I figured it was time for me to speak on all the shark ass bitches making money off of my nigga Pac. I know I have some of his unreleased songs up for you to listen to, but I'm not selling' his shit for profit, so don't call me a hypocrite. I got it up for the fans to hear how tight some of his music that has yet to come out is. The pics you see are the covers of some of the bootlegs that have been going around.

In case you didn't know Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur, had to fight in court to get possession of his assets and unreleased recordings from Death Row. I don't even know why I say assets because Death Row just robbed him blind. The only thing left when he died was his music and $150,000 in his bank account. One of Tupac's dreams was to start his own Record label (Makaveli Records). He was planning to do this after leaving Death Row which he probably would have done after the release of his Makaveli LP, but unfortunately he was gunned down and later died before this could ever happen. Still grieving the loss of her son, Afeni set out to make Tupac's dream come true, and along with help from other's formed Amaru Records. Her goal was to release her son's unreleased recordings, which are Tupac's legacy. She also wanted to keep his memory alive by stretching out these releases over a period of time, but not without some bumps along the road. 

Somewhere in all this, someone got a hold of a lot of his unreleased recordings and began to producing bootlegs like the ones you see on this page. The main suspect is Death Row Records or at least someone connected with them. It's funny how after refusing to give up money owed to Tupac, and being very sluggish to turn over the songs Afeni won the rights to in court, the bootlegs turn up (perhaps yet another way for Death Row Records to make money from the slain artist). Some of these bootlegs sound horrible and were just thrown together in an effort to make money from Tupac's numerous grieving fans. Other bootlegs are of great CD quality sound which bring Death Row back into the picture. It's possible that they were behind most of these bootlegs with all the dirt they do (read Have Gun Will Travel by Ronin Ro). They have the capability to mass produce these CD's and had access to the master tapes. They probably made up the bootlegs while they were bullshitin' Afeni as far as turning the songs over even after they were ordered by a court to do so.

You the fan and consumers have the power to put an end to this and help Tupac's legacy live on. How do you ask? First off, don't buy the bootlegs! I know it's tempting because some of his unreleased music is so great that you've got to have it now. Think about this for those of you who have or are thinking about buying them online. Most of these sites are SCAMS anyway. A LOT of people who order these bootlegs and other Tupac merchandise from these sites never get their orders anyway. I wont give the URL's to any of these sites for fear of promoting them to those of you who are just too hardheaded, but beware of the following: if they ask you to send cash, if they give you a P.O. Box to send your check or money order to (especially if they ask you to E-Mail them for the address and it's not anywhere on their page), or if it's not from a well known website such as CD Now, Music Boulevard, or Amazon.com. Most legit sites will only take credit card orders and will have a secured server for your safety. Legit sites will not even sell any unofficial releases for fear of a lawsuit. The CD "In His Own Words" is not really a bootleg, but Afeni Shakur got it taken off the shelves because she wasn't getting paid for it. You may be able to purchase that one online but all the rest of these bootlegs you see such as Makaveli 2,3 all the way up to 7 and beyond are NOT authorized to be sold. The other way to protect his legacy is to buy the legit recordings when they do come out. So far Amaru has put out R U Still Down and 2Pac's Greatest Hits (with the cooperation of Death Row), and there are many more releases to come provided these sell well. The reason I say this is because Afeni is said to be having a hard time running that company and there are even rumors of her selling Tupac's unreleased recordings to No Limit Records. So please buy his legit releases when they come out and help support Amaru Records by not putting any more money into these bootlegger's pockets. If you bought the video Thug Immortal, you know how Tupac feels about them. For the list of songs that can be found on the bootlegs click here.

© THUNDER 1/99