Allen Hughes, whose work on the life of 2Pac has received widespread acclaim, shared that he saw the MCs death coming following the release of his most vicious diss track.
During a recent chat with Michael Rapaport, the veteran filmmaker recalled the first time he listened to the East Coast hit piece, “Hit ’Em Up.” Its immediate and long-term implications, Hughes claimed, were clear to him from the moment he heard it.
“I remember [Interscope Records co-founder] Jimmy Iovine playing me the track before it came out and I’d go, ‘Him and 2Pac and/or Suge [Knight] would be dead in less than six months,’” he said. “And it wasn’t the words; it was the energy. It’s the power of how he did it — particularly the outro.”
Hughes also threw shade at an unnamed rapper who, per the mentioned monetary status and sequence of events surrounding ‘Pac and the Notorious B.I.G‘s deaths, led some in the comments on the video to believe he was talking about JAY-Z.
“I’m not gonna name names, I’ll get in trouble with other iconic, legendary, gazillionaire rappers right now,” he said, “but when you shoot the two A+ students in the class, the C– student starts to rise to the top.”
Check out the discussion at the 15:44 mark below:
2Pac’s murder remains unsolved over two decades after it took place, but Allen Huges maintains the identity of his killer was never unclear to those who actually knew the late rapper.
In mid-July, the filmmaker joined ABC News’ Linsey Davis to discuss the multi-decade conundrum surrounding ‘Pac’s death and the renewed efforts in its investigation. Whereas a culprit has yet to be officially charged, Hughes said that there were never any doubts as to who was responsible for the crime.
“In the community, as we know, and in the streets, there was never a mystery to who killed 2Pac,” he said. “It was always about Las Vegas law enforcement closing the case on this.”
The Dear Mama director clarified: “What happened that night at the MGM Grand Casino and that violent incident that 2Pac and gang had with that individual — again, that guy, everyone knows, came back and shot 2Pac.”
Hughes’ five-part docuseries focuses on the mother-son relationship between Afeni Shakur – a revolutionary and member of the Black Panther Party – and 2Pac. It premiered in late April and quickly became the most-watched premiere episode for an unscripted series in FX’s 28-year history.
Talkin bout Puff, not JaY. Don’t get it fucked up!
Didn’t make any predictions but definitely had a bad feeling it was gon end badly the first time I saw the California Love Video.
Did this idiot just call Jay-Z a C- rapper? Smdh.
He’s right though, Hov rose to the top immediately after Pac and Big’s death.
yes. if big was here, he would have been the king of n.y.
So Jay sacrificed them to the Illuminati???😂
Horrible song. All anger no skill.
It definitely touched the nerve on a lot of pussies that’s for sure.
outside of the intro and first two bars, hit em up was a ho hum Pac song. and there’s nothing great about saying grab ya glocks when you see me then someone does that and next thing you know, that’s it. hit em up is a sad situation and it’s sad that tryhards swear it’s the shit when the dude is gone
Try hards like you? The song became one of the hardest diss songs of all time regardless of how sensitive you feel over it. Don’t preach over glocks since there’s so much gunplay in songs back then and today, don’t deflect with the hypocrisy acting like a person didn’t already get shot way before Hit Em Up came out to escalate that entire beef. Truth is you don’t like it because he dissed one of your favorite rappers and you sensitive pussies got mad lol.
Tupac deserved death after Hit ’em up. Im glad he got what he asked for then.