|
The Making of Makaveli (from XXL Magazine)
The recording sessions that yielded 2pac's last album took place over 7 hennessy soaked days
in Aug 1996 While the rapper was concurrently filming two movies (Gridlock'd and Gang
Related). Approximately 20 songs were put to tape at Los Angeles Can-Am studios, 11 of
which made the finished product. Pac's final work was produced mainly by Tyrone "Hurt em
Badd" Wrice and Darryl "Big D" Harper. Two Death Row records producers who failed to
draw intrests even in the vacuum left by the departed Dr. Dre and featured guest spots mostly
from Pac's childhood friends and family the Outlaws.Released nine months earlier Pac's
double album "All eyes on Me" had been certified quintuple platinum, making the
controversial star the marquee name at the most successful company in rap music. So with
Snoopand the dogg pund in an adjacent studio, Pac closed ranks and rushed his supporting
cast of underdogs through a blitzkrieg artistic process creating a dark, insular, paranoid
collection of songs he sub titled "The 7 day theory" The urgency of the album is palable.
Many listeners have in fact suggested that he was running out of time. Today, Makaveli,
remains pac fans favorite memrial to their hero after his passing. 7 years later. XXl magazine
spoke to some of the people who were working so closely with pac during his final days. and
got a track by track run down on the making of a classic album.
WHITE MAN'Z WORLD
Young Noble That was one of those ones that 'Pac was just expressing himself on, just being a
black man. 'Pac had love for White folks too. 'Pac had love for people in general. < Das ist[br />einfach ein Song, wo Tupac sich ausdrückt, einfach ein schwarzer Mann zu sein. Pac hatte
auch Liebe für Weiße. Pac hatte Liebe für Menschen generell.
E.D.I. He's talking to his sister. It's kind of personal, so I don't want to get into the personal
side of it, but he's talking to his sister and he's talking to his mother. It's a personal record. I
think it's like an open letter to his mother and his sister. He's like writing from jail. He's really
just apologizing for alot of shit. At 25, we're all trying to grow up and change and figure out
shit. Alot of people don't remember that dude was only 25. That's still a kid, really. 25 is a real
young, immature age. But at the same time, he had the responsiblity of a 40-year-old. He had
the responsibilty of a whole family, a whole label. At that point in the game, Death Row was
on 'Pac's shoulders and he knew it.
Darryl Harper: 'Pac wrote the hook. I had did a beat; he liked it. He wrote the melody and
everything for the hook and I sung it. I wasn't really happy with a lot of the stuff, because he
didn't let us do alot of parts over. On "White Man'z World" I could hear my backgrounds arekind of off there-like I'm saying something twice or something. But 'Pac said "That's it. That's
it That song's Finished. Wrap that up send it down there to get mixed."
ME AND MY GIRLFRIEND
Young Noble: He got that concept from Nas. Remember Nas did that song about the gun<"I[br />Gave You Power" from the 1996 album It Was Written]? 'Pac used to like that song. When
him and Nas Squashed their beef, I was happy. I grew up on NAS. Around my way, when Nas
came out with "Live At The Barbeque" Shit. I could have been the first nigga promoting his
ass. All the Outlawz were fans of Nas. 'Pac was too. He used to like Nas. That's all hip-hop
do. You hear a nice idea, and you flip it and make it better. That was one of those shits. There
was a lot of shit going on, and 'Pac was never a dude to hold his toungue. He put it out there.
He felt like a lot of mutherfuckas was against him, and that didn't sit well with him neither.
Muthafuckas made it like an East Coast/West Coast situation, when in reality 'Pac and all the
Outlawz is from the East Coast. That was just one of those songs where 'Pac was riding on his
enemies. 'Pac had nothing but love from New York. We was in New York for the MTV
Awards two days before he got shot in Vegas. That's where we seen Nas and they squashed it.
That was one of the happiest time I've seen him. He was happy to be in New York and feeling
the love. We was all in New York Uptown, it wasn't like we was in the hotel all day We even
walked for some damn blocks. in Manhattan somewhere. 'Pac said, "f##k it, let's walk." We
could have walked for 30 minutes. People couldn't believe it. This nigga was giving bums
hundreds of dollars and shit He had me holding a damn little briefcase with all this money. He
was really happy to be back in New York. I think he wanted to get in touch with everybody
out there - Rappers, and just the streets, period. He was happy about squashing the beef out
there with Nas.
E.D.I.: 'Pac had the idea for the song already. We was in the studio trying to come up with the
right track fo ti. I rember Hurt M Badd was up there working on the drums and 'Pac wasn't
really feeling what was coming up on there and then ricky Rouse just came up and said, "'Pac,
I got something. I got a song I wrote." Ricky Rouse, he a session player. He a cool brother,
but he was always worrying about his publishing. 'Cause he knew where he was at. He was at
Death Row, And you got to be about your business or you won't get paid. So he's like, "'Pac, I
got some shit for this shit, it's some Spanish shit. But I got to get my publishing on it. I got to
get my writer's credit on that." 'Pac was like. "Hell yeah." 'Cause 'Pac was a fair nigga. He
gave everyone their shot, Their credit. He was the only one who gave Val Credit, Even though
half the dime he might have wrote the hook. Ricky Rouse started playing this guitar shit. 'Pac
went crazy. He was like. "That's it right there. That's what I'm looking for." Then he started
singing , just came up with the hook. He told us all to write verses for that, too. All of us
wrote verses but he just shot us down like, 'Nah, that ain't tight enough." He had ol' gril
Queen-she play the part of the gun in the song-'Pac had her come in once the song was done. I
know her as queen she used to work at Death Row. She was the receptionist up there. She go
by Virginya Slim now, and she's signed to Deaht Row. She the one that talking that shit like,
"Like what? West side Nigga. Die Nigga Die!"
Darryl Harper: "Me And My Girlfriend" was Tyrone's but I just played on it.
Keys. We would work on eatch other's beats. He would do drums on mine and I would do
something on his. We basically did the whole album together. The album was finished in three
days, the mixing still had to be done. So the album was done in a week. As for 'Pac's parts, All
of them was done in three days if I rember correctly. He would have ideas for it. He would
know. He would instantly tell the Outlawz what they needed to be writing about. And theyhad to be on it, because the one that didn't have it, he wasn't going to be on the song. It was a trip because 'Pac would finish his Vocal and come out and point at one of them. If he stutterd, he would point to the next one. He just missed that track. If they wern't confident right away, he would let them know they wern't going to be on there.
Lance Pierre: We had an idea to do an intro where the gun is talking. And we needed a broad. Finally, there was this one girl-actrully she's on Tha Row Records right now-Virginya Slim. She put it down with like one pass, ba-ba-ba!
Hurt M Badd: On "Me And My Girlfriend," he tried to bluff me, he called me out. After we
had done like four songs, Tupac had called me in my session one day-now mind you, I work
in my own little production room-Tupac called me in his room one day and he said, 'You
know what? I need a kind of up-tempo beat that don't sound like anything you ever done
before." So my eyebrows raised and I was like, Whoa! so he said, "And I want you to stand
right here and create it right in my face." Let me tell you something: Everything surrounding
my heart went to my feet. Sweat just broke out all under my arm. But I'm also that type of
person, I love a challenge when it comes to something I do, you know what I'm saying? So
Tupac said, "Right now,in my face" So I stared from scratch. I just told the DJ to sample a
kick and a snap from the keyboard. Everybody was looking at me like "What?" Looking at me
crazy like, He Don't know what he's Doing." Before you know it. I had the drums going and I
look over at the guy with the bass guitar. I told him to come in with something, and I gave
him a little rhythem. He came in with it. Before you know it-Tupac was on the couch-he had
this look on his face like, "I don't believe this guy." by the time we laid the guitar strings, he
was up on the follor like, "Yeah!" Every time he'd get a track that he liked, he would listen to
it and come up with the hook in his head. Then he'd turn around to the Outlawz and say,
"Here's the hook, listen to this and came up with "Me And My Girlfriend."
HOLD YA HEAD
E.D.I.: That shit remind me of some Me Against The World shit. That's another one of those
melodies where I sat watched this nigga sing to them like "Play this." That shit just came
together. Hurt M Badd did the drums, you got the piano shit. It's some real shit that 'Pac was
famous for.
Hurt M Badd: 'Pac did the verse and the hook already. He came in my room and asked me if I
knew how to sing. He said he wanted me to sing on the hook. I said, "I'll be right in there,"
When he shut the door, I started jumping up and down in a room by myself. When I went in
there, I got real nervous. He gave me the notes to sing and everything. And fortunatly, it
turned out cool. Anytime you had to like rap or sing with him, That's how he was. But as far
as producers, I've seen him get at a couple of producers. Fortunatly-Thank God Me and him
didn't have to go through that.
AGAINST ALL ODDS
E.D.I.: That just closes the album out. A lot of people don't know it's a replay of a Cameo
song, "The Skin I'm in." 'Pac probably listend to it on the way to the studio, came in and
played that shit for Hurt M Badd, like, "I want that bass line right there." Hurt M Badd played
that shit . I don't want to take nothing from none of the producers thatrecord himself. Almost every note that nigga was humming to them niggas, every drum kick,
every beat, snare, hi-hat-That nigga was telling niggas what to play.
Hurt M Badd: On that song he was going at Nas and his other adversaries. He was getting his
weapons for war, his arsenal ready. The day we made that song Tupac said "I need a war song.
I wanna go to war." He gave me an hour then came back and heard the beat, and he wanted
me to add that cameo song baseline. Once it was in 'Pac started snapping, "This is it!" He
called the Outlawz in and started reciting the hook: "This be the realist shit I ever wrote."
While 'Pac was doing his vocals he wasn't just recording his vocals, he was also kicking over
the music stand, hitting the microphone. There was a vibe in the room. We all knew what was
goin on. As started reciting his lyrics we was just looking at each other like "Uh-oh,
Here we go again."
BLASPHEMY
Young Noble: I rember after he did that song, riding back to the crib listening to it he even
bugged himself out on that one. He got real deep on there, and he didn't even know where it
came from. It was like he didn't Really... That dude, he was just a gift from God. But I
remember that shit. He was like, "Damn, you hear what I'm Talking about?" He surprised
himself with that like. "I don't know where the hell I be coming up with this shit." It ain't like
he sit around all day and think about it, the shit just be coming out like that. God put that in
certin people, and he was one of them dudes. God definitely put shit in that man's heart. He
used to always talk about that kind of stuff. He just knew he felt like he was going to be a big
star and just disappear. And that's exactly how it happend. He made his mark like crazy. Dude
was definitely sent from up above. I can't explane everything. there's certain shit I don't know.
He used to talk to us about that shit all the time. Like, we don't want to hear that shit. You ain't
going nowhere. You better not go nowhere. But he knew it, I guess.
E.D.I.: If you listen to "Blasphemy," There is a girl saying a prayer at the end of the song.
That's Kastro's sister, Jamala Lasane, who's also 'Pac's Cousin. It was a little family Thing.
She was just up in the studio, and she was like "I could just say this at the end of that shit."
'Pac heard what she was saying and was like "Go Ahead." And she ended up on the album.
"Blasphemy" is deep song featuring Ital Joe. He passed away a few years agoaccident]. It reminds me of "Hail Mary." It's one of those Deep, spiritural things. A lot of
Times in pac's music, he was talking to us, 'cause we was so wild and out of control--just so
caught up in the rap lifestyle. I think a lot of times he wanted to snap us back to reality. Like,
"It's real out here. It's not all fun and games." He used to say that a lot. So "Blasphemy" is one
of those songs where I feel like he was talking to us on some personal shit.
LIFE OF AN OUTLAW
Napoleon: My Grandmother died Makaveli, so I had to leave early. When I came
back, 'Pac had many of the songs done except for "Life Of An Outlaw," The song that
I'm on. It was just me, E.D.I., Kastro, Noble and 'Pac in the studio. I remember the beat came
on and 'Pac got one of the guys from six feet Deep, Sizz-Nine to do the hook. He said, "I'm
going to do this song to let people know: Beware that the Outlawz is coming." It was like an
introduction to the outlawz album we was going to do with 'Pac. 'Pac took it on another level.
In the middle of the song before my verse started, "Hey Napoleon, would you die
for me? Whould you kill for me?" And then I came in with my joint to end the song off. So it
was deep song for me also. 'Pac was a one-hitte-quitter. He's a one-take G. HE could go inhyped up and be into it to the fullest. HE come out the booth sweating. He probably go in
there with his blunt and his hennessy, do his thing. We all was in that state of mind. I call it
the ignorant state. Just being drunk and not knowing what's going on. We didn't miss one day
without drinking. We was caught up, living the life. We always got in the studio and did the
verse. We didn't even know what beat. 'Pac would tell someone to play a beat. Next thing you
know he would be like, "Alright, we're going to talk about this." And if you verse ain't done
before 'Pac's, you don't get on the song. That's how 'Pac was. He'd be like, "I already got one
verse done. Y'all don't got no verse, you ain't getting on the song". We just had to write, man
try to keep up with this dude, He'd put the beat on, we'd be like, "Damn, let's get a head start."
Some of the songs he would take to the neck, man. "Life Of An Outlaw" he was going to do
one verse. He was like "I've finished one verse Y'all ain't ready " Then he'd start writing
another verse. And do that verse. He would have kept it going. He would have took over the
song and did it himself. 'Pac was one of those dudes in the studio where if you mess up, he get
angry. Like, he want you to go in there and do it, as is. But sometimes, 'Pac will go in there
and not even care if he'd mess up. You know how he'd be doing a dub, and you hear one of his
voices come on before the other? He'd keep it like that. He'd go in there, do it and get out.
That work we done--it was professional in 'Pac's way. He'd do his thing and if he messed up
on the dub, he'd keep it. He'd say "We'll fix it when we mix it"
E.D.I.: 'Pac actully played that melody on that song. He's not credited for it, but he played it.
it's a little keyboard sound that you hear in the background. He's playing that. Any session
player that was involed with Makaveli will tell you that. If they don't, they lying.
Darryl Harper: We started working kind of exclusive. Like, it was me, 'Pac and TyroneM Badd]. We was always together when it came to the studio. He would lock the door and the
other people got jealous of it at Death Row. They got a little bit peeved that he was spending
days in the room with us. Certain people started claiming it was favortisim going on, 'Pac
using our beats. But the ironic thing was, before 'Pac actrully gave us a shot, we had been
presenting tracks to everybody on the label. Nobody would take them but the new people that
was just signed to the label, people that would probably never get an album out. Nobody
would even take beats from us. Matter of fack they used to call us "Wack Room" until 'Pac
started taking our beats. Then people started complaing to suge that we were only giving 'Pac
beats.
JUST LIKE DADDY
E.D.I.: "Just Like Daddy" is a song that was done for the Outlawz album. 'Pac was trying to
teach us how to do some shit for the bitches, 'cause all our shit was hard shit, kill'em up shit,
hard times, struggle shit. Why my life like shit? Type shit. 'Pac was like "That shit is cool and
people going to love y'all for that. But y'all gotta give 'em something else. You got to get the
girls. Y'all got to do some other shit, some lighter shit, some shit people can have fun to." So
this nigga went up there, and we start doing "Just Like Daddy." The beat is the "Impeach The
President" drums, Hurt M Badd just had them shits looping. 'Pac just start singing melodies
like, "Play this melody here, play that right here." Then Val Young come in. "Val Young, I
want you to sing this shit right here. This is the hook." Then We got love song and shit. Boom.
"Just Like Daddy." for the honeys.
Lance Pierre: 'Pac always used Val Young because he liked her voice. It was a little raspy,
gospel-souning voice.
KRAZY
Young Noble: We was supposed to be on that song, but we took too long with our verse. Bad
Azz was up in there chilling with us. 'Pac used to like Bad Azz; he had a nice flow. And 'Pac
threw Bad Azz up on there and I'm glad he did, 'cause Bad Azz did his thing on that
muthafucka. That's one of those classic 'Pac songs, too. "Time goes by puffing on la got a
nigga going crazy..." We had started writing the shit and we was taking long. 'Pac was like,
"Who got something? Bad Azz you got something?" and it fit perfect, so it was ment for Bad
Azz to be on that song. We had already been on a million 'Pac songs. That was his way of
motivating us like, "If y'all ain't ready, then you don't make the song." That's why some songs
you might hear one on there or you might hear two or you might hear three. 'Cause when the
song got just about done, if niggas ain't have no verse, we were scratchin that and going to the
next song. 'Pac was surrounded by a lot of controvers, and a lot of people be thinking he that
way. But that dude was really all about love, yo. He loved his family, he loved the kids and he
loved black people to death. That dude was really all about love. That's why the streets love
him. Through all that shit, through all the beefing... When I think about 'Pac I don't Think
About none of that shit, I think about love. This nigga had so much love in his heart it was
ridiculous. and you hear that shit in his muisc.
E.D.I.: Bad Azz is another cat who was around a lot. He loved our music so he always came through. 'Pac was a fan of BA. 'Pac wanted us on that song, but the beat was so slow. We was used to rapping on the up-tempo shit. We wasn't really vibing to it. Here comes BA, the hands of fate just swung that nigga's way. 'Pac was like, "You got a verse write a verse to that." Bad Azz was like 'I already got a verse." 'Pac was like, Get in there and kick that shit."
Darryl Harper: E.D.I. was interested in the beat from 'Krazy," because during that year there
were a lot of planes crashing and churches burning. He wanted to speak to that situation.
E.D.I. thought that the beat that I had would fit that. So I brought 'Pac in to hear it. 'Pac loved
the beat, but he didn't hear it for that. He put another hook on it. Bad Azz just happend to be
coming by the studio when we were doing it. 'Pac looked at him ad said "You got 16?" He
said, "I have 16." He got busy.
Lance Pierre: That song wasn't really put together, it was just a beat. Kevin Lewis, who was
actrully the project coordinator, he's related to Ramsey Lewis. He was there and
we kept saying, "Man, this is not a song." He said, "But Tupac wants that song on the record."
I said, "Man, I got it mixed, but it's still not sounding right." He said, "It's just needs some
piano." So he just went in there and he just played according to the vocals. The Song turned
out a lot better then it originally was.
BOMB FIRST ( MY SECOND REPLY )
Young Noble: They had a little production room up there, and I was up there writing I had
rapped last. I had kicked a verse for 'Pac. We was up in there freestyling a little bit. we just
went in there and laid the song. He came up with the first verse. E.D.I. wrote his verse and it
came out pretty tight. I think "Bomb First" was one of those classic ones.' Pac let loose.I said "King of New York"] I was talking to Biggie. you know the whole situation that was
going on. 'Cause Biggie really was the king of New York at the time.
E.D.I.: Makaveli is an album that 'Pac basically Did on his own. I mean production, Lyrics...A
lot of people don't know that 'Pac was a producer "Bomb First" was actrully a beat he startedon. Other people got credit for it, but 'Pac started that beat. The bass line was from Naughty
By Nature's "Uptown Anthem." That we always loved. 'Pac was working on the Drums and
shit, Then a Couple of other sessions players came in and we just put it down and it was like
the reply to "Hit'Em Up" it was after "Hit 'Em Up" came out and everybody had their little
comments on the song and how they felt about it. 'Pac was like, "All Right, I got something
else to say and this one is going to start Makaveli Off. It's a Just a ride track. It's just niggas
riding. Also it introduced Noble. He was the last official Outlaw. We was all learning that shit
at the same time. So what 'Pac would do, is he would have it i n his head and just tell people
to do it, like "I want the drums to go like this, I want the bass line to go like that." But also
what's crazy is, he had just bought a new house and he had a grand piano up in there and a
nigga used to just f##k with Melodies on the Piano all the time. One of those melodies is
actrully the melody for "Bomb First". He just came up with it himself. He'd Rember the shit
and just go to the studio, play that melody and have somebody loop it, and then just tell
niggas to add drums here, add bass here, add guitar here, add that there, he ain't really know
how to program drums and shit like that, but he know how to program people, Pac was good
at that he could get the beat out of people.
Darryl Harper: I presented a beat to 'Pac and he liked it, but he wanted the bass line changed. He wanted the bass line similar to the one someone had did on the Movie Juice. I didn't know what it was like, so I had to get it and find out what it was like. So I changed the bass line and it went like that. Lance Pierre: Tupac actrully did that bass line. He actrully sat up on the Moog and punched out each button on that. but Darryl did the beat. 'Pac did that song; a lot of people don't know that it seemed like 'Pac was getting off into production. That was one of the Songs that Tupac actrully had a lot to do with as far as the production of it.
HAIL MARY
Young Noble: When we first did that song, it was cool. but I didn't like that song like That.
When it hits the street, you kind of hear it through different ears. Hearing it after it came out,
it was like, Damn, that was an incredible song. I was just blessed to be a part of that. The
Studio had two big rooms and a little production room. Snoop and the Pound used to be in the
back studio a lot. We'd go in there and we would just work. It would be a box of liqour every
day--Cristal, Alize, we was drinking that back then as young niggas. Drinking the Thug
Passion, girls every where, weed smoke everywhere. We'd just be makeing music. Three,
Four, Five Songs a day, Just banging shit out. Altogether, "Hail Mary" took maybe 30
minutes. it probably took about 15 minuets to write it and about five minutes to lay it. We laid
the shit, my verse was already written. I had it in my book I wrote the last little hook part,
"Outlawz on a paper chase..." That was going to be the hook at first. I had that hook already
and I was like "yeah Pac I got a little hook." He was like "Nah, we going to put that at the
end." And then he came up with the "Hail Mary" shit. 'Pac he wrote from the heart, so it
wasn't even like writing it was like talking.
E.D.I.: I give Hurt M Badd credit for "Hail Mary" 'Pac told him, "I need some slow, Thuggish
shit." Hurt M Badd Made "Hail Mary" and when we heard it, 'Pac went crazy We just did the
song in an hour and a half. It wasn't my favorite record on Makaveli. It reminded me of some
down-South record. I didn't know it was going to be as big a record as it is today. 'Pac loved
Kastro and Noble's part. How they Changed the whole Vibe of the song up on some outlawz
shit. but really, I think he just loved what he was saying in it. It's some real cold shit he's
saying: "Seein' niggas comin' for me/To my diamonds, when they glistenin'/Now payattention, rest in peace, Father." because he knew niggas was coming for him. At the end of
"Hail Mary, I just remember 'Pac shouting out "Snoop." That's another thing that sticks in my
mind. 'Cause at the time, even with the tension, he still made it a point to shout-out Snoop on
Makaveli. You got Kastro in the Background going 'Makaveli the Don, Don don" at
the end of the song when 'Pac is talking about his conglomerates, you hear kastro in the
background going, "Makaveli the don.
Lance Pierre: That was the best song on the record. It also was the strangest song. What I
mean by that is the way it came out at the end as far as the "Makaveli The Don," and all that.
Tupac used to do a lot of that ad-lib. Just talking toward the end of the song. I was mixing it,
and none of that shit was supposed to come out like that. But it came out and it sounds good.
I'm talking about the outro, where you hear K in the backgroun: "Makaveli The Don". That
was some extra stuff. That was a total fluke. The Song was suposed to stop there. But it
sounded good. So we just kept it and turnd it into an interlued with the whole monk thing
going on. That one turned out more than how we really expected it to turn out.
Hurt M Badd: "Hail Mary" actrully only took me 15, 20 minutes to create the whole beat. I
just came to work one day, I was feeling good. I was sitting behind the boards. I just touched a
few sounds man, and it was like done. And so an enginner came into the room where I
worked, and he heard the track--I told him to put the headphones on. He looked at me like
"Damn, Hurt! This sounds like a hip-hop funeral, man" When I do stuff, I don't be feeling it
like everybody else, I guess 'cause it's me. He said, "Why don't you let Tupac hear this?' When
Tupac heard it, he really didn't say nothing but "Gimme that." I left the studio and when I
came back the next day, everybody from the security guard to the phone lady to the engineer--
Everybody ran up to me like, "Wait 'till you hear what this nigga done laid down over your
trak." When I heard it, I didn't think it was a hit. I was like "Why is Tupac laying this stuff
down over my track?" We all had a listening party for the album, and 'Pac was loving every
song but when they played that song, he just went though a thing. He Threw his hand up in
the air with his Hennessy bottle. He threw his hand up in the air like he ruled a nation.
TOSS IT UP
E.D.I.: That's a song that was already done Suge had it done with Danny Boy and Jodeci on it.
Thats my least favorite song on Makaveli, 'Pac just got on the track and did his thing. That
was some shit him and Sughe had already worked out. And the crazy part that alot of people
don't know is that the song was originaly to "No Diggity" Beat 'cause Dre had
did that "No Diggity" beat while he was still at death Row. And Suge had it. But then Dre
Sold the shit to Teddy Riley. The Beginning fo those songs where almost exactly alike. I don't
know who bit off of who. I ain't here to start no shit, but in the beginning, "No Diggity" and
"Toss it up" were aknist exactly alike. Yeah you would have to be there to know that.
TO LIVE & DIE IN L.A.
Young Noble: That was like a different "California Love." 'Pac used to love LA. Everywhere
we went out in LA, it was nothing but love. When we'd go to the malls, the whole damn mall
would be following us. It was like they really loved that dude out there. Even to this day. We'd
be in the streets, the esse's they love us to death...Making it, we were drunk as hell with a
whole bunch of girls in the studio. We were getting head in the bathroom, all types of shit. It
was never like we got to buckle down and work, 'cause even if we smokeing and high the
whole time we was workin. Every 'Pac song you hear, that's how we did it; basically smoking,drinking, having fun. I don't think niggas did one that took over an hour to make. 'Pac was
working on Gang Related at the time, and what's the other one? with the white dude when
they were dope fiends Gridlock'd. So we'd get up and go to the set at like six, seven in the
morning, and then go to the damn studio after that. We'd get to the studio at five or six, and
not leave that bitch 'till three, four in the morning. We'd be leaving with four, five, six songs a
day so if you doing six songs a day, in three days that's 18 songs.
E.D.I.: That's QD3. He was the only outside producer on that album, besides the dude who did
"Toss It Up." QD3 was one of 'Pac's favorite producers. He loved fucking with Q. That's a
Sample of "Do Me Baby" by Prince. A lot of people
don't know that 'Pac was a big Prince fan. He fucked with Prince. if you listened to alot of
'Pac's Shit, he sampled Prince in different ways. That was probably 'Pac's favorite song on
Makaeli, besides "Against All Odds." He loved the whole groove--"To Live and Die In LA," a
reall LA song. Drop tops, 80 degrees down sunset, it just gave him the feeling of being in LA.
And he loved the city.
QD3: I was in the studio with 'Pac, I had some records with me, and there was this old song
that I played for him to see if he liked the vibe. He felt it and told me to go home and hook up
a beat like that. I went home and hooked it up as fast as I could, and I think I came back the
same night and he listend to the track three times, and in like 15 minutes he was already done
with his lyrics. He went in the booth without telling anyone what the track was about he just
laid it in one take--over about three tracks. Then he told Val Young what the concept was, and
she went in and laid her chorus vocal in one take, too. After the vocals were done, 'Pac had
Ricky Rouse replace my keyboard bass and guitar parts with live bass
and guitar parts, and the song was done--less then two hours total. This song just flowed out
of everyone that was a part of it. No one thought twice no one doubted anything. It was full
speed ahead untill it was done--as if it was guided or ment to be. Ever since recording like
that, without thinking twice like that, I have changed the way I look at making music.
|
Printer-friendly copy 
Email this topic to a friend
The Lesson 
