Tupac Shakur was one of the most well-known rappers in the world and, during the 1990s and was the go-to artist if you wanted a hot verse for your song. However, things did not quite work out when Michael Jackson wanted just that. In an interview with Cam Capone News, former Outlawz member Napoleon (who was a close affiliate of Pac before he died), revealed why the collaboration between the two legends never came to fruition and how the late rapper liked to create music.
Recalling the first time Shakur was contacted by Jackson’s team, Napoleon explained that the rapper was “called to the studio to do a song for Michael Jackson, to lay a verse”, revealing that Shakur was initially excited, so much so that the rapper “told his mother, his family, everyone”.
However, it was when the artist arrived at the studio that things went a bit wrong. Upon Shakur asking where Jackson was, they bluntly told him, “Oh he can’t come. They want you to lay the verse”. Napoleon recalled this is when Pac got up and left clamouring, “Oh so he isn’t man enough to come say hi to me and speak to me? I don’t want to get on his song.”
Explaining how Tupac had a fantastic moral compass, Napoleon divulged, “He walked out on the opportunity because he was more about ethics and morals. Like we look up to you. If you want me to be on the song, at least say hi to me. I don’t think ‘Pac was just doing stuff for money.” He went on to explain how “It was more personal if he got on a record with you and stuff like that. He didn’t really care about the money.”
Shakur and Jackson had been set to work before, with Michael Jackson supposed to sing a hook on the Tupac Shakur song ‘Thug Nature’. However, according to Quincy Jones III, son of the legendary producer Quincy Jones, Jackson refused the request as he was loyal to Notorious B.I.G., Pac’s main rival and enemy at the time.
However, former Death Row Records singer Danny Boy wrote this off as a detestable lie. Setting the record straight, he told Cam Capone News in a separate interview, “I hate to be like that wasn’t said, but I remember myself being in the meeting with Michael Jackson and the All Eyez on Me album being played for him, and Michael went crazy. So I don’t see him saying he messed with Biggie and not 2Pac, or you know what I’m saying.”
Overall, it’s a massive shame that we never got a collaboration between these two legendary artists. Both musical forces in their own right, as a joint force, they would have been musically unstoppable.
You can watch the Cam Capone News interview below.
