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2Pac is still considered one of the most legendary MCs of all time, and despite his early demise, his memory still lives on through stories and fascinating tales. That said, one hip-hop legend who had some wild experiences with 2Pac early in his career was Busta Rhymes.

During an in-depth sit-down interview, the Brooklyn native spoke about an experience he had in the studio with 2Pac when he was still part of his collective, Leaders of the New School. Busta recalled it happening while he was on the West Coast and suggested that it occurred sometime in the late 1980s.

Recalling his interactions with Shakur, Busta explained, “We doing a college show somewhere on the West Coast, and Digital Underground, [Tupac] was still with them.” He then unveiled that they were both performing that evening but proceeded to detail how the ‘Dear Mama’ lyricist choked out an audio engineer after he messed up a soundcheck.

Reflecting on the incident, Busta told Men’s Health, “We get to the soundcheck late, so the sound man was kind of turning off the equipment and was like, ‘Y’all kind of missed your window for the soundcheck.’ Pac goes to the sound man ’cause he hears the sound man trying to tell us we ain’t gonna get the soundcheck today, we late. Tupac starts choking this motherf**ker.”

Busta Rhymes and his crewmates apparently tried to settle the situation, and according to the ‘Gimme Some More’ rhymer, 2Pac called Leaders Of The New School “legends”, telling the engineer “You not gonna disrespect motherf*cker. Leaders of the New School, motherf*cker. We ain’t asking for none of this. So, we grabbing Pac like, ‘Stop, B! You gonna f**k around and not even get us the opportunity to perform. You gonna f**k up the whole bag.’ [He said], ‘Man, f*ck that! They can’t be disrespecting y’all. Y’all legends.’ We one album deep. He calling us legends.”

Busta Rhymes and 2Pac never appeared on a song together, but the Flipmode Squad leader has spoken fondly of his friendship with the West Coast rap icon on previous occasions. In 2020, during a conversation with Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes shared his thoughts on how 2Pac’s loyalty and love led to his tragic demise.

Opening up about 2Pac’s character defects, Busta told Fat Joe “It’s a little frustrating for me, but it’s the truth. I think Pac really felt he took on more of this responsibility to have to prove his love, when he really didn’t need to. The love he felt he needed to show people, that he wanted in return, he was already getting it. I don’t know why he felt the need to go above and beyond to the point where he would get himself in trouble, just to prove to somebody he got love for them. That’s what ended up getting him killed.”