Suge Knight has attributed what he considers the sole failure in 2Pac’s catalogue to Eminem, who oversaw one of the late rapper’s posthumous projects.
On a new episode of Collect Call With Suge Knight that premiered on Tuesday (January 16) via Dave Mays’ Breakbeat Media, the former Death Row Records boss talked to Katt Williams about loyalty, the music business and working out, among several other topics.
During their chat, the 58-year-old also discussed all the people trying to get a piece of ‘Pac following his demise, and the one record that turned out poorly as a result.
“A lot of people been wanting to do songs with ‘Pac and some people even did some shit with ‘Pac,” he said. “There was only one 2Pac project that ever flopped before, and that’s the one Eminem did on all the releases. All the rest of them were successful.”
The album Knight was referring to is Loyal to the Game, which was made up of unreleased recordings by the All Eyez On Me rapper and produced entirely by Slim Shady.
Listen to the Compton native discuss the 2004 LP at the 10:40 mark below:
Suge and Em have a turbulent past, at least according to Tony Yayo. The G-Unit soldier Drink Champs for an interview last year, during which he recalled the moment he realized the Detroit MC was “a real n-gga.”
The story took place in the early ’00s at 50 Cent‘s “In Da Club” video shoot in Los Angeles, where Eminem stood up to Knight, who had pulled up to the set with an army of Mexican gangsters.
The Queens, New York native remembered how chaos erupted when the infamous mogul initially arrived; Eminem, on the other hand, was apparently not afraid.
“This is why I always respected Eminem” Yayo began. “Suge came, he had some Mexican n-ggas. Now, we from New York; you ain’t never seen a n-gga with a tattoo on his forehead.
“We like, ‘Damn, what we got to lose? If we don’t pop now, we going back to the hood!’ So it’s like, fight these Mexican Blood n-ggas, killer n-ggas, or go back home to the crib. Might as well go all out and fight right here! We around Dr. Dre so it’s like, ‘Yo, we gotta do what we gotta do.'”
He continued: “[Suge] lights his cigar and he trying to see what you gon’ do … This is when I knew Eminem was real. He was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck, man!’ That’s when I knew, ‘Damn, Eminem is a real n-gga.’ 50 n-ggas outside. ‘What’s up?!’ And then the n-gga Suge just walked away. The Mexican n-ggas looked kinda confused, they didn’t know what was going on.
“Eminem came outside, 100 percent. Eminem was like, ‘I don’t give a fuck, man!’ Remember, it’s documented, Proof told Suge, ‘Yo, you killed 2Pac!’ in the middle of a party. Them Detroit n-ggas are kinda crazy, bruh! Them 7, 8 Mile n-ggas always been crazy … You could ask anybody, Proof was a wild boy. Rest in peace to Proof.”
The album wasn’t very good but it didn’t “flop”. It went platinum and number 1 on the charts. Pac’s Life was the album that flopped.
Suge’s life is a bigger flop lol
Eminem is a white dude from Detroit. Of course he wasn’t scared.
Too bad he’s a cuckold who hates his own white skin.
@Cuck 🤡
I guess they don’t have Google in prison because that album went platinum. 2pacalypse Now and Strictly 4 My N sold less. Pac’s Life is his worst selling album. And then you have all the lazy Death Row approved compilations and atrocious remix albums that sold beans. If he’s talking overall quality, sure, not one of his better albums. Production is basic and it felt more like an Eminem fan project which to an extent it was. I’d say Pac’s Life and Better Days were probably the weakest of his posthumous albums.
Flop or Not that album is classic. Black Cotton, out on bail, hennessy remix, the scott storch/ron isley. eminem did most but not all the beats. Serious flame on there.
Most of the Eminem beats were trash and he sped up the vocals to match the trash beats. The bonus tracks were good tho
ummm, classic? based on WHAT? maybe the songs that Pac’s vocals came from coulda made for a classic in their original form. But with these studio creation fake collabs with artists he never knew/met, and a good amount wouldnt have worked with.. over Em’s soul-less production… nah. This project (not even gonna call it an album since it aint a proper studio album) was made to keep generating money out of Pac’s unused vocals rather than make a piece of art.
Nah Em made the best possible with the material he had available… its very hard to make something consisive with incomplete songs and reworked beats under existing vocals
Its been done before though. The Big Picture from Big L or Imperious Rex from Sean Price are some fine examples. Until the End of Time from Pac is another good one. You really shouldnt ever give passes for mediocrity.
I hate Suge, but I probably hate this Loyal to the Game album more. I’m no Shady hater either, I thought the work he did on Tupac Resurrection was just fine, but this was pushing it and a bit too much. The best songs were the 3 bonus tracks made by real Pac producers.
Suge will always hold things against anyone affiliated with Dre.. so maybe the album wasnt a complete flop, but likely wasnt good. to be real, Em’s forte is NOT production. I detest the horrible remix he did of the classic “Runnin.” With the annoying Eric Cartman sounding pitched up sampled chorus. The original produced by Mo Bee is a song that doesnt need a remix, much less one by Em.
I never knew this. I wonder why Em of all people was the choice to do the album. Seems weird from an artist who is mostly an mc
Because 2pac mama literally begged him to executive produce it and if it had mamas blessing, you bet your whole ass 2pac dead ass be fine with it
Shut yo dumb ass up!
Man fuck Suge, talk is cheap. Loyal to the Game ain’t one of my favorites, far from it, some beats are truly unlistenable, but The Uppercut, Ghetto Gospel are still some of my favorite tracks. And that DJ Quik remix may be the track that sounds the most like the 2Pac from the 90s
Flop. Went platinum, #1 on billboard and a #1 platinum single. Lol