The strange beef between Coolio and 2Pac: “He wasn’t the same dude”
Compton emcee Coolio is a well-known musician who is most renowned for his 1995 hit track ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ which earned the late legend a Grammy Award. However, few know that the West Coast lyricist had a friendship and then an unofficial feud with Death Row icon 2Pac.
It is a little-known fact that Coolio and 2Pac were once close friends and that early in his career, 2Pac received career advice from the It Takes a Thief creator. Akin to Ice-T, Coolio knew Shakur before he joined Death Row in his 2Pacalypse Now era. During this period, he was a rising star from Oakland.
However, just like Ice-T, Coolio noticed a change in 2Pac’s demeanour following his move from The Bay to LA and wasn’t afraid to tell him that he was concerned about the potential ramifications of befriending Suge Knight.
During an appearance on the Hip-Hop Uncensored podcast, Coolio recalled how, over time, 2Pac began to change and highlighted how there was a particular shift after the ‘Hail Mary’ lyricist was temporarily incarcerated in 1995.
Speaking about the evident transformation of Shakur, Coolio explained, “When he got with Death Row, he wasn’t the same dude. He started smoking and drinking a lot. The s*** that tripped me out is he started gangbanging. He started gangbanging in his mid-20s.”
Coolio detailed how he felt it was unnatural for an Oakland rapper to enter the world of LA gangs at such an old age, disclosing, “He’s from the Bay area! [Then] all of a sudden, he’s claiming Piru! And he’s actively gangbanging. That’s usually the time [people] get out of gangbanging. It was weird for me to talk to Pac after that. He became a different person.”
During his interview, Coolio admitted that he tried to dissuade Shakur from befriending Suge Knight and entering the worlds of Crips and Bloods. Unfortunately, he didn’t heed his warning. Recounting 2Pac’s response, Coolio said the rapper shouted, “‘I’m a grown ass man!'”
Although there was a bit of friction between the two MCs after Shakur signed with Death Row Records, Coolio and 2Pac made a song together after Tupac’s release from prison. Speaking about the unreleased song, Coolio told Pop Killer magazine, “My original DJ, DJ Wino – basically the guy who created my sound…he did a track for Pac, right there in the studio. I was on a verse, Pac was on a verse, and I think somebody else was on a verse.”
Still, the track was never released due to the tension between them and 2Pac’s hubris concerning money. According to Coolio, Shakur refused to pay the producer who made the beat and, disrespectfully, only gave him $200.
Recalling what happened when the song was finished, Coolio concluded, “So we finish the song, and [DJ Wino] asked [Tupac], ‘How much are you gonna pay me? And Pac didn’t want to pay him nothin’. He tried to give him like a couple hundred bucks. ‘Pac told the engineer to erase the track, and he erased it. And I’m sure [DJ Wino] regrets that now.”