socializing wrong my whole life. I see, I thought socializing involved like small talk. Maybe a few cocktails catching up on the day with somebody. Uh, I didn't realize that when you wanted to socialize with somebody, you were supposed to literally stick a crack pipe in their mouth. I guess that would make socializing so much more exciting and unpredictable. Are you going to end up talking about your day still?

Are you are you going to have a few drinks still? Are you are you going to rob a liquor store? Are you going to suck a stranger's dick for more crack? Who knows? It can go so many ways. In 1983, 12 year old twoupac who wasn't into sports and had no interest in being some tough thug type kid, he was sweet and artistic as a young man actually,

enrolled and was chosen for the role of Travis in a community production of Lorraine Hansperies, a raise in the sun. And he loved it. He'd say my first action job was at the Apollo Theater when Jesse Jackson was running for president, it was a fundraiser. When the curtain went up, I just caught that bug. After all his bouncing around, he found something he was really good at. Something, you know, he could receive positive attention for doing. And then all

step daddy, legs went to jail for credit card fraud. Of course he did. Legs always goes to jail. You start calling yourself legs, fucking prisons in your future. I promise. Another father figured gone from Pox Life, unable to pay the rent. Once again, Affini, Tupac. Seek, or sec, moved in with Gloria and her family, then Affini packed up her children left New York City for good. Next stop, Baltimore, Maryland.

And Tupac's childhood in Baltimore would later inspire the the wire the wire is based on two-box childhood One of the best shows in HBO history and that's that's not true actually the two-box part It is one of the best shows. It's phenomenal, but it has nothing new to two-box 194 a fiendy 13-year-old two-pock, you know, sec and moved to Baltimore A fiendy tries to make a good life for herself and her kids She's on welfare, but she's also signed up for free computer classes. She's spending her free time making sure her kids are doing well in school when they first get there.

And then shortly after they arrive from New York, Affinity learns that legs, although release from jail has died from a crack-and-dose heart attack, of course he has! I guarantee you fucking get everybody start calling new legs. You got a crack heart attack in your future That hurt Tupac a Fini remembered it was three months before he cried and when he did he said I miss my daddy Man tough what a tough childhood. That's it when you're crying over daddy legs That is not a good childhood a Fini enrolled Tupac in Roland Park middle school and check out this description of Tupac from a former classmate around this time. Very different from the Tupac we would all come to know. On his on his first day in mid November

he walked into home room late. He wore baggy pants of thin blue fabric like surgical scrubs with staples and circling the bottom of each leg along the hem. The pants hung loosely from his skinny frame below generic long sleeve shirt tucked in the waist, uh, tucked at the waist where a drawstring held a rag tag or held the rag tag and stumble in place. His hair was lopsided like some two tiered wannabe bobby brown cut that that alone puts such a picture of my brain. And he, and he exposed poorly kept unfinished braces along both rows of teeth with every parting of his lips. Only the metal anchors were in place on each tooth. There was no wires connecting them. That is the worst.

That is terrible. What an image. When you just had the little metal anchors still in your teeth, that's when you know you're super poor, like when your family can't afford to have one more appointment just to get those things off. So they're doing no good. They're not moving your teeth around at all.

You just have like little metal. It's like the shittiest grill, like an early grill, like the worst one ever. Oh, so he's an object of ridicule for two years, he attended Roland Park. Of course he was. You're gonna, I guarantee you, if you put your kid in a school

and they have the metal anchors on their teeth, but nothing attaching them, like braces are supposed to, that's how you guarantee your kid is an object or a ridicule, but he does do well in school. He does do well in school. He enjoys learning. He enjoys being there. Christopher Wallace around this time,

getting substantially less interested in school. By 1985, 13 year old, future notorious BIG, Christopher Wallace is nearly six feet tall and thick. He had the build for football, but didn't want to play. Didn't want to really commit to anything school related. He's becoming disillusioned with school and kind of traditional careers, possibilities.

He left Catholic school behind a school that at once graduated New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He left that for Westington, Westinghouse High School, whose alumni includes other hip hop, stars DMX, JZ, Busta Rhymes. It's pretty cool. Pretty cool that so many hip hop giants went to that same high school. Not sure how many hip hop legends went to my high school.

Sam and River High in Riggand, Idaho has, if I remember correctly, I think, zero future hip hop stars that went there. Not positive, but I'm pretty sure it's zero. And you can just replace hip hop with almost any other word and have that still work. Like how many future business stars came from, Rickens, zero. How many future just musicians of any kind?

Zero. How many doctors, zero? Lawyers, zero. I don't know if that's true, actually. But it feels like it. 1996 Chris became a smart ass with teachers grew restless. 1966, uh, he heard about how much money was being made selling crack on a 48 hours TV special with Dan Rather Realized other kids around his age 13 14 weren't asking their mom for ice cream money anymore. They're making some bank selling that rock cocaine

That is hilarious to me, man. Biggie getting the idea to sell crack from Dan Rather. It reminds me to start a breaking bad. When Walter White watches a news clip of his brother-in-law Hank making a meth bust, and yeah, the first episode on the pilot and he sees a whole bunch of cash piled up on the table. He's like, how much money is that, Hank? And Hank says, it's about 700 grand, and the idea to make meth is born. Like, who hasn't thought, up for a second, about making fast money, illegal or not? Oh man, I had crazy illegal fantasies grown up.

I was gonna, I don't know, rob something, make a much cast, or, you know, I had drug dealing fantasies. I mean, I didn't act on it in any way, but I was like, oh man, they'd be so great just to make all that cast. Chris had previously thought about becoming a commercial artist in art school, the I was like, oh man, they'd be so great to just make like a cash. Chris had previously thought about becoming a commercial artist in art school.

The Pratt Institute was right down the street and commercial artists lived in his neighborhood, but why struggle as an artist for years when you can make good money selling crack right now? And that is literally the first thing I think when I wake up each morning. Why am I trying to write jokes? Why am I killing myself, researching every week?

When I can be making good money, right now, sell me some crack. Like how many crack dealers could be in Cordelay and Idaho right now? I'm guessing maybe zero. There could possibly be no crack being sold in Cordelay right now. I haven't noticed a single crack dealer

hanging around the suck dungeon. I could own the entire crack market. I could go on the dark web and give me some bitcoins, order me some bigelbox of crack, all the extra large box of crack please, and then just get to work. I might do that tomorrow. I'm gonna fucking Amazon me some crack over here and start. So when you guys come by the suck dungeon, stay for, you know, come check out a podcast and buy some fucking crack. Buy, buy me some crack, buy some of my crack. I wanted to go hide there for some reason.

Come buy my crack. The guy who just, he's so irritated that you're not buying his crack. Just walk up in the back of my crack. Chris's mom, let her, let her say, that Chris was a good kid up until the age of 13. And then at 13, he transitioned from Christopher to notorious. At first, Chris hid his new crack to life from his mom.

He'd wear the clothes she bought him when she was home. He'd hide the much more expensive clothes. And, jewelry, he bought with a crack money on the roof. He'd change on the roof, and then he'd come down the side of the building, go to school. And then when he'd come home,

he'd go up the side of the building on the roof, change back into his mom's clothes, and then come back in the house. That's something that's something so cute and tragic about that, right? Like, he's enough of adult or of an adult to make money selling crack, but still enough of a kid to worry about his mom

catching him selling crack. School, the former honor role student began missing more and more classes, more and more truancy letters, started showing up at his home in sophomore year. His mom begged him to stay in school but it was just too much money to be made selling crack. Just come back crack, come back crack. He'd later to be made selling cracks. Come on, my crack! Come get my crack!

He'd later say he's making $1,200, $1,300 a day selling crack is a teen by 16. He'd drop out of school altogether. So crack full time. But he'd also, I wonder if you put that in a resume, like from like, you know, like 83 to 84, it was part time crack dealer. Full time crack supervisor from 85 87.

Uh, but yes, so by 16 to drop out of school altogether, sell a full time, but he was still live at home for a while. So again, cute and sad ready to be a full time crack dealer, not ready to leave mama, but what about Pock? What's Pock up to in the mid 80s? Back in 1985, two Pock started sucking dick for crack for two full years, 85 to 87. He would do nothing but suck dick for crack. Uh, no, sorry.

Whenever I hear about crack, I think about stories of people hitting rock bottom, selling everything they have, and eventually sucking dick to get a little more crack. Uh, by the way, once I start selling crack, you don't get suck my dick for crack, all right? I think I can talk my wife and let me sell crack. I can't talk her into letting people suck my dick for crack. So just I want to be clear on that. You want to come by the suck dungeon, you want to come back crack? You want to come back, grab some crack.

I'll sell it to you, but stay with my dick. No, 85, two pox starts attending Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School in Baltimore. He additions for the Baltimore School for the arts. Lanzas spotted a much sought at that much sought after institution. He said, the high school I went to is mostly for white kids who for the Arts. Land's a spot at that much sought after institution. He said, the high school I went to was mostly for white kids who reached minorities. He'd be a drama major, and he found himself immersed in a strong academic program,

and a broad range of arts instruction, which included voice and ballet. That's pretty cool. Tupac's attending the Baltimore School for the Arts harnessed his creative talent, given him an outlet for his expression, or his creative expression, and focus his desires for the future. It was during the Baltimore years that Tupac wrote his first rap, called himself MC Pudden

Pop. His first song was a parody of Old MacDonald had a farm, it was called Old King Kong had a mom. It was about US race relations, about how King Kong represented slavery, and his hunters represented white oppression. King Kong, grabbing that white woman, represented the fear of of the black man taking white women away from white men. And the name put in pop was a reference to Malcolm X Malcolm X speech about how Putin represented oppression it, but put in pops represented freedom and King Kong was mad because he missed his mom

and his mom represented Africa and Africa representing pudding and pudding represented pops. And this whole policy put pudding pop shit represents nonsense Did I make up from time to time that was all bullshit? That was all bullshit His first rap name was MC New York glad he didn't stick with that kind of kind of generic kind of whack His actual name way better two pop participated in high school rap competitions Mining the drama of his past he drew his first rhymes from instant involving the shooting of a friend.

Word got around. He had skills. He began to dream of someday landed a record deal, become and re you know, recognize in the hip hop community. You know, him and about a million other teenagers are dreaming that two pop met two people at the Baltimore drama school who would become his lifelong friends. J to pink it, aka future Mrs. Will Smith and a white guy named John Cole, future, uh, some white guy named John Cole.

And he would later immortalize both friends and one of his many poems, which have all been published in a collection entitled The Rose that grew from concrete, very critically acclaimed by the way and still selling still selling a lot of copies. Pretty amazing. How much content two pop put out in such a short time and to do all so young. Pretty sure I wrote a bit of poetry in high school. Very glad no one's ever found it. Again, unlike Christopher Wallace, Tupac love school. It was his great escape.

You know, it was an escape from a tough, unstable home life, escape from the streets. He was happy at school. He didn't have to pretend to be, you know, tough. He didn't pretend to have to have a toughness. He didn't feel. He was intellectually curious. He excelled in his classes. He was getting better and better with his, you know tough, you know, pretend to have to have a toughness. He didn't feel he was intellectually curious. He excelled in his classes, was getting better and better with his, with his, you know,

Ryman. He's a time sucker. Jada Pinkett would later recall how poor Tupac was around this time. She later explained, I mean, when I met Tupac and this is not an exaggeration, he owned two pairs of pants and two sweaters. He slept on a mattress with no sheets when I went into his room and it took me a long time to get into his house because he was embarrassed. He didn't know where his meals were coming from. Yeah, that is, that is poor.

Rather than hang around the apartment, he was embarrassed by two-poch state, which is his friend, John Colm, much the time. Two-poch had fun over at Johns with people streaming through, you know, through the place all the time. There was food, liquor, and weed. There were clothes, other amenities like sheets for beds that most people took for granted. You know, for two-pock John's world was like falling into a gold mine

Eventually John moved in with his older brother in reservoir Hill just a mile away Wasn't as nice as John's family home But it was good enough and two-pock didn't hesitate to join him since it was still far better than living at home So two-pock he didn't take up much space in the two bedroom apartment He and John slept on different couches while John's brother and a friend named Richard took the two bedrooms. John and two pox spent much time discussing everything from political systems to metaphysics. They're bond-strengthed by John's dating Jada and then suddenly it was over.

Two-poch arrived home at Reservoir Hill. One day he was told that you have to move out. John's brother moved into another building. John wasn't coming around anymore and suddenly two-poch was staying in the apartment with John's brother moved into another building. John wasn't coming around anymore and suddenly two Pock was staying in the apartment with John's brother's friend Richard who wasn't interested in having a high school student live with him. And then in the middle of a junior year after two Pock had completed his college applications, his mom, a Fini got evicted from her apartment and decided to leave the state altogether. So since two Pock was under age, he couldn't stay at Richard's house without her consent.

So then she didn't give it. So two Pock and sec would have to leave Baltimore and go stay with an old political friend of a fiendies, an old black panther, Comrade, Asante in Marin City, California. Having to leave BSA, devastated Tupac, changed the course of his life when he climbed onto the bus that would take him to the West Coast. He carried five dollars in his pocket and four chicken wings in a paper bag. Can you imagine that level of poverty? Heading out on a bus to take you across the entire country with five dollars and four

chicken wings. God, I hope that was exaggerated. Like, I've been poor here and there. I was poor here and they're growing up, but I was like biggie poor. I was never four chicken wings and five bucks on a bus poor. 1988, two-pock and in second-riving Marin City across the bay from Oakland. He was 17 years old. She's 13.

Asante lived in a poor housing complex that was rife with crime. In fact, Marin's crime rate had sort of such levels that people referred to the community as the jungle at that time. Asante had agreed to house them. So Fini sent the kids ahead of her until she could come up with some money for a ticket of her own. I mean, again, super poor. And then one day she got a call from a Santa saying the kids needed a new home.

She didn't want to have them live in there anymore. When Fini got to Marin City, a Santa is nowhere to be found. Two pockets, a sack, or with the neighbor, a Fini has no idea what her kids have, you know, or had no idea what her kids were enduring. I guess a Santa was a raging alcoholic who often passed out on the floor,

would just lay there sleeping for hours, didn't cook regular meals, never lost an opportunity to let the kids know their presence was a burden. So, you know, he's not enjoying California initially. And he's not, and Tupac is not well-liked in his new neighborhood either. It was no haven for a dude who'd recently been studying creative arts,

hearing a little money as a pizza delivery boy, you know, tried to, pizza delivery dude, the source I read from said boy, it's kind of a weird, I think he was a dude. I think he was a dude. Try to pretend not to care about books and formal education. I didn't fit in two-pocalypse later stated.

I was the outsider. I dressed like a hippie. They teased me all the time. I couldn't play basketball. I didn't know who basketball players were. I was a target for street gangs. They used to jump me. I thought it was weird because I was writing poetry and I hated myself. I was a target for street gangs. They used to jump me. I thought it was weird because I was writing poetry

and I hated myself. I used to keep it a secret. I was really a nerd. Well, he was a nerd who was gonna turn that skill soon into a lot of money. Life got even worse when a fiendy started using drugs again. Local rapper Mani Man remembered the two-pock stayed with us for a little while because his sister was dating my brother.

And that wasn't all the two-pock was doing. I was broke, nowhere to stay, I smoked weed, I hung out with drug dealers, pimps and criminals, there were the only people who cared about me at that point. My mom was lost at that particular moment. She wasn't caring about herself, she was addicted to crack. I was, I was giving something to crack! It was hard because she was my hero. I didn't have enough credits to graduate, I dropped out,

I said I gotta get paid, I gotta find a way to make a living, start selling drugs for like two weeks. And the drug dealer said, give me my drugs back because I didn't know how to do it. Well, meanwhile, on the other side of the country in the late 80s, Christopher Wallace did know how to do it. He was great at selling drugs.

And early, 1988, 16 year old Chris Wallace meets Jan Jackson, not Janet, Jan. Future mother of his first child and on again, off again, love interest. The two teens feel hard for each other. She'd say he had the charisma of more than five men. Said he had a crazy amount of sex appeal for a big guy. Around this time, he's also getting pretty enamored with hip hop, working on his rhymes whenever he's not busy on the street.

Starts to get a reputation for someone who has some real freestyle talent. He got really to run DMC and LL Cool J. Isn't that crazy man with Biggie Smalls with 16, he was listening to LL Cool J. Who looks 40 now. Didn't you actually that James Todd Smith, AKA LL Cool J, is 68 years old. 68 years old.

You know that? He's not. He's 50. But he started putting out records on his like 17. So it feels like he should be 68. He was, he was into boogie down productions. Eric B and rock him ultra magnetic mcs his main influence with big daddy Kane. Bigging his friends used to mess around at one of his friends house with the turntable spitting rhymes for fun challenging each other. How did you get the MC name of Biggie Smalls? Well, one day, he and his teenage buddies were watching an old Bill Cosby, Sydney Poitier movie called,

Let's Do It Again in a Days in Lobby in Raleigh, North Carolina. And one of the characters was named Biggie Smalls. Chris liked it because it was both gangster and funny. Now, why were they in Raleigh, North Carolina? Well, in a word, crack. They started taking bus trips in Raleigh, North Carolina? Well, in a word, crack. They started taking bus drops, started taking bus trips to Raleigh to sell coke and crack to college kids. Come get some of my crack.

In 1989, Wallace does not get arrested for drugs. He never would, but he does get arrested. He gets a nab with an illegal gun. He's 17. He gets five years probation for having a loaded loaded unregistered firearm in his possession. From 1990 to 1992, Biggie and a New York buddy rented a house in Raleigh, sold a soldier crack down south. Chris kept selling crack and kept his rhyming as a hobby, writing rhymes in a notebook in

his spare time. He was taking trips back to New York City on a regular basis. Get more that crack! Well, he's got a fucking refuel. The hip-hop scene there was exploding. Old friends of his are getting minor record deals. They're getting meetings with A and R reps. Biggie doesn't try for any of that.

He'd later say he was too worried about being rejected. Isn't that funny? How people can be? He has no problem going down to North Carolina and sell some crack, but he can't handle possibly getting rejected by a record label. So he just kept dealing drugs, kept practicing. And then he met the man who would take him under his wing, mentor him, a man who would

change hip hop forever. Robert Matthew Van Winkle, a K a vanilla ice, sing it with me. Dance. Bum large to speak of that. Boom's killing your brain like a poisonous mushroom deadly when I play a dope melody, anything less than the best is a felony. Love it. Leave it.

You better gain weight You better hit bulls out the kid, don't play, if there was a problem yo, I'll solve it. Check out the hook What my DJ revolves it, ice, ice, baby Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom of its skills from vanilla ice and another 25% from the fat boys. I eat, I need it. Jelly roll will it? Good for the mind. Body and so I eat it. I need it. Jelly roll.

Who are the fat boys you ask? Three gold records, motherfucker. That's who. One platinum record. One especially terrible movie called disorder lease in 1987 where they work at a hospital and their buffoons. But the fat boys have nothing to do with today's show. It needed us to analyze.

Now one day back in New York City, Chris was hanging out with a minor local DJ named 50 grand. He and some other hustlers went to 50's house where he put ultimate breaks and beats volume 24 on the term table and big he grabbed the mic. And the room was mesmerized as he wrapped like a man possessed. 50 grand convincing to record a tape with him in the house, just right away. And then late in September 1991, DJ 50 grand

brought the tape to DJ Mr. C, a man who just finished a tour with Big Daddy Kane. He was mesmerized when he heard it a few weeks later, Mr. C and DJ 50 grand told Biggie they were gonna try and get him a record deal. I wonder if 50 grand has anything to do with 50 cents name? Like maybe, maybe 50 cent, one of 50 grand, but it was already taken, and then maybe there's some other local New York rapper named like 50 bucks, some dude in Queens, going by 50 mil, and he's just like, ah, fuck it,

I'll take 50 cent then. Well, Biggie and 50 grand made a cleaner recording of that initial rod demo, Well, Big In 50 grand made a cleaner recording of that initial rod demo and they get the tape to Mateo, Capulango. One of the editors at the source magazine, the hip hop magazine. Matt would say that Big E was like Kane reincarnated. He loved it immediately and Big E was featured in the popular unsigned hype column of the magazine. That's a magazine, by the way. I had a subscription to No J joke in 1994 and in 1995. And I'm guessing I've had the only source magazine subscription in history that has ever been

delivered to Rick inside of home. God, I felt cool getting a fresh copy of the source. And yes, I wore a giant starter jacket when I read it, redskins. Yes, I sagacked my jeans. Yes, I was so dope. And by dope, I mean, not dope. 1993, the new Biggie tape made its way to Sean Puffy coms. P. Diddy wasn't known by P. Diddy yet, but he will be P. Diddy was then a young talent director and uptown records where he worked with groups like heavy D and the boys, Mary J. Blige around 93. He was already turning into a taste maker already become in puff daddy, puff diddy, puff digels worth puff ding dong puff fucking diddle in your niddle puff magic dragon. I made up the last four or five of those.

Puff was a pioneer of hip hop soul, marrying hip hop beats to R&B vocals. You just crafted a new jodicy and married Jay blige albums, turn him into huge hits. You know, he's making a name for the label, he's killing it, he's turning up town into a major player, but he's not satisfied. He wants something more raw, something more real. And then he hears that biggie tape, and it was like nothing he had ever heard before. Legend has it, he fucking whipped his dick out and masturbated for 17 minutes in front of a room full of execs. He was like, I like this.

I like it. He didn't do that, but he did love it. And he knew what it, you know, he knew this was what he was looking for. Biggie was so sure, or big excuse me, Biggie was not so sure about puff daddy. He didn't want to be on a label right away with acts like heavy D and Jotice. He didn't feel like they would understand him, but Puffy convinced him they could make an album by the summer and they would let him do it You know his way and the signing process begins almost immediately in the first track He records is a Mary J. Blige real love remix

Well, you know, so now fucking biggies on the radio and then that summer while waiting for the paperwork to finalize You know he's on the radio, but he's not getting paid. And he finds out that his on again, off again, girlfriend, Jan, not Jan is Jackson is pregnant. So you know, he's got to make some money quick. And he's frustrated. This record deal hasn't been finalized. Hasn't gotten past lawyers so we can actually get paid. So he held, he heads back to Raleigh to sell some more crack. Come get my crack.

It's crazy, man. He's got a record deal waiting for him. He's got a song on radio. He's going to sell some more crack. What about Pock though It's crazy, man. He's got a record deal. Wait, for him, he's got a song on a radio. He's going to sell some more crack. What about Pock, though? What's going on with Pock and late 80s? Back in 88, now on the West Coast, 17-year-old Tupac, not selling crack, not selling drugs.

Is crashed in different places while mom, a feigny searches for an actual place for them to live. She finally finds an apartment, and instead of turning it into a home, she just turns it into a place where she can smoke some more crack. So much crack in this episode. Tupac also gaining a reputation as someone who's truly stunning on a microphone. His freestyle reputation made his way to a white music promoter named Lila or Lila.

Lila, Lila Steinberg. And Lila quickly becomes like a half mom, half manager person for Tupac. Gives him his stability he'd never had. And Tupac moves in with Lila and her family. She'd grown up as a social activist herself and she saw some of the special impacts. She was a stepdaughter of an LA criminal defense lawyer. She'd grown up in Watts in the 60s and 70s. She understood all about police brutality and racism, the stuff that two-pock spoke about. I'll either recall the teenage two-pock truly believed he could change the world. And in a way, I guess he would go on to do that.

And Lee the introduced two-pop to up and coming Oakland hip-hop group, a group you've hopefully heard of, digital underground. The Humpty dances, yo, chants, do the hump. Oh, oh, do me, baby. Do the Humpty, huh? I do the Humpty, huh? Oh my God, I must listen to that song a million times

going up. So much good music in this episode. Digital Underground that I'm ruining for you, by the way, by singing Digital Underground, fronted by Gregory E. Shock G. Jacobs, the funky dude, always wearing fur coats and that head that prosthetic nose. And two-pock started off as Shock G's rowdy. Isn't that fucking crazy, man? It's a good make-up, pay your dues, man.

Starting off at the bottom, Shock G's rowdy. And then worked his way into being a backup dancer for Shock G, just like J-Lo, starting off as a dancer 1990. The Humpty Dance comes out as the first song to pop would come out on stage and dance to his hip hop debut. The Humpty Dance comes a huge hit. Two pop goes on tour with the group, US, Japan, wall on tour, his mom, a few of his scores a hit of her own.

Actually, she scores several hits, uh, crack hits. Uh, she scores a lot of hits on the crack pipe. She was a multi-platinum smoking crack pipe artist at this point. She'd gotten clean for a little while. But then someone came by and was like, hey, I know you're clean right now, but what do you think about smoking some more crack? What do you think about smoking some more?

It's crack! I can't smoke some more crack! And that's when she went back to smoking crack immediately. On the Digital Underground's next album, this is an EP release. Two-Pock makes his hip-hop album, Dave B debut as a vocalist. He gets a solo spot on same song that all around the world, same song, all around the world. And that would be, you know, the very first track and what would become the huge canon of Two-Pock's work. A soundtrack,

man, that was the beginning of the pop. That song was used in 1991. The super weird but I like it movie. I have nothing but trouble with John Candy, Dan Acroid, Chevy Chase, Demi Moore. And then two pock took the beginning of his music career seriously, real seriously. He got into some fights with Jacques G. During the this is an EP release sessions. He would get fired, he'd get rehired, he had to be physically restrained from attacking the sound man at one point because he didn't feel like the guy was working hard enough to produce the best possible sound for the recording. He was a hothead, but he was talented. He was talented enough for Shock G and the group to put up with it.

Not only did they not let him go, they also helped him get his first apartment. Things were bad with mom at this time, which is not a surprise. Sounds like they kind of always are. His little sister, you know, still just 13, living with a 20-year-old crack, selling boyfriend. That's not good. Mom's on crack, that's not good. In 1991, two-pock stepped on a crack and he broke his mom's back. So that's not good, all right?

A lot of crack props, a lot of crack in his life. In 1991, Demo Tape, two-pock made, found his way to the head of the then struggling inner scope records, the co-owner of the label, Ted Field, a dude who's still around and is literally a billionaire. He let his 13-year-old daughter who is not living with a crack dealer listen to it and she fell in love with both the album and two pox beautiful eyes.

And that was enough for Interscope to give him a record deal. And two pox debut album Two Pock Alips Now was recorded. The first single trapped released on September 25, 1991, not your typical gangster rap. The album dealt with social issues imprison prism and through poverty, police harassment. And then shortly after the album's release, two-pock experienced police brutality himself on October 17th, 1991. He's jail walking across Oakland Street

on the way to the bank. Two white police officers, Alexander Boyovich and Kevin Rogers stopped him and asked for his ID. He produced it. They made fun of his name, Two-pock. He demanded that they give him this ticket and let him go. Things got verbally heated. The officers threw Tupac on the ground, scratched up his face, gave him scars, carried the

rest of his life, and choked him unconscious. The incident made headlines, Tupac would sue the police force, and they would settle with him out of court. November 21st, the full album of Tupac lips now is released to enter scope records. It's rock, explosive, He's a man on fire The album spoke to the truth of pox life One song brand has got a baby was about a 12-year-old girl who had a baby cast out by her family throws the baby to dumpster Here in his Christ she retrieves it

But then she ends up working as a prostitute to try and get money to feed the baby and she gets killed by a John And you're left to wonder what happened to the baby rolling Rolling Stone would call it the feel good song of the year. Uh, no, of course not. Uh, it's very, very, uh, yeah, he's been some serious fucking heavy shit to talk about. These type of songs endeared him to kids struggling across America. He wasn't just a hip hop artist. He was a social activist, right?

Uh, 1992, two-pop now a hip hop star appears in the movie juice. He was great. I remember watching it. Uh, juice was slang, uh, slang term for having power, influence, and respect in the movie Juice. He was great. I remember watching it. Juice was slaying uh slaying term for having power, influence and respect in the hood. Two pop played a trouble teenager named Bishop who lived with his grandma and dad. And once seen Bishop is told by another character, Q, these crazy and Bishop says, you're right. I am crazy. But you know what? I'll go fuck. That line seemed to have written to be written about two pop himself, man. What was really crazy was that lesson three years,

Tupac had gone from a homeless teen to a multi-platam selling hip-hop artist and movie star. But not everybody's a fan. An attorney for a 19-year-old man named Ronald Ray Howard from Texas claimed music from Tupac lips now convinces clients to shoot a Texas state trooper in 1992. The accusation made Tupac pocket enemy of white suburban America and conservative political leaders. Vice President Dan Quail said that two-packs music had no place in our

society. And everybody stopped listening to it because you know what, fucking Vice President Dan Quail, that's a tastemaker right there. When that guy, when that guy would say, he's telling you, you go, okay, all right, man, Quail said it, turn it off. No, no one fucking cared what Quail said. Possibly the least respected vice president in the history of politics, by the way. Tupac also became an enemy back in Oakland. The people still living in the neighborhood. He was describing his music.

They were still living there. I weren't happy about him describing it as a place for the drugs, murder, and hopelessness. So as a way of an apology, he agrees to perform at the Marin City Festival in 1992, and then things don't go well. Apology not accepted. Fight breaks out between two pox entourage and other concert goers, a gun is fired in the crowd and a six year old boy is shot in the head. And he's killed. And the crowd blames two

pox and his friends and he has to hide under a car to hide from a mob of angry people until the police arrive and restore order. Two pox then tries to do something else good that it doesn't work out well. He launches a social reform banner under the ill-named term, I would say, thug life, which he said, you know, stood for as an acronym, the hate you give little infants fucks everyone. You know, which is cool, but most Americans just just see the word thug. Tupac also had this acronym tattooed across the stomach around this time so people wouldn't forget where he came from.

But again, when people see pictures of him, they don't think like, oh, he's standing up for kids. They just think, oh, he's a gangster. Tupac started gaining reputation as a womanizer as well. Uh, of course he did. He's 20 years old. He's single. The woman are hanging around backstage at concerts begging to have his baby.

The hung around his oakland apartment, uh, waiting for him to come home, offering him anything you wanted. Lucifina has surrounded him. Begone Lucifina, or come to my hotel room for a little bit, Lucifina. Is that lingerie? Is Lucifina you got another place? Are you wearing a guard belt?

Lucifina, get on in here. Lucifina, come on in. February 1st, 1993, two-pop releases is second album, strictly for my N-I-G-G-A-Z. The source called it a combination of 60s black political thought, 90s urban reality. And the controversy around him deepens.

One song on the album, I get around, I get around. Ah, such a good song. It was labeled a misogynistic and it was banned on various radio stations, got two-pop in trouble with a large percentage of women. But now, I wanted to be easily labeled two-pop. Also, had the song keep you head up on the same record, a song acknowledging the struggle specific to black women, a very pro woman song. Talked about how they were stepping outside and their cutest clothes, even though they were dying inside. Also, defend single moms, live in ungovernment assistance.

Song's video was dedicated to Natasha Harlan, a young black teen who had been shot to death in a grocery store by Korean owner who thought she was trying to steal some orange juice. And the killer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and didn't serve a single day in jail. March 13, 1993, Tupac got into an altercation with the limo driver while waiting to appear on in living color. My favorite sketch show was a kid. He was charged with assault, released on bail. Later that same month, Tupac took a swing in a Michigan rapper with a baseball bat and

Lansing spent 10 days in jail. Uh, and then on July 23rd, 1993, poetic justice is released. Right. John Singleton film starting to pop is the love interest of Janet Jackson. Cause a lot of drama on set, but director Singleton didn't seem to mind. He would say he was a wild cat. But he was 21 years old. He was making a movie with Janet Jackson. And three years previously, he'd been practically homeless.

Of course, he was going to act up. He was a kid. All the weed he can smoke, every girl wants to sleep with him, every cat wants to be cool with him. You think you wouldn't lose your mind? I fucking love it when people are just honest about shit like that. You know, because so many people are like,

hey, there's no excuse for him acting up. There's no. Look at him being all promiscuous. There's no excuse. Shut the fuck up. He's 21. He's just been giving the keys touous. There's no excuse. Shut the fuck up. He's 21. He's just been giving the keys to everything and he had nothing.

Fuck off course, he's gonna go bananas. Critics loved him in the movie. He was nominated for an NAACP award for leading man. Also 1993, Tupac heard a song called party and bullshit. By man, known as Biggie Smalls. Maybe you've heard of him in this episode so far. Then a relatively unknown artist. Meanwhile, while Tupac is rehearsing,

making out with Janet Jackson at her hottest, by the way, I had such a crush on her as a teen. Good God, making out with Janet Jackson on the beach and a fucking movie. Biggie, he selling some crack in North Carolina. Go get my crack! So much crack in this suck. Mid 1993, Puffy had to track Chris down and Raleigh to convincing to finally sign the deal

That it take a month to finalize stop selling crack come make a record He shares him there be plenty of money, you know better money than crack money at first big his hesitant He's killing it in Raleigh still two days after puff calls him He gets on a train to head to New York City. He does want it He gets a hundred and twenty five thousand dollar budget from uptown to make a record and for the first time in his life, he folks his all his energy on hip hop. And his first solo track appeared on the hip hop comedy, Who's the Man? That track was the one that Tupac heard and allegedly loved party and bullshit. Shortly after the lease of that song, everything almost ended before it began for Biggie. He and a friend were walking down

Gates Avenue one night, some cops pulled up and Biggie had an unregistered gun on him and the two guys started running and then Biggie tossed the gun. The cops arrested them both and basically told them there's two of you but only one gun figured out, you know, as in figure out who's going to take the fall. Well, Biggie already had one gun charge on his record that we talked about when he got when he 17 and the second meant serious prison time. You know, he's still on probation for that first one. So his friend D rock, even though the gun belong to Biggie, takes the fall and D rock goes to get sentenced to four years in prison had D rock not taken the fall. Biggie, you know, himself goes to prison, most likely for more than four years.

And when he comes out, odds are the hip hop world is not going to wait in form. There's, there's no notorious B.I.G. Isn't it crazy? How things work like that, you know? This one situation goes left instead of going right and everything's changed and none of the big stuff happens. And that's how it happens. And almost the Stroy's Biggie's career before gets really started. Puffy gets fired from Uptown Records, more drama.

In July 1993, just weeks before Wallace's daughter is born, Combs is fired from his job at Uptown to success with Jodasice and Mary J. Blige made him arrogant. Didn't matter that he had the track record to back up his attitude. He's becoming a little bit of problem with the office, a little bit of a cancer in the clubhouse.

Strutting around with a silver briefcase, showing off his sub label logo to everybody talking to anyone who would listen about Bad Boy. Having a street team hit the pavement with flyers of a photo of his godson and a diaper. One hand grabbing his nuts with a caption announcing the next generation of bad mother fuckers. After he's can, I think that's kind of hilarious. After he was canned, label goes to the roster to see who they should, you know, let go, who

they should keep. And I find this next little story hilarious. The president of MCA's secretary had gotten a copy of the lyrics to Biggie's track Dreams. A song that was also known as Dreams of Fucking and R&B Bitch. How different are those two names? Should we call it Song Dreams? Or should we call it Dreams of Fucking and R&B Bitch? Very, very different feel each title gives off. It was a little fantasy-ditty about Biggie having sex with almost every male major female singer in the business. It was lyrics like,

shoday, ooh, I know that pussy's tight. Smack Tina Turner, give her flashbacks of Ike. The secretary was horrified and Biggie was dropped. God, it would have been fun. It would have been fun to be in a fly on the wall as those record execs listen to that track, just just being so shocked and offended Just deliciously uncomfortable. Well to his credit coms is not lost interest in biggie Not even a little bit he spends the summer 93 reassuring biggie's gonna make it all work Gonna make it all better gonna get a new situation and then he's fortunate enough to score a meeting with Clive Davis the head of a Ristah records when the two men meet in the aristofices

They're mutually impressed coms impressed with Davis's stature and smarts. Davis impressed with Combs' ambition and perspective. A deal of struck. Davis is gonna give Combs 1.5 mil in an advance and complete creative control. Combs immediately uses the money to buy back from Harold, the tracks that have been used, already been record, excuse me, for Wallace's first album. And then they get back to work, you know,

creating a hit record. Well Wallace wanted to make, you know, one of those kind of violent, dark, enumerous records that like Snoop was making out west, or the Scarface was making down south, my mom's playing trick, saw me. But he wanted to do it with some each coach's flavor. From his perspective as a former dealer, he knew he could bring a new level of realism to his rhymes about the game. The album's rather morbid title, Ready to Die, was Puffs Idea, and it was released on September 13th, 1994 on Bad Boy Records and Arista Records.

It would go gold in two months, platinum in just over a year, and it would go on to be one of the most critically acclaimed hip-hop albums of all time. It's at least a quadruple platinum as of this recording, and the album released at the time when the West Coast, West Coast West Coast hip hop was prominent on US charts, according to Rolling Stone, almost single-handedly shifted the focus back to East Coast rap. Life is looking good, real good for Biggie now. He just got married on August 4, 1994,

Wallace Mary's R&B singer, Faith Evans, after they met at a bad boy photo shoot, she quickly gets pregnant with his second child. Things are going pretty well, you know, for Biggie. And things are going pretty well and horrific for two pock in their early 90s. February 1st, 1993, two pocks, second studio albums, strictly for my N-I-G-G-A-Z,

released in February 1993. The album is better than his debut, both critically and commercially. Debuts a number 24 on Billboard 200. Generally considered his breakout album, right? Spawn the hits, keep your head up and I get around. You talked about that a little bit ago. The acronym stands for Never Ignint Getting Goals, Accomplished the Z Makes It Plural.

And I'm sure he enjoyed making white kids across American nervous as to whether or not it was okay to say the name of his album. Rolling Stone gave it five stars. He'd blown the fuck up. He's on top of the world. Late 1993, he forms his side group, Thug Life, with a number of his friends, and his new step brother, a Mo Prem, Shaqur,

the group released their only album, Thug Life, volume one, on September 24th, 1994, it goes gold. It's originally released by Shaqur's label out of the gutta records. Got his own label now, making some of that label money. And then two-pog briefly dated Madonna in 1993. After Rosie Perez introduced him at the Soulta records, got his own label now, making some of that label money. And then two-pock briefly dated Madonna in 1993, after Rosie Perez introduced them at the Soul Train Awards

in LA, so life is good. But then things quickly take a turn for the words. In November 1993, she core and some members of his entourage, her charge was sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. She core denied the charges. According to Shecore, he had prior relations days earlier with the woman that were consensual. The woman did admit she performed oral sex on Shakur that visit the complain the complainant.

She claimed that sexual assault after her second visit to Shakur's hotel room. She alleged that Shakur and his entourage raped her. The woman testified that she had consensual oral sex with Mr. Shakur at a nightclub actually four days earlier, but in the hotel room, she said Mr. Shakur wanted to share her with his friends who forced themselves on her. The defense said she had made the accusations out of jealousy when she saw Mr. Shakur with another woman. Well, according to the New York Times, as the victim addressed the court, Mr. Shakur

stared intensely at her, then got up and apologized, but he also went on to say, I'm not apologizing for a crime. And he added, I hope in time you'll come forth and tell the truth. So, you know, he said, she said, a classic situation, but he was found guilty. So there is that he was found guilty of, you know, some sexual assault.

Not good. March 23rd, 1994, his third film is released above the rim. Two-pock stars is the film's villain, a drug dealer named Bertie. The film was a modest success. The soundtrack goes double platinum. Strangely does not feature a two-pack track. Or two-pock track, excuse me.

Does feature the classic regulate by Warren G. A song that went as high as number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. A huge hit, man. Regulators mount up. And a song that samples if you remember correctly, Michael Mother fucking McDonald. Samples, I keep forgetting, right?

Check it out, check it out, listen to the Warren G. Regular. Mount up. It was a clear black night, a clear white moon when the G was on the streets. Ah, who doesn't recognize that little track? Now, let's now hear Michael McDonald's. I keep forgetting things will never be the same again.

I keep forgetting how you made it so clear. Oh man, always, always, look at Vernicus, to sneak in a little triple amp. That was, that was a natural one. That was an even if you're sick of the Michael McDonald's, you gotta admit, that one at least makes sense for the episode. Okay, well then, on the night of November 30th, 1994, the day before the verdict in his sexual abuse trial

was to be announced, Shakur experiences even more negativity in his life. This one not brought on by himself. This one brought on by some others. He's robbed and shot five times. By three men in the lobby of Quad recording studios, a Manhattan, he'd been out in New York, we've been working on some film and working on that above

the rim movie. Shikor stated that he believed the Robbie was a setup for the attack, wondering why they would take jewelry and leave his Rolex watch. Shikor believed or excuse me, checked out in the Belleview hospital center against doctors orders only three hours after surgery. Man, the dude who was worried about not being tough as a kid, certainly tough now. Shoffe five times walks out of a hospital a few hours after surgery. In the days that followed, he entered the courthouse in a wheelchair.

Excuse me, in the day that followed, he entered the courthouse in a wheelchair, found guilty on three counts of a molestation, found not guilty of six others including Sodomy, stemming from his 1993 arrest for the sexual assault. His road manager, Charles Charles Fuller also charged. In a 1995 interview with Vibe magazine, Shakur accused Sean Combs, Puffy Combs, Puff Daddy, Jimmy Henschman, Biggie, among others, of setting up the quad recording studio as a tack. Vibe would change the names of the accused and salons upon publication, later evidence to not implicate Biggie in the studio assault. When Biggie's entourage went downstairs to

check on the incident She core was being taken out on a stretcher and he gave the finger to all those dudes March 17th 2008 many years later Chuck Phillips would write in the LA Times about an alleged order for the attack on she core He said that but a biggie and puff daddy were advised in advance of what was gonna happen He told us to MTV news. They did not know the assailants were going to be shooting known. In fact, they were going to be supposedly no shooting. They were just going to give him a severe beating, but then two-bock pulled out a gun and it went haywire. Haywire. Excuse me. The article was retracted by the LA Times because it partially relied on FBI documents supplied by a man can make them fraud. It was turned out to be forged.

Interesting story though. So now this East Coast, West Coast, Biggie, two-pock feud. Now it's on for real. So how did it start? Well, it did start with this incident. Actually, two-pock and Biggie were friends before this. They first encountered each other in 1993 and Los Angeles. They're on business. The Brooklyn bread rapper Biggie asked the local drug dealer to introduce him to two-pock who invited Biggie and his party to his house. There he shared with them a big freezer. This is a quote, big freezer bag of the greenest vegetables I'd ever seen. And then two-pock got him high, pulled out a green army bag

filled with hand guns and machine guns. So now there we are in the backyard running around with guns just playing. Continues Dan Smalls and the Fader. Luckily they were all unloaded. While we were running around, Pock then walks into the kitchen, starts cooking up for us, cook some steaks.

We were drinking, smoking, all of a sudden, Pock was like, yo, come get it. We go into the kitchen, he has the steaks, he has french fries and bread, kool-aid, and we're just sitting there eating and drinking a laughing. And I guess that was the beginning of Biggie and Pock's friendship. I fucking sounds fun.

Other than maybe running around with the guns, that sounds a little dangerous. Tupac, I guess you don't pay Biggie a lot of special attention early on, grooming him, letting him perform his concerts, open up. Biggie even told him he wanted to be a part of another of one of his affiliated groups that that thug live group. But before ready to die, came out biggie worried.

He can miss his shot, considering that his new label, he was signed to bad boy, owned by Sean Puffy, comes, hadn't really taken off yet. You know, he's worried that things are happening quickly enough. And he's complaining and he asked Tupac to take over as this manager, but Tupac doesn't want to. And he says, no, I'm gonna stay with Puff. He'll make you a star. And then the Quad Studio shooting happens.

Studio shooting happens, excuse me. And then rumors now are, you know, maybe Biggie, maybe he felt slighted by a Pock not wanting to work with them. Maybe he's jealous of his success. These rumors started swirling around while two pockets in jail, not sexual assault charge. The two pockets on top, and Biggie's very least is cool with him getting knocked off.

And two Pock would say in an interview, he owed me more than to turn his head and act like he didn't know people were about to blow my fucking head off. And even if Biggie hadn't set him up, he should at least have been able to find out who did it. And he would say, you don't know people were about to blow my fucking head off. And even if Biggie hadn't set him up, he should at least have been able to find out who did it. And he would say, you don't know who shot me in your hometown.

These guys are from your neighborhood. And you place guys with some end bumps that I don't feel comfortable repeating into this episode today. The way Tupac's out, his own friend and betrayed him, a friend whom Tupac had helped acquire fame and fortune, and the food was on

Biggie had disrespected him at the very least if not outright set to kill him and he was gonna go on to release several Distracks attacking Biggie JZ puff daddy other East Coast rappers and subsequent releases and he would just like wish death upon them in And songs talk about how corny and whack they were February 7th 1995 she core is sentenced to the one and a half to four and a half years in prison for the sexual assault. He'd been arrested six times actually since 1993 and incidents ranging from assault to a gunfight. All those previous charges eventually dropped. The judge described his crimes as an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman.

He appeals his case, but because of his considerable legal fees, he can't raise the 1.4 million in bail. March of 1995 is third album, Me Against the World, was released while he's in prison. And it's huge, consider one of the greatest and most influential hip-hop albums of all time. The album sold 240,000 copies in his first week, set in a record for the highest first week sales

for a solo male rap artist at that time. It sold over 3.5 million copies in US alone as of 2011. Me Against the World won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards. In October of 95, after two pockets served nine months behind bars, Shug Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, posted the $1.4 million bail, penning the appeal of two-packs sexual assault conviction,

in exchange for she coer releasing three albums under Death Row label. Man, that is how you negotiate a record deal, I guess. Do it when someone's in prison and wants to get out. And how the fuck did two-buck not have a $1.4 million? She has four albums out. There are selling millions of copies. He's starting a few movies.

He's showing me a killing already off of concerts. Man, record labels, man. So many of them, I guess they're fucking thieves. Or I guess maybe he was just blown all of his money. While serving in sentence, he marries the girl. He started dating the year before him, Keisha Morris on April 4th, 1995. They'd be divorced by 1996. 1994, Keisha Morris was 20.

As fate would have it, she met and fell in love with Tupac at a club in Capitol, New York, to met New York in the summer of 94. While Keisha was attending John J College of Criminal Justice and working as a camp counselor. She was 20, he's 21. So they made it to this club while she's in New York being a camp counselor and he's a huge star. And he ended up getting married and he's behind bars.

It seemed like just kind of like young kind of silly romance and then the union is a no ten months later. So he doesn't, he doesn't ever really have two pockets, he doesn't ever really have any significant romantic relationships. No kids. While in prison, Shikour becomes interested in philosophy, philosophy of war, military strategy by studying the work such as the Prince

by Italian philosopher, Nicolo Machiavelli, and the art of war by Chinese military strategist, Sun Xu. The work's inspired his pseudonym Machiavelli under which he released the album Don Kill, Calumonati. It's a little fun twist in the Luminati, KILL Luminati, the seven day theory. The album presented a stark contrast, kind of some of his previous stuff. Throughout the album, Shikour continued to focus on the themes of pain and aggression, and this album would be one of the most emotionally dark albums of his career.

All eyes on me, the forced due to album by Tupac, recorded in October 95, was released on February 13th, 96 by Shug Knight, Death Row Records, Interscope Records. The album is frequently recognized as one of the crowning achievements of 1990's rap music just in general. Steve Huey of All Music stated that it is easily the best production Tupac's ever had on record. It was certified five times platinum just after just two months of release. Nine times platinum by 1998, that's insane. This album was a huge success. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number

single, How Do You Want It? California Love. It featured five singles and all, the most of any two-packs album, moreover All Eyes On Me, which was the only death row release to be distributed through polygram by way of island records made history as the first double length hip hop solo studio album released for mask consumption it was issued on two compact discs four LPs chart wise it was a second album actually from two-bock to hit

number one on billboard 200 top hip hop album charts by the end of the 96th album had 5 million copies. So 5 million and just what less than less than a year, that's fucking bananas. Man, there's a lot of sales. And then the other one I mentioned that Machiavelli album, the 7-day theory, his fifth and final studio album to be prepared for release while he was still alive was completely finished in a total of just 7 days During the month of August 1996 shortly before his death the lyrics were written and recorded in three days Mixing took an additional four days and still MTV dot com ranked the seven day theory number nine on their greatest hip-hop albums of all time

That's some fucking talent man. Love him or hate him. You can't deny that kind of talent Just in a couple days he could put out an album that a major reviewer would consider one of the best hip hop albums of all time as fuck of bananas. Despite the quick recording time, by the time it would be released, Tupac would be dead. Now back to just a little bit of biggie

because he doesn't have much time left either. August 95, all this forms of protege group of his own, kind of like Tupac's thug life, it was called junior mafia. Mafia being an acronym, stand up for junior. Excuse me, masters at finding intelligent attitudes. Okay, and it feels a little forced, I feel like they just picked mafia

and they're like, yeah, we gotta fuck and come up with something to make this work. Masters, I like that. What, finding attitudes, finding cool attitudes. What's an I word? Finding infamous, now that doesn't make sense. Ignorant, that's the opposite. Fuck it, intelligent.

They released their debut album, Conspiracy. The group consisted of his friends from childhood including rappers such as Lil Kim, Lil Seas, went on to have solo careers. The record went gold, its singles, players Anthem and get money, both featuring Wallace went gold and platinum. Wallace continued to work with R&B artists,

collaborating with R&B groups 112 on only you and total on can't see can't you see both reaching the top 20 of the hot 100. By the end of 95 Wallace was the top selling male solo artist and rapper on the US pop and R&B charts. In July 1995 you appear on the cover of the source with the caption of the King of New York takes over. A reference to his Frank White alias from the 1990 film The King of New York. The source awards in August 1995, he was named best new artist, lyricist of the year, live performer of the year, debut album of the year, at the billboard awards, he was rap artist of the year. Man this guy was just fucking selling crack. Like, what, two years before he was like, okay, I'm gonna swear on my crack. And now he's just nothing but awards.

That's amazing. Yeah, and during this year was big success. He had that big field with Tupac over that recording studio shooting. You know, the Wallace and his entourage were in the same Manhattan based recording studio at the time of the shooting. They denied the accusation. Wallace would say, it just happened to be a coincidence that he was in the studio. He just, he couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time of the shooting, they denied the accusation. Wallace would say it just happened to be a coincidence that he was in the studio.

He just, he couldn't really say who really had something to do with it at the time. So he just kind of leaned the blame on me. March 23rd, 1996, Wallace was arrested outside of Manhattan nightclub for chasing and threatening to kill two autographs, sneakers, smashing the windows of their taxi cap and then pulling one of the fans out and punching them. I just, that, that doesn't really fit today's narrative.

I just thought it was funny. Like, only like the hip hop world, you hear about it, dude, just like beating the fuck out of two fans, you know, apparently they really wanted an autograph and he really didn't want to give them an autograph to the point that he decided to smash in their window and drag them out the car and punch them. Uh, I pleaded guilty to second degree harassment was sentenced to a hundred hours of community service. In mid 96, he was arrested at his home in Tineck, New Jersey for drugs and weapons possession charges

So I guess he would be a arrested earlier. I think I said he didn't ever receive a bust for drugs I was thinking when he was a dealer but later after he ironically gave it up He did get a drug possession charge at least and June 1996 She court releases hit him up a diss song in which he claimed to have sex with Wallace's wife, then estranged, Faith Evans, claimed that Wallace copied his style and his image, Faith would deny later that she ever had sex with two-box. She did claim that he asked her to give him a blowjob one time in a recording studio. And then six months later, the feud ends with Pox Death.

And Biggie never really responded like to two-box diss. Not really. Not like two-box was. Claim it wasn't his style to really get into it that way. September 7th, 1996. On that night, Shakur attends the Bruce Seldon versus Mike Tyson boxing match with Shug Knight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A fight that would last a total of one minute and 49 seconds. Because Tyson in 96 was fighting at a video game level. He was making other professional boxers look like me fighting against any professional boxer. After leaving the match, one of the night's associates spotted Orlando, baby Lane Anderson, a ledge crypts gang member from Compton in the MGM Grand Lobby. Earlier that year, Anderson and a group of crypts had robbed a member of death rose entourage in a foot locker store. Night's associate told Shakur and Shakur attacked Anderson

along with his huge entourage. This fight was captured on a hotel surveillance video. I've seen it numerous times. It's like 10 dudes against one. After the brawl, Shakur went with Knight to then the then death row owned club 6662, now known as the restaurant club seven. At 11 11.05 pm, they were halted on Las Vegas Boulevard by Metro

bicycle police for playing the car stereo to Laudey not having license plates, which were in the Trunken Nights car. The party was released a few minutes later without incidents 11 10 pm while they were stopped at a red light at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Cobal Lane in front of the maximum hotel of vehicle occupied by two women pulls up on the left side, Shakur standing up through the sunroof exchange words with the women invited them to club 662. At 1115 a white four door late model Cadillac with unknown occupants pulls up to the sedan's right side, someone inside rolls down a window and rapidly fires gunshots at Shakur.

He's hit four times twice in the chest once in the arm, once in the thigh, one of the bullets went into his right lung. Night was hit himself in the head by bullet fragments. Chris Carroll, the first Las Vegas police officer to arrive on the scene, was able to hear Shakur's last words, which were fuck you. Carroll reports that he refused to say another word to him or another officer. And then according to an interview with Music Video Director Goby, while at the hospital, Shakur received news from a death row marketing employee that shooters had received or excuse me, shug received news from a death row marketing employee that the shooters had alleged had called the record company and we're going to come finish off Shakur.

Goby informed the Las Vegas police but said the police claimed to be under staff. No attackers came at the hospital. Shakur was heavily sedated place on life support machines. Ultimately put under a barbiturate induced coma. After repeatedly, I guess trying to get out of bed, many of the tough motherfucker can't even speak. I'll shout out when he's still trying to like pull himself out of bed while the intensive

care unit on the afternoon, while in the intensive care unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996 Shakur died from internal bleeding. Doctors just couldn't stop some hemorrhaging. He was pronounced dead at 4.03 pm, the official cause of death, respiratory failure from multiple gunshot wounds and cardio pulmonary arrest from multiple gunshot wounds. Rumors of Wallace's involvement with Shakur's murder were reported almost immediately. A two-part series, Chuck Phillips wrote for the LA Times in 2002, was called Who Killed Tupac Shakur based on police reports and multiple sources reported that the shooting was carried

out by a Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of its members by Shakur a few hours early, that beating in the hotel lobby. And supposedly Wallace, you know, notorious B.I.G. paid for the gun. Well, Wallace's family publicly denied the report. Well, of course, guilty of innocent, they're gonna deny it. Producing documents, purporting to show that the rapper was in New York and New Jersey at the time. New York Times called the documents in conclusive stating, the pages purport to be three computer printouts from Daddy's,

Puff Daddy's house indicating that Wallace was in the studio recording a song called Nasty Boy on the Night Shacoor was shot. They indicate that Wallace wrote half the session was in and out, sat around and laid down a reference vocal. The equivalent of a first take, but nothing indicates when the documents were created. And Lewis Alfred, the recorded engineer listed on the sheet, said in the interview that he remembered recording the song with Wallace in a late night session, not during the day. He could not recall the date of the session, but said it was likely not the night Shakur was shot. We would have heard about it, Mr.

Alfred said. More over, Philips article was based on multiple sources. As the assistant, managing editor of the LA Times, Mark DuVoisen wrote, Philip's story has was stood all challenges to its accuracy and remains the definitive account of the Shakur slain. Faith Evans remembered Biggie calling her though, the night of Shakur's death and crying to him from being in shock. She added, I think it's fair to say he was probably afraid given everything that was going on at the time and all the hype that was put in on the so-called beef, you know, that maybe he'd be next like, you know, he didn't really have it in his heart against, to be against

anybody. Wayne Barrow, Wallace's co-manager at the time said Wallace would record this song nasty girl the night. Shakur was shot, she rolled after Shakur's death. He met with Snoop Dogg record this song nasty girl the night. She grew a shot, shrewled after she could her death. He met with Snoop Dogg who claimed that Wallace played the song. Somebody got a die for him. And which Snoop Dogg was mentioned and declared he never hated Shakur. So that's big east side of it.

October 29th, 1996, Faith Evans gives birth to Wallace's son, Christopher C.J. Wallace. During the recording sessions for a second album, tentatively named Life After Death till death do us part. Later shortened the life after death. Wallace is involved in a car accident that shatters his left leg temporarily, can find him to a wheelchair. Injury forces him to use a cane. January 7, 1997, Wallace ordered to pay $41,000 in damages, following an incident involving a friend of a concert promoter who claimed Wallace in his entourage beat him following the dispute in May 95. February 97, Wallace travels to California to promote his upcoming album,

Record a Music Video for his lead single, Hypnotize. On March 5, 1997, he gave a radio interview with the doghouse and KY LED in San Francisco. In the interview, he stated that he had hired security since he feared for his safety. This was because he was a celebrity figure in general, not because he was a rapper. Life after death, his schedule for release on March 25, 1997. And then on March 8, 1997, he's presented an award. He presented an award to Tony Braxton at the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards in LA was booed by some of the audience after the ceremony. Wallace attended an after party hosted by Vibe magazine and Quest Records on the at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Other guests included Faith Evans, Sean Combs, members of the Bloods and Crips gangs.

Later that night, 12.30 a.m. Wallace leaves the party with his entourage in two GMC U-Cons. Travels in the front passenger seat alongside his, Damian D. Rock Butler, member of the dude who went to jail for him earlier, Junior Mafia member Lil Seas and driver Gregory G. Money Young. Combs, I love how even the driver has G. Money. Like nobody in an entourage who's just like, who's that? That's G. Money. That's Tidley Winks. Yep, that's Bodacious.

That's Lachiv. And that's Fred. That's Fred over there. No, you gotta have some kind of thing. The two trucks are trailed by a Chevy Blazer carrying bad boys, director of security by 12, 45 AM, the streets are crowded with people, leaving the event, Wallace's truck stopped at a red light, 50 yards in the museum,

black Chevy Impala pulls up alongside Wallace's truck, driver of the Impala, an African-American male dressed in a blue suit and bow tie rolls down his window draws out a nine millimeter blue steel pistol fires a GMC suburban four bullets hit Wallace in the chest and he's pronounced dead at one 15 a.m. at the Cedar Sinai Medical Center. And now the feud is really over. Both Biggie and Tupac dead. Tupac dead at 25, Biggie dead at 24, both murders remain unsolved to this day. And their deaths take us out of this epic duel times of timeline.

Good job, soldier. You made it back. Barely. Barely. All right. So now the big question is episode, who killed two-pock and Biggie? We'll talk about some popular suspects. One is Orlando Anderson. That's the suspect, you know, that's the gang banger, two-pock fought with the night of his murder. That's the guy that that reporter, you know, I mentioned earlier, references is, you know,

definitely the dude who he thinks did it. No one's going to be able to ask him that now though and find out for sure because the 1998 he was killed in a gunfight in Compton, California. So we'll never know for sure if Biggie hired him, if puffed daddy hired him, if he acted alone, if he even did it at all. Another popular theory is chug night. There's theories that chug night CEO of Deathsrow Records, the man in the driver's seat when Tupac got shot, Could have had something to do with either death actually But more people tend to believe you have some do two-box death and they think that he wanted two-box dead so he couldn't switch labels And then he maybe had biggie killed out of revenge for two-box murder

Or that he had biggie killed later to distract investigators from pointing the blame for two-box death and his direction Well in January 2015 night was a rest after a hit and run in Los Angeles. He was charged with one count of murder, one kind of attempt of murder, two counts hit and run. And if he's convicted, he'll face life in prison. His trial is actually currently underway for those charges. So it does look like he may have murder in his veins. There's also a possibility with Shugdow that he himself was the target.

Several sources have reported that supposedly has been known for many years among some people that read you white junior, his head of security, and his ex-wife, Sherita, were behind the murder of two pocket attempted murder of night. Junior previously been linked to pox death by former LAP, LAPD, LAPD, Jesus, detective Russell Poole, along with Knight's ex-wife. However, Knight was the intended target of the shooting, as Poole believes the two conspired to murder him to gain control of death row records.

So there's a lot of possibilities around Knight. I mean, I don't know. It seems kind of crazy to me that you would want to kill the guy making you a lot of money. There's the LAPD. As I kind of referenced there, there's stereotyzing with Shug Knight, LAPD Officer Russell Poole, who was a lead of money. There's the LAPD. As I kind of referenced there, there's Terry Tyson with Shug Knight, LAPD Officer Russell Poole,

who was a lead investor on Biggie's murder, accused other LAPD officers of having connections to deathful records and Shug Knight, who he thought planned Biggie's murder. He believed that Knight had Biggie murdered his revenge for two-box death. He was ordered to stop his investigation, though, and he had to retire in 1999.

Now, was he ordered to stop because the LAPD was covered up? He's getting too close to the truth, or was he ordered to stop because the LAPD was covered up? He's getting too close to the truth or was he ordered to stop because he was a nut job chasing a fantastical notion. We'll never know. Pool died of a heart attack in August 2015 while he was discussing the case with L.A. County Sheriff homicide detectives at the time.

He's working on a book about the murders. I know that looks suspicious, like, oh man, he's working on his book and then he dies. That's weird. Well, he was working on it for years. So I think if it was, you know, had really like scandalous information, he probably would have been killed quicker. I don't know. I don't know. It's just me speculating. There's the FBI's possible suspects. Other conspiracy theorists believe that the rapper formerly known as puff daddy is actually the mastermind behind Biggie's murder. theory is uh... that the after scene how well

uh... two pox post-humans albums were doing for death or records that puffed at the earth as the first one at that time puffed at the one-of-scales skyrocket for big is upcoming album ironically named life after death so we hired gang members to shoot big that seems pretty weak to me and i know i mentioned fbi i guess that's just a very quick that people think you know the fbi as far as i'm a bit of the FBI did it. I think the FBI, the FBI one was based on, you know, supposedly like crime, like like the big East Coast West,

you know, all these popular hip-hop albums were creating all this kind of crime. And they thought if they just, you know, kill these guys that maybe there'd be less people trying to emulate them and less crime, that just seems super weak to me, which is, I guess, why didn't put much of my notes. And again, crime, that just seems super weak to me, which is, I guess, why didn't I put much of my notes? And again, the pup daddy seems very weak to me. It's like, why not make a ton more money making a lot of albums with Biggie, instead of just, you know, trying to make a bunch off of one or two? Did he's former bodyguard does believe these allegations, according to a retired LAPD

detective, Biggie's mother, Valetta Wallace, also believes the puff daddy and chug night are somehow responsible for her son's murder. Of Valetta Wallace told the Daily Mail in the UK that the murder of her son hurts me every single day and she has a very good idea about who killed him and they've done their investigation but they refuse to move forward. It seems to me that this is one giant conspiracy.

So I know it's crazy, it seems to me there are people who believe it. Interesting that Valetta would say that. However, important to keep in mind that the letta smoked a shit ton of crack. So much crack in her life. Not exactly the best for your brain. So I don't put a lot of stock in what she has to say. And it's because she's two-pox mom doesn't mean that she was actually that close to his wheelings and dealings. And there's a lot of people who hide you from their mom. Then of course, there's the most popular theory and that's that they're still alive, that they went the way of Elvis.

Well, what do I think? Honestly, I have no idea, but I lean towards kind of random gang type violence. I mean, these guys were super, super popular dudes, making a lot of money talking about being connected to the criminal underworld. They were immersed in a culture of drugs, gangs, violence, instead of separating themselves from the culture

once they got the money to leave the streets, they stayed in. They stayed in the culture were young black men die all the time in shootings and these weren't random young black men they had huge targets on their backs well you think killing pop or big he wouldn't make a big name for yourself in the underworld you're some low level you know creeper blood you know maybe Orlando Anderson did catch up with it and kill pop you know he just been jumped in the lobby disrespected in front of a lot of people Who knows how many other people random people the two-pock, you know, or big you had disrespected or people who had felt

Disrespected, you know people people who didn't hesitate to kill him and they hang around a rough fucking crowd You know these guys were constantly rapping about that life money and fame does not protect you from the bulls Someone who just doesn't give a fuck about anything, who doesn't care about killing us, nothing to lose. Or maybe Shug Knight did kill Pock. That's my other possibility of my brain. Maybe two Pock really was considering leaving deathful records as some of speculated

and Shug knew he was sitting on a ton of recordings that he could keep for himself and that he could release after Pock's death and he was able to keep all that money. But I mean, I don't know, I don't know. That's actually like he knew that was gonna happen. He knew he would be martyred in that way and we're going to sell that many records.

And I don't think anybody could actually see that coming. But again, it's possibility. And I am always open to conspiracy possibilities when there's a lot of money to be made behind them. Then they make sense to me. But that's just what I think. What do the idiots of the internet think? in the title, you know that idiot gold awaits. It's gonna be golden in here. So it's big, big nuggets, idiot gold. The title of this video is who killed Tupac and Biggie?

And let's see what the web has to say. User Lucky Luis comments with the popular conspiracy, just saying wrong, Tupac isn't dead. And that is how you really know someone's really made it like Elvis. When people refuse to accept their dead, all kinds of comments like that in the thread that so many people like adamantly argue with other users about how they have to still

be alive. Uh, user, Umruth Narvani posted obvious joke and a good one in my opinion. Uh, he posts biggie killed two-pock, two-pock, then killed Biggie, and then they later both went on to kill Michael Jackson. Who can't tell that that that's a joke? Who can't tell it's absurd to claim that person A killed person B and then later dead person B kills person A and then both dead people, the dead person A and dead person B

go on to kill person C. Well, user chronic documentary, drag game can't understand that's absurd. That's who he posts on Ruth Nirvana shut the fuck up big never killed Pock and they never killed Michael his doctor did holy shit you are dumb Dre game he was so obviously joking he who has a horrific a horrific sense of humor something like a real fun guy to hang around doesn't he old Dre game I I would drive him crazy time suck would drive him mad. Shut the fuck up! There's no comment called Pudy and Ju-ju.

Shut the fuck up about both jangles. Dogs can't time travel. User Nikki, Chris Lim also makes an obvious joke, posting, sorry, two pockets alive, I had a joint with him and listened to his new songs. And user Steve isn't having it. He simply posts, no. I love that.

I love that he felt it necessary to take the time to write a couple, even if it's just two letters, you know, a couple of keystrokes. No, so three, four keystrokes, you know, actually five. You gotta hit one, you gotta hit one thing to get on the comment, and then you gotta type N, you gotta type O, you gotta type period, then you gotta hit send. He felt that was important to do that, you know. He must have been so, no, he did it. No, you're lying.

You didn't, you did not smoke, we were a park. And zombie park didn't kill Michael Jackson, you know. Thought that got the lies. Well, I'm not taking the lies, I like them. I like how they're riling up the idiots of the internet. Idiots of the internet. Alright, well now you've heard from me. I know that was kind of a quick idiot segment, but it was a long episode. It was a long timeline.

Warm me out. And I hope you had fun listening to today's episodes. I'm sure I'll hear from you with some updates. I have a feeling that the updates on this episode are gonna be pretty fantastic. Now let's take another look back on what we've covered today with Biggie and Pock with some top five takeaways. Time, suck, tough, five takeaways.

Number one, despite the whole West Coast, East Coast hip-hop view to develop both Tupac and Biggie were both from the East Coast. Tupac got going in Oakland, but he started playing with rap and Baltimore, and just like Biggie, he was originally from New York. Number two, both Biggie and Tupac were dead by the age of 25, insane how much content they both produced,

and such a short amount of time, especially Tupac. Tupac would release five studio albums, not counting the Stug Life side project between 91 and 96. The first would go gold, the next four would go platinum. And then using unreleased tracks, you know, 5 more albums of more original music would come out after he died. And the first four of those albums would go on to be platinum and the last one would go gold.

The dude really did get around. Number 3, Biggie's second album, released after he died, titled Life After Death, is still the fourth best selling hip-hop album of all time. It sold over 10 million copies and it came out just two weeks after he was killed. Number four, Biggie went from North Carolina, Cracked you to, come back, come back, Crack! To multi-plat number recording star in less than a year. A true inspiration for crack dealers everywhere. And number five, new information, two-pock shakur, 15 years after his death, two-pock shakur enshrined in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records for being the highest-selling rap artist

of all time. At that time, he had sold over, check this out, 67 million albums worldwide. He has now sold over 75 million albums. Maybe Schoek Knight really did have him kill. According to random web list articles, I'm skeptical to trust. He may now have been beaten this record by either Jay-Z or Eminem, or possibly both, but still quite a legacy for a dude who was only active in the business, including the little digital underground cameo for about

seven years. Time suck, tough, right takeaway. Oh, two-pock and biggie. Both been sucked. I pulled a double dick today. I mean, a double suck this week. The epitome of live fast and die young, huh? And now some tour dates, some more tour dates.

San Francisco punchline tickets on sale, they're on sale right now, April 25 through 28. Scoop them up. One of my favorite clubs or clubs, or the club I recorded Chinese affectionate. Minneapolis, Brea, Cleveland, all coming up in March. Charlotte, Atlanta, Birmingham, Huntsville, Nashville, Houston, Dallas, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, all coming up in April. Uh, everything but San Francisco and Salt Lake City all in one big week. Early shows in Minneapolis again are already sold out tickets available for the late

shows. Uh, more info, Dancomas.tv, check out the tour dates, snatch up some tickets, wear your time sucks shirts, or just show up, have a great time. Thanks to social media master, Sidney Shives, events coordinator, an amazing patron saint of the at secret space lizards. The person who set out the first secret space lizard event,

I hope again, I'm recording this before, I hope you had a great time. This weekend, social media accounts, manager Harmony Velocamp, show notes, editor, extraordinaire Jesse Dobner, all right, the entire time, suck team, including interns at Maddie Teeter, Deanna, Marino, Josh Crel working the boards. Yeah, so much, so many people to thank.

Thanks for all the reviews, you know, you spread the suck, every review helps, it really, really does. It really keeps the way that the iTunes charts algorithm works. The more reviews come in, the more you can't be able to kind of move up the charts and the more, you know, attention you get from new listeners. And so I appreciate it. Thanks for the emails. Again, sorry, I can't get back to each and everyone. Not enough hours in the day, but we get back to a lot. Thanks to Jake Shepherd Scott Long, Sam Clark, Jose Del Rio, Maria Barber, Will Cohena, Sean Waterson, others I'm sure

I've missed for suggesting today's topic. Hope you enjoyed it. Next Monday on time, so we have a first, we have Norse gods. And it's the first winner of a space lizard topic vote. So glad the topic list is working so well on the web on the app. Now, huge thanks to the BiddleLix routine for pushing out the most recent update for the app, which is made it worth perfectly for 99% of the users including me working great on both my Android and my iPhones.

And I'm just gonna keep getting better. We're just gonna keep working on it. And now time for some time, sucker updates. Got some sweet ones coming in today. Got some sweet ones. It makes me feel good. First one's coming in from Jeremiah, Lossi, and Jeremiah writes, he says, Dear bad mother, Sucka. Hey, Dan, first up, I just want to tell you how great discovering your podcast has been for me the last two months. I love just standing up early on, but sadly, being a millennial and not seeing any Netflix or HBO specials, I kind of lost track of you. I get it, I get it, those mother fuckers.

I wish they would have kept giving me more, maybe they'll get more in the future. And then he says, my loss though, I was lucky not to be catching up on an episode of your mom's house that you did a guest spot on. I don't even, you know, I think they mentioned me. I don't even think I was, that's nice of them. I didn't even do that one. And when you described the show, I knew I had to check it out. Maybe you think it crabs feast, because I wasn't on your mom's house. But I started with the episode, Time Sucks Sucks itself to see what the show would be like. I was immediately hooked and blazed through every episode. I'm gonna be 26 in March.

Now, for four years, I'm not gonna be able to find a teaching job due to my lack of funds to get an unnecessary master's in education. I recently decided to stop having my soul crushed, working retail jobs, because having a degree in social sciences and a minor in history aren't super marketable, unfortunately, I feel your pain. It's surprising, I know.

But I've decided to start my own small carpentry company and it could be successful or a huge flop. But I've been spending my wheels for four years just hearing about your refusal to give in and give up to the struggles of how you still push through the rejection and constant fuckery that is show business. You have given me inspiration to follow this dream

wherever it takes me. I just wanna let you know how much this podcast has meant to me and I appreciate your dedication and thirst for knowledge. I would try my hardest to come see when you head down here to Huntsville, but money's tight, so if I can't, then hopefully the show's amazing, and you can come back to this neck of the woods.

Hell yes, brother. Sorry for the long-ass email, and I have no illusions that a father and a husband that also travels all over the country will see this. I did. But I felt like I needed to tell you to keep on sucking, because what you're doing matters more than you know. And on the off chance you do read this,

I'd be glad to assist with any research you might need. History is my first love and I've got a lot more free time and more dissertation research than I know what to do with I'd be happy to put my degree to some use. With your family and all those other time suckers who've been struggling or dealing with, you know, Myers, oh no, wish you and your family and all those other time suckers who've been dealing with,

the Meyer of Shit that's going on right now in the world. Nothing but love. Keep on fighting hate, violence, and ignorance and always take curious. Your humble suck puppet, Jeremiah. Well, thank you, Jeremiah. Man, that pumped me up. Man, that was a great message.

And I really appreciate that. I appreciate that very, very much. And yeah, man, hit me up at dandardandcomas.tv. And yeah, hopefully we can get some research stuff going. Just start working with a few more people. I know I have more of you to get back to that have hit me up at Danadankamas.tv and yeah, hopefully we can get some research stuff going. Just start working with a few more people. I know I have more of you to get back to. They've hit me up. I just, yeah, I just grab a little minutes here and there

and I appreciate the offer and I'm so glad I was able to inspire you man. Yeah, you just gotta keep going man. Took me a long time to kind of realize that, you know, that I was waiting for the world just to hand me shit and I was eventually, I finally reached that point of the second, no, fuck it man. I was gonna bust my ass and try and, you you know create it on my own and luckily you guys have

allowed me to do that. Another one from Damon Vales comes in saying Mr. Cummins I would normally say master sucker but I feel like I should be more serious. I have written to you in the past praising the work you put into your podcast now I write you about something more important I want to thank you for being my go to podcast for grinding out work. I started listening to you about the same time. I started working for a particular soda company.

Now, not even a year later, I have moved up from part time to being the fucking district supervisor for my company. Fuck yeah. I just received the news and I'm filled with so much joy and I owe you quite a lot. Your podcast made it possible to push to every single hour of grueling, back breaking work, show them my seniors like it worked just as hard

if not harder than they could. Your podcast has kept me intrigued and my mind off of any negativity at work. So thank you so much. Starting next month, I'll be the youngest district supervisor they've had at 21 and I owe a good portion of that credit to you. Thank you, Mr. Cummins, from the bottom of my heart. Now I plan not only to set my sights even higher, but to blow everyone's expectations of me away.

Yeah, I'll be forever grateful. I understand how busy all your work must be, but I hope you take the time to read this because I couldn't have dealt with the shit I had at work if not for your humor. So keep on sucking and making other people's lives just as amazing as you help make mine. Oh, man, well, you know what? Fuck you, dude. Fuck you. Why don't, no, just kidding. That'd be the worst reaction to that ever. Just like I, if I just had like a weird breakdown right there, and I thought somehow that was negative. Who the fuck are you to, oh wait, that was super positive.

Never mind. No, man, I'm so honored. I'm so honored I was able to inspire you. Damon, man, I'm so congratulations on kicking so much asset work. It makes me feel so good that the weird shit I do could have some small part in that. And yeah, man, just keep pushing it forward, man.

You'll inspire other people by your hard work. I love it. I love it I love the community of time suck fucking cults and curious kicking us kick it some ass All right one more one more from Johan Rodriguez Dear Dr. Reverend Cummins keeper of the eighth seal of Nimrod. I like that I was introduced to your podcast last year by my brother and I fell in love with it instantly. Now my fiance and other members of my family have become followers in the suck. Family sucks together, stays together. I added that part. I love the way you present information in a very approachable way and how open-minded

you are to suggestions and points of views. It's even encouraged me to see things from other angles and broaden my horizon on various topics. I'm a band director out in Texas, Tejas. And your podcast is my go-to listen, my my commutes to work with all that is going on. I'd love for you to do a gun control suck and talk about the recent suggestions by politicians of Army teachers.

Seriously, keep doing what you do. Support for you. Bojangles Rodriguez. Yes, Johann, gun control, come and soon. I'm getting so many great emails from various time suckers with various points of view regarding that issue. And I feel like now like when I'm able to get to that episode and do a justice It's gonna be a good one thanks to you guys all being so fucking awesome when it comes to informing me help me change my opinions

And help me rethink my beliefs. I love it. I love it. I love it. Thank you all for sending those in. Thanks for these time sucker updates Thanks time suckers. I need a net. We all did. Have a great week, everybody. See some of you in Minneapolis. Do not start a hip-hop dispute with anyone. Maybe don't sign any prison record deals with death row records. And keep on sucking. Thank you.