- June 93 - Sept. 93 : second Thug Life Original sessions, first Me Against The World sessions, East Coast oriented album upon the topic of Thug Life, mostly produced by Stretch.
- "Nothing 2 Lose" has been an early title for the album.
- It has been said the album was more or less finished circa October of 93, but it could design the next sequence known as Out On Bail.
- Widely reworked because of the Thug Life Demo Tape was leaked and dropped.
- Sources : handwritten papers, infos & snippets leaked by Banned of Bomb1st, lost acapellas
### We followed the incomplete tracklist titled "Mr Middle Finger", before it turned into something different after Thug Life Demo was leaked. We completed the album following indications of Banned of Bomb1st who says he has - more or less - a material sequence of it (it could be various incomplete tapes). Last info : there could also be two Mopreme skits recorded for the album... ###
- Hopeless (TL Original) - live / remake
- Nothing 2 Lose (TL Original) feat. Natasha Walker - snippet
- Bury Me a G (TL Mix) feat. Natasha Walker - snippet / remake
- It Ain't Easy (TL Original) - snippet / interlude
- Thugz Get Lonely Too (Crazy Version)
Just Like Me ??Ghetto Ghost - og vibe / remake- Mr. Middle Finger - acapella snippet
- Here We Go (Shit Don't Stop TL Original) - snippet
- Dear Lord (Hell Razor TL Original) feat. Stretch & Y?N-Vee - remake
- If I Wasn't High (Lord Knows TL Original) feat. Natasha Walker
- Who Do U Luv ? (TL Mix) feat. Stretch - remake
- The Uppercut feat. Nic Nam (Y?N-Vee) - acapella/2003 remix/remake
- Open Fire (TL Mix) - acapella/remake
- Wonda Why They Call U Bitch (TL Mix)
Bonus Tracks :
15. Thug 4 Life feat. Stretch - og unfinished / acapella / remake
16. Nothing 2 Lose (Clean Version) feat. Natasha Walker - snippet
17. St. Ides Malt Liquor Commercial '93 (Freestyle)
18. Keep Ya Head Up (MTV Jams Live Rehearsal) feat. Dave Hollister (chorus)
19. I Get Around (MTV Jams Live Rehearsal) feat. Digital Underground & Stretch (hook)
20. Jack Daniel's Freestyle (MTV Jams Live) feat. Shock G
A totally vanished project
No official tracklist has been leaked yet, but most of the tracks have been confirmed (except for "Just Like Me") by Banned from Bomb1st forum, who claims being in possession of a material sequence of the album, and who leaked snippets of it. "Uppercut" could be just a b-side for a planned single, with also the clean version of "Nothing To Lose". So it could give space for another totally unknown song like "Looking 4 Me in the Whirlwind" (probably not recorded) or "Nothing Like Niggaz". But it could also be "Thug 4 Life" (maybe more a b-side for Thug Life Original), or "Ghost" (probably recorded earlier in late 92). Either "Uppercut" was among the 14 tracks... Nothing says if "If I Wasn't High" and "Who Do U Luv" are really different from the leaked versions (mix and featured artists).
It seems we have acapellas of parts of the album : "Open Fire", "Uppercut", that lead us to think that "Thug 4 Life" could eventually have been added to that project.
Start of a new project... circa late May - June of 93
Circa March-April of 93, there is a "Thug Life Original" tracklist where appears the title "Do U Love The Thug Life ?", what could have inspired months later (in September) the concept of the song "Who Do U Luv ?". After the death of Kato, the 16th of April, 2Pac recorded new songs with Warren G "How Long Will They Mourn Me", "Animosity", "Lie 2 Kick It" and a second version of "Definition of a Thug Nigga". At that time or even earlier, 2Pac had the idea of a second part to his concept album, but more East Coast oriented. So whilst they were giving new/final mixes for some tracks with Johnny J ("Thug Life" with a funkier sample, "High Till I Die" with a new ragga hook, "Is It Cool 2 Fuck ?" with breaks...), 2Pac invited Stretch to come and record with him...
So, circa the 19th of May 93, whilst 2Pac presented his first project to Interscope. Johnny J gave a last beat to him and he recorded "Thug 4 Life" with Stretch, probably as a B-Side for the first single of the album. The song lyrics are kind of sum up of the lyrics of the album, but it is also the beginning of the new sessions known as Thug Life 2.
1. Circa late June or July of 93. Nothing 2 Lose.
First page of a new notebook. Credits giving "Bury Me A G" and "Nothing 2 Lose" to 2Pac are strange... Is there any track recorded at the moment 2Pac penned that tracklist ? Also there is no "featuring Thug Life" nor "Y?N-Vee"...
The next 3 pages of the notebook have Thugz Get Lonely Too lyrics (with "wife's house" mention). Credits about "2Pac & Big Stretch 4 Thug Music" are more accurate (2Pac could have given the idea of the sample)... The fact that Double Jeopardy made the hook of "Thugz Get Lonely Too" could indicate the song was recorded closely to the end of Thug Life Original sessions. Could it be the very first song recorded ?
2. Circa late June or July of 93. Untitled
We have the 5 tracks from the previous one with addition of some short lived concept titles (Could "Fuck Friends" and "Brotha Man" be the Mopreme skits ?). Only "Just Like Me" will be in the next tracklist (Is that mean it was recorded ?). It is said that both "Bury Me A G" versions were recorded around the same days (maybe the Thug Life version was recorded then, a few days later...). So was the track then recorded ? It could indicate the time Mopreme met up 2Pac (he was probably in NYC since the WATM project was dropped in fall of 92).
The stars on side are probably marking the planned singles, what could mean that "Nothing 2 Lose" and "If I Wasn't High" were recorded (and so the second one having an unknown original version)... But we can't be sure. At a time, 2Pac could have written lyrics way before recording them...
So it is also possible that the tracklist is then strictly filled with concepts... This tracklist could be from a different notebook... so why not before anything was made...
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3. Circa August of 93. Mr. Middle Finger (pg 8 - copy)
Copy of an incomplete tracklist of the album, and lyrics for "Mr. Middle Finger" song. The track #7 "All I Got Is Niggaz" is very probably unrecorded.
The other titles already appearing in the previous tracklist
could eventually be recorded... So "Just Like Me" could exist...
The strange thing is that the notebook where appears "Nothing 2 Lose" tracklist
has "Thugz Get Lonely Too" on page 2, maybe 3, 4 as well. And that "Mr
Middlefinger" tracklist is here noted on page 8... There are only 3 pages left,
so probably for the lyrics of "It Ain't Eazy"... Unless the track was here only a concept title that 2Pac really wrote and recorded later.
Given that a part of "Mr Middle Finger" can be heard in "Uppercut" acapella, it could mean both songs have been recorded around the same period, maybe a few days after that draft (if anything from it is recorded). "Hopeless (Intro)" was also recorded around that time in August, for the forthcoming Thugz 4 Life tour.
"Here We Go", "Open Fire", "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch" and "Who Do U Luv ?" are more likely from September of 93... just before Natasha Walker who was recording with 2Pac (maybe "Don't Leave", "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch", or even "Shit Don't Stop") discovered that Dogg Pound was listening to the Thug Life demo tape...
Thug Life 1 (West Coast) / Thug Life 2 (East Coast)
The original first Thug Life album was produced by west coast producers Warren G & Johnny J, with west side guests like Big Syke, Rated R, Richie Rich, Spice 1, Nate Dogg... This second project is clearly a more east coast vibe, mainly produced by Stretch of the Live Squad, with a strong presence of the singer Natasha Walker of the Y?N-Vee.
Probably the beginning of the Easy Mo Bee sessions were an attempt to complete/modify this project. It seems that Tupac has been early concerned by his dual music influence in him due to his New Jersey origin. He will again try to achieve this west/east project in the late One Nation (that was supposed to have an East and a West part, cf. One Nation part 2).
"Thug Life" was not the name of a group, but a state of mind
In
this second volume, Thug Life is even less a group album, but more a 2Pac solo
with some regular guests. Here it is mainly Natasha Walker and the
Y?N-Vee and Stretch of the Live Squad (featuring and producing).
So what is "thug life" ? Then it was more like a state of mind, a violent one, that can be also expressed by "mister middle finger" and "nothing to lose". But it is not just a non-sense aggressive gesture, it is like the black raised fist from Tommie Smith and John Carlos - with a sort of modernization -, like a clear symbol of radical rebellion, a "fuck everybody" feeling. Like Tupac said, after the fail of the Black Panthers to change the American system of oppression, the police brutality, the white supremacy ideology, the right-thinking classes... The next and only move that last to the youth is to raise the middle finger, to fuck the whole world ! That led us to the post acronym : The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fuck Everybody.
Halloween night in Atlanta, Manhattan nightclub... led 2Pac to shelve the album
The
night of Halloween, October the 31st of '93, Tupac was driving in Atlanta in his car (with
some friends) when he saw two white men harassing a black kid (no
witness). Tupac stopped and confronted them. They were two drunk
brothers, off duty police officers. The altercation grew up. It is said that racist slurs have been heard. Tupac and his friends probably showed their weapons. One
of the policemen has been charged of firing at 2Pac's Mercedes Benz.
They said they felt "threaten" when Tupac and his colleagues went out of
their car. Tupac replied. The two police officers fled and were touched
in the buttocks and in the back abdomen...
A few days later, Tupac with two other men (record executive Haitian Jack and road manager Charles Fuller) were charged in New York for "sodomizing a woman in Shakur's Hotel room". After that, Tupac had to be very careful to what he will release in the perspective of the process. Many of the songs in the two Thug Life sessions were very violent, especially insulting and threatening against the police... Tupac was risking many years of prison... That's probably the main reason for totally remake the album... that will turn into Out on Bail.
and started to record new songs (the Easy Mo Bee sessions) for a new project
DETAILED TRACKLIST
- 1993/08 (~). The sentence "I live the Thug Life, baby I'm hopeless" sounds like an anthem for the group. The original version is still unleaked and is known to be longer with more speaking and a scratched sentence of Cypress Hill. It is closer to the version they were playing live during the Thugz 4 Life tour, so it was maybe recorded shortly before (Live at Sheraton was the 19th of August). The leaked second version should have been made in Nov.-Dec. 93, either for Out on Bail album with the other remade songs, or for Thug Life Volume One sessions.
- Samples :
- Millie Jackson - "I Cry" (melody, bassline)
- Cypress Hill - "Cock The Hammer" (vocals : "cock the hammer, it's time for some action")
- 1993/06-07 (~). This first version has different lyrics from the retail version released in R U Still Down (1997). The snippet (given by Banned) shows the song could have a similar beat to the Cradle 2 The Grave tape version (Out On Bail album). The lyrics could be a bit more raw but they are not exactly like the handwritten lyrics... Banned says both versions could be from the same time but the song could have been re-recorded after Thug Life Original album was shelved circa October of 93, opening the new sessions, or maybe more likely later in late November when the song re-enters the tracklisting (cf. Out on Bail).
- Samples :
- Mica Paris - "I Wanna Hold on to You" (drumline/melody)
- Ice Cube - "Summer Vacation" (vocals : "my homie got shot he's a goner, black")
- Ice Cube - "Us" (vocals : "That's why I got gang related rhymes")
- The D.O.C. & N.W.A. - "The Grand Finale" (vocals : "I got robbed when I came to Cali)
- Dr. Dre - "Chronic Intro" (sampling Gylan Kain of the (Original) Last Poets - "The Shalimar") (vocals : "like we always do about this time")
- 1993/06-07 (~). Solo version of the Thug Life song released in Thug Life : Volume 1 (1994, Interscope). It appears as a solo track in Mr. Middle Finger tracklists (minus untitled one) before 2Pac started to incorporate the group version to his solo album in Street Fame/Out on Bail tracklists (also included in Cradle 2 the Grave demo tape). It was firstly thought recorded in late August, because it is said both versions were recorded around the same period and Mopreme was referring to his birthday in his verse, the 17th of August, but in fact Mopreme was speaking about his 25th birthday in 92... Considering the lyrics, the vocal delivery, the solo version could have been recorded rather closer to the late Thug Life Original sessions in May-June. This solo version reappears in R U Still Down '94 tracklist in early 94, in a slightly different mix (with no breaks).
- Samples :
- The Isley Brothers - "For The Love of You" (melody)
- The Meters - "Groovy Lady" (drumline)
- 1993/07 (~). Totally different music and lyrics than the released song in Me Against The World (1995). The "It Ain't Easy" interlude included in Stay True mixtape is extracted from the outro of that song.
- Samples :
- The Commodores - "Assembly Line" (melody)
-
1993/06-07 (~). Supposed to be published in R U Still Down (1997) in
an edited version with Tech9ne instead of the Pac's third
verse. Awfully remixed in Loyal To The Game (2004, Amaru)
with a Nate Dogg chorus and a pitched voice to make 2Pac sound more mature... This long version with speaking intro and outro - the first
leaked in early Makaveli bootlegs - respect the original handwritten lyrics of Nothing 2 Lose/Mr Middle Finger first tracklist (saying "best
friends at your WIFE's house trying to mack her" and not "WOMAN's house" like in the Live in Maryland version from Oct. or in Cradle 2 The Grave tape and Pre-Death Row "Gigolos" versions). So it could be the very first version recorded for Mr. Middle Finger or it was re-recorded like many songs in late 93 - early January 94 for R U Still Down '94.
The clean beat without breaks, similar to "Bury Me A G" Manu Tape version, could
indicate a same Duane Nettlesbey kind of remix. In this case, 2Pac would
have taken the original lyrics he wrote whereas the first version had a
mistake. The outro saying "so you remember that next time you sweatin'
me when I'm on the road, baby, thugs get lonely too, we ain't gotta go
through all this bullshittin' ass problems" could refer to the Michigan
concert where 2Pac stroke Chancey Wynn with a bat (the 4th of April)... The
intro could refer to that and to "Thug Life being the craziest", or could on the contrary be seen as a reply to the front cover of Vibe magazine
in Feb.
94 and what the medias were saying after November and December events...
- Samples :
- Prince - "If I Was Your Girlfriend (Sign 'O' The Times Tour, 1987)" (melody, vocals)
- 2Pac - "Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z." (vocals interpolation)
- 1993/07 (~). Nothing is known about that song, if the song has really been recorded but it appears in Mr. Middle Finger tracklist and in the previous one (whereas other ones were not), so it could be an unleaked song of these times.
- 1993/08 (~). We have the handwritten lyrics of it (written right after the eponymous tracklist) and we can hear a line taken from it in "Uppercut" acapella : "Start a riot if the guards can't stop the niggaz". The song could share the same REEL, let's hope it wasn't overwritten by it.
- 1993/08-09
(~). The song was also recorded with Thug Life in a totally different version titled "Shit Don't Stop", also with Natasha Walker, and released in Thug Life : Volume 1 (1994). Could 2Pac record solo and group versions at the same time
like "Bury Me A G" ? Two pieces of the song with that "here we go" Natasha Walker chorus can be heard in the Cradle2TheGrave tape - presumably overwritten -, but it never appeared in any Street Fame/Out on Bail tracklists. The song could have been given to the group circa October of 93, both versions aren't credited to have been recorded at the same studios (this one seemingly Echo studios).
- Samples :
- Parliament - "Aqua Boogie" (melody, bassline, vocals)
- 1993/06-07 (?). If lyrics could have been written at that time, nothing says is an early version exists. If so it could have an unheard first verse and have more or less same beat and background vocals than Sweet Sable's "Old Times' Sake" released in Above The Rim soundtrack (produced by Nikke Nicole). The song was probably re-recorded circa December '93 for completing Out on Bail or directly for R U Still Down '94.
- Samples :
- Eddie Kendricks – "Intimate Friends" (melody)
- Mountain - "Long Red (Live at Woodstock)" (drumline)
- The Five Stairsteps – "Don’t Change Your Love" (drumline)
- Scarface (Movie, 1983) (vocals)
- American Me (Movie, 1992) (vocals)
- 1993/06-07 (?) - 09 (?) (remix ?). Released in Me Against The World with a lighter chorus. The first recorded version of the song, known as "If I Wasn't High", could be the Brian G version with many adlibs by Natasha Walker and the Y?N-Vee, which was included in Cradle2TheGrave demo tape. But there also could be a Stretch unleaked version, why not with an alternate Tupac's vocals take but above that with an alternate beat and with another chorus upon "If I Wasn't High" topic. The song will be remixed and lighted in its chorus for R U Still Down '94 project in early 94, remixed by Tony Pizarro for Stay True and then by Moe-Z for F.T.W. (Fuck The World) before 2Pac/Interscope finally chose the original Brian G arrangement but with the light chorus and some elements of the remix.
- Samples :
- The Blackbyrds - "All I Ask" (melody)
- 1993/09 (~). Awfully remixed in Loyal To The Game (2004, Amaru) with slightly alternate vocals. "Do You Love The Thug Life ?" was in the beginning a title for Thug Life Original album, and maybe an anticipated concept for "Who Du U Luv ?". But the song is presumably one of the last recorded songs of the sessions, right before the project turned into Out on Bail which is firstly titled "Thug in Me" circa October 93. There could be another unleaked version with the alternate retail vocals and maybe an alternate beat... The song remained in the album until November '93 before totally disappearing... maybe because a sample clearance issue. A part of the first verse is reused in "Judgement Day" (cf. Honor Among Thugz).
- Samples :
- The Gap Band – "Jam The Motha" (melody)
- 1993/08 (~). Remixed in Loyal To The Game (2004, Amaru). The name of the female rapper was difficult to guess for a long time. People were talking about Yonnie (Thug Life member, cf. Honor Among Thugz) or Sister Soulja from Public Enemy (Tupac still wanted to record with her in '95 for All Eyez on Me, cf. When I Get Free). You can hear Nic Nam rapping with this style on many tracks of the Y?N-Vee album released the 18th of October 1994, and in the first verse of "Say Whatcha Gonna Say" in Johnny J's solo album I Gotta Be Me (1994), both albums recorded in 93. For a long time, the only known version was the acapella and a Dante's OG vibe. The recently leaked (2023) unused remix (made for Resurrection OST) is known to be close to the original version.
- Samples :
- LL Cool J - "Mama Said Knock You Out" (vocals : "I'm knock you out", "heyy", "gangsta boogie")
- 1993/09 (~). Published in R U Still Down (1997, Amaru) without major change (without some adlibs and the laughing end). This original TL mix is said using the leaked acapella with many adlibs in the background, which are not in in the Out on Bail (Cradle 2 The Grave tape) version. The original beat could be also slightly different. Akshun had already produced "Guess Who's Back" on Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. album.
- Samples :
- Cal Tjader - "You'll Never Get To Heaven (If You Break My Heart)" (bassline interpolation)
- N.W.A. - "100 Miles and Runnin" (sound effects)
- Smokey Robinson & The Miracles - "Mickey's Monkey" (vocals)
- the movie New Jack City (1991) (movie sequence)
- 1993/09 (~). Planned to be included in Pre-Death Row compilation. Re-recorded for All Eyez On Me in 1996 (cf. When I Get Free). Duane Nettlesbey claimed the song was also re-recorded in late '93 over a Led Zeppelin sample with an alternate vocal take and a clean chorus : "why they call you B-I-T-C-H", in a replacement of the original after the rape case was opened (cf. Honor Among Thugz (Volume 1 sessions) and Out on Bail).
- Samples :
- Paul Simon - "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" (melody/drums)
- Parliament - "Bop Gun" (vocals)
15. Thug 4 Life feat. Stretch & unknown singer (?) / Johnny J (?), Stretch (?) - ACAPELLA - Juda7 REBUILD - AmarOG REMAKE Wizzattz REMAKE Targoon REMAKE
- 1993/05-06 (?). Awfully remixed in Loyal To The Game
(2004, Amaru, Interscope). The fact that 2Pac dedicates to Kato
in his 2nd verse and not to Mental could indicate the song was
recorded between April and
October of 93. Johnny J is credited as the original producer in Loyal To The Game credits, so the song was probably recorded at the end of the Thug Life Original
sessions (2Pac there compiles lines taken from various songs he recorded for
the project), maybe for a B-side. Whilst working on the last mixes of the album in May, Johnny J may have given another beat to 2Pac who was already planning to record a new album with Stretch. Leaked mixes of the
song (with or without the singer) have an
empty
space for a second verse. A Stretch verse can be heard in the far
background of the acapella, by amplifying a lot. But
the verse is dramatically distorted, with another verse playing at the
same time (or more likely adlibs at the same sound level), sounding also like Stretch's voice... With the help of Bomb1st colleagues Redblue,
PacMusic and Dada7, I made an OG version with Stretch lost verse edited in.
At the end of the song, 2Pac says "Havenotz in this muthafucker", new name of The Kidz who he was
recording the project Ghetto Gospel with in 92 (their name still appears listed in Volume One early tracklist circa Dec. 93, cf. Honor Among Thugz). So maybe 2Pac was also working on their project at that time, and
"Thug 4 Life" could eventually be a reference track for them. A guy named Candyman 187 pretended that the
Havenotz group was initially with him and Kadafi, if true,
it would be more likely a late project Kadafi had in 96 (except if
Young Hollywood was in that group before joining Thoro Headz).
- Sample :
- Deniece Williams - "How'd I Know That Love Would Slip Away" (melody)
- Kid Dynamite - "Uphill Peace of Mind" (drumline)
- 2Pac - "Definition of a Thug Nigga" (vocals interpolation)
- 1993/06-09 (?). This version has altered soft lyrics "the realest black brother you ever saw". The song was planned to be the first single of the album. At the end of the song, there is a speaking outro which was re-used by Tony Pizarro for the "Nothing to lose (Interlude)" (cf. Stay True).
17. St. Ides Malt Liquor Commercial '93 (Freestyle) / DJ Pooh
- 1993/05-06 (?). 2Pac makes a short freestyle with a medley of well-known lines from old songs (you can hear "thug for life", "I gotta get mine"). The song could be from mid '93. He will record again for the malt label in early 96 with Snoop. DJ Pooh had already produced "Ghost" for 2Pac, probably in the end of '92 (like the three Bobcat tracks, his comrade from the Boogiemen producing team who worked together for King Tee, Ice Cube, Threat, Yo-Yo...) or around the same time in mid '93 but it is doubtful considering the lyrics are from the end of '91 (for The Kidz project, cf. Ghetto Gospel).
- 1993/07/28. Rehearsal to the MTV Jams session, with the live musicians. Let's notice that 2Pac wears the same clothes than on the Danny Clinch photoset (the 18th of August 93).
- 1993/07/28. Rehearsal to the MTV Jams session, with the live musicians. It has the "Thug Life Party" hook by Stretch. A wonderful session but what a pity Money B's microphone didn't work well !
- 1993/07/28.
Jam session with live musicians. At the end of their live part, during the interview transition with De La Soul, Shock G & 2Pac keep on freestyling over "I Get Around" music.
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