Jim Jones has revealed he almost fainted in the middle of the street when he saw 2Pac in his hometown of Harlem, New York.
During a recent appearance on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson’s All The Smoke podcast alongside fellow Lobby Boy Maino, Capo was asked about his love for ‘Pac and The Notorious B.I.G., who were both tragically murdered six months apart in the 1990s.
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Jones recalled spotting the late Death Row rapper in his neighborhood while he was shooting the 1994 movie Above the Rim — a sighting that apparently left him light-headed.
“I never met Big and I never met 2Pac, but I seen both of them on 125th Street,” he said. “I seen Biggie on 125th Street jumping out the Land Cruiser with Lil Cease, I’ll never forget that day … You gotta remember, this is like ’94, ’95, ’96, so this was the most mind-blowing thing for me ever.
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“Now, when 2Pac was doing Above the Rim, me and my man James were walking down two-fifth, we going back to the block, toward the East Side and a n-gga was hanging out the MPV. My man James tapped me like, ‘There go your man right there!’ ‘Cause they know how much I love ‘Pac. I almost fainted!”
Jones acted out his astonished reaction at seeing ‘Pac that day, throwing his arms in the air and yelling out his name. “I almost died that day, bro!” he joked.
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The Dipset rapper added he and his friends would spend hours trying to get a glimpse of 2Pac after hearing about him filming Above the Rim in their stomping grounds.
“The whole movie was in Harlem so he ended up finding a hood that he really fucked with where n-ggas loved him, and that was over there in AK [Houses],” he said. “So we used to run around Harlem all day trying to find 2Pac.”
Released in March 1994, Above The Rim found 2Pac starring alongside the likes of Duane Martin, Marlon Wayans and the late Bernie Mac. The film centered around a high school basketball prospect and his relationships with a drug dealer and a former basketball star.
Sadly, Above the Rim was ‘Pac’s final movie to be released in theaters during his lifetime. It remains one of his most well-known acting credits alongside his roles in 1992’s Juice and 1993’s Poetic Justice.
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Elsewhere in his All The Smoke interview, Jim Jones revealed his Harlem brethren Ma$e taught him how to rap while crediting his fellow Diplomat Cam’ron with guiding him from the streets to music success.
“Ma$e taught me how to rap and Cam always made sure I was on every single album he had,” he said. “He was like, ‘Boy, once you figure out how to rap the same way you act in these streets, it’s going to work for you, just keep going.’ So I always gotta give credit where credit is due.”
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He added: “Wouldn’t be no Jim Jones if it wasn’t for them guys, and I ended up catching on. I was doing everything — directing, security, engineering, but they was coming every night, $30-40,000 off that show money.
“I was like ‘Nah, I gotta figure this out. I gotta really get into this rap mode.’ And that’s what really propelled me, seeing all the success that they was having.”
