1996 - Ghetto Starz (with Tha Outlawz)

  • Summer of '96 sessions for a new Outlawz album project
  • late project with a renewed Outlawz lineup (Kadafi, Hussein, Edi, Kastro, Napoleon with the addition of Young Noble, Storm & Nutt-So)

This photography was used for Still I Rise album. 
It could fit more for a back cover.
 
### This tracklist is a personal attempt to recreate the last unfinished project of 2Pac with the Outlawz. I followed the existing handwritten tracklist from early August of 96, and I filled it with songs recorded for the project. ###
 
Tracklist - LISTEN
 
1. Black Jesus (Rough Mix) feat. Storm
2. Staring Through My Rearview (Movie Rough Mix)
3. U Can Be Touched (Outlawz Version)
4. Runnin' On E (Rough Mix) feat. Nutt-So
5. Thug Nation Whatcha Gonna Do feat. Storm
6. Lost Souls (Movie Rough Mix)
7. Hell 4 A Hustler
8. All Out *
9. High Speed *
10. Jawz Tight Smile 4 Me (Original Sara Smile) - remake
11. Tattoo Tearz (Final Mix) *
12. Scared Str8 - snippet
13. As The World Turns *
14. The Good Die Young * - og vibe ?
15. Pac's Life
 
Bonus Tracks :
 
16. Novakane (Rough Mix) (by Outlawz) 
17. Can U Relate (by Outlawz & Asu)
 
War Gamez (DR Remix)
Black Jesus (Alternate Mix) feat. Storm
Runnin' On E (Alternate Cut End Mix) feat. Nutt-So
Runnin' On E ('98 Remix) feat. Storm

  • Producer - 2Pac & Hurt M Badd (1, 5), Big Simon Says (7, 8), Darryl Harper, Daz (10), Kurupt & Edi (11), QD3 (6), Johnny J (3)
  • * tracks that were not in the handwritten tracklist of the project, but were probably recorded or mixed after, in order to be included in it.
  • in BOLD : tracks probably recorded for this Outlawz project
  • in bold scrapped : tracks written in the handwritten tracklists but already included in other projects (#5 in Outlawz Retribution album, #10 in One Nation, Part One).



Johnny J Vs. Death Row : Outlawz LP being delayed

After the first sessions of One Nation project in June, with Boot Camp Clik, LS, Greg Nice... 2Pac was still finishing the Outlawz first album (then entitled Hunger or already Immortalz), probably giving a short mix to "Troublesome", giving his verse in "U Can't Be Touched" to Napoleon, maybe recording "War Gamez" aka "Capture The Flag" for the project... But in the late July, it seems the relation between Death Row and Johnny J turned problematic (about royalties like for Mopreme)... Tough the album was more or less ready to be released, "Hit 'Em Up" out as b-side being a huge promotion for the album, "Made Niggaz" video being shot for the first single, something changed in 2Pac projects...
 
In the mid of July, in Makaveli tracklists, the Outlawz album then titled "Immortalz" is announced to be released only in summer of '97 ! What happened ? While he was recording his new solo album with his Makaveli dark and mystic avatar, Outlawz project seems to take a new direction. The Johnny J produced songs like "When Thugz Cry" disappeared from Makaveli tracklist, like songs "Secretz of War" and "Never Call U Bitch Again" from One Nation second period tracklists... Maybe the album was just delayed, and 2Pac entered in his next project on the list : Hollywood N.J. with Young Noble.
 
 tracklist entitled "Ghetto Starz Rulez of the Game"

Hollywood, N.J. : Young Noble with the Nastee New Niggaz

With the addition of Young Noble to the Outlawz lineup, started a new project around him... The project turned from a kind of solo to a new Outlawz album. You can notice in the Ghetto Starz tracklist that almost no songs are taken back from the pre-One Nation Outlawz project, except "Hollywood, N.J." described as a Hussein solo song (unleaked or unrecorded ?), which was also the anticipated title for Young Noble's project (with the "Nastee New Niggaz")...

Young Noble is clearly in the center of the project, having a solo song ("Samson & Dalilah", unrecorded ?) like only Fatal has, featured seven times over the twelve songs of the project, more than all other Outlawz members except Kadafi (7 too), whereas 2Pac has only four... 2Pac tends to more or less put aside the Outlaw Immortalz nicknames (or not systematically used) like if they were not anymore up-to-date (in Thug Life Volume Two and in Outlawz LP, they were related to the mafia & gang topics). That leads us to think that the "Nastee New Niggaz" could simply refer to 2Pac and the Outlawz.

It has been said that Young Noble met up the group a few months before recording his first song with them. There were some mistakes, mainly with old dates of March 93 for "Tattoo Tearz" and "U Don't Have 2 Worry", whereas both songs clearly refer to the recording of One Nation (the first song has been recorded in August the 17th and the second at the time of "War Gamez" in early July, like QD3 songs recorded for Makaveli album).

So Young Noble recorded for the first time with the Outlawz during One Nation sessions, the 14th for "My Own Style" with Greg Nice & Edi, then for "Tattoo Tearz", "Secretz of War" and "We Rock The Hip Hop". Maybe he was then a guest for the project, like Greg Nice, Asu, LS... and not yet a real Outlawz member. But he kept on with the group with "War Gamez", "U Don't Have 2 Worry", "Lost Souls" and four other songs of Makaveli. 

When 2Pac finally scrapped "Lost Souls" with Edi & Noble from his Makaveli album (in the first days of August), the song became an Ghetto Starz song. But they planned to have a strictly Outlawz version (like "U Can Be Touched"), credits anounce Edi, Noble, Kastro & Napoleon, no Pac. It could be the original "Lost Souls (Movie Version)" which starts by Edi & Noble.



Another earlier tracklist, and repartition of the verses

When you read these tracklists, you understand that this new project is build/planned/recorded in parallel as One Nation second sessions. The song "Jawz Tight" is the same than the One Nation song. When you look at the July/August One Nation papers you guess that 2Pac chose to distribute the songs recorded in June towards various projects : "Never Call U Bitch Again" and "Secretz of War" to Outlawz Immortalz album (or scrapped because Johnny J was in a total disagreement with Death Row about his rights), then "Jawz Tight" and "Tattoo Tearz" (remixed in August ?) were scrapped from a late One Nation tracklist, and the first one was put in Outlawz new project. "Runnin on E" was probably also a song that could fit either in this new Outlawz lp either in One Nation (because of the ending dedication to Buckshot and the Boot Camp Clik), like the unknown (unrecorded or unleaked) "Frankie & Johnny" which appear in both projects.
 
The Amaru's Still I Rise (1999, Amaru/Interscope) was a little taste of what it was supposed to be, but in a remixed version and with the addition of some tracks taken from Thug Life 2. Like you can see on these handwritten papers (from mid August), this album has had different titles like "Rulez of the Game" or "Ghetto Starz". Eventually 2Pac also thought to "Black Jesuz".
 
You can see how he checked the tracks "Black Jesuz", "Runnin' on E" and "Lost Souls"... It could mean that these tracks were already recorded ("Black Jesuz" has been recorded the 12th of august, "Runnin' On E" the 17th), but what about "Hell 4 A Hustla" and "Jawz Tight" from One Nation ? This tracklist is anterior to the recording of "As The World Turns" and "High Speed", but probably just around the time 2Pac will record "Scared Str8", so between the 17th and the 25th.
 
"Thug Nation" has also been recorded but it is an Outlawz without 2Pac track included in Outlawz 96 album Retribution. So we chose to not include it here (maybe until we get a prior demo version).


DETAILED TRACKLIST
(Special thanks to Bomb1st members Filla and Dominator for samples credits)

01. Black Jesus feat. Kadafi, Storm, Kastro & Val Young (chorus) / Hurt-M-Badd & 2Pac
  •  1996/08/12. Remixed in Still I Rise (1999, Interscope). This song made a link with the Makaveli iconography, but of course Jesus was followed by the twelve apostles.
02. Starin' Through My Rearview (Movie Rough Mix) feat. Edi & Kadafi / Hurt-M-Badd & 2Pac
  • 1996/05 - 08 (?) (new mix). This mix is often called "Movie version" because you can hear it in the movie Gang Related (October 8th, 97) and it has the Phil Collins sample playing during the hook, replayed in the Gang Related Soundtrack version. The song was taken off of the 1st Outlawz LP circa June and given to the soundtrack project.
  • Samples : 
03. U Can Be Touched (Outlawz Version) feat. Napoleon, Kastro, Edi, Hussein, Kadafi & Sixx Nine / Johnny J 
  • 1996/04/24 - 06/22 (~) (Napoleon & Kadafi new verses). Remixed in Still I Rise (1999, Interscope). In this second version, there's a Kadafi verse added and Napoleon is rapping the 2Pac's verse of the first version. 2Pac is only at the chorus. Was the first version a reference for Napoleon ? No. In an early Outlawz tracklist, you can see that the song was initially without Kadafi and maybe they decided during the One Nation sessions in June to give the song to the entire group.
  • Samples : 
04. Runnin' On E (Rough Mix) feat. Hussein, Kadafi, Young Noble & Nutt-So / 2Pac
  • 1996/08/17. Released in Until The End of Time (2001). There is another version with Napoleon & Storm instead of Hussein obviously recorded later for a posthumous album in 1999 when Hussein's verses were taken off every songs. On the very first mix, 2Pac shoots out to "Smif-N-Wessun the Cocoa Brovaz, Buckshot the BDI, Heltah Skeltah, the Boot Camp Clik" at the end of the song, on other the mix ended just before. So the song was probably initially aimed for One Nation part 2 sessions.
05. Whatcha Gonna Do feat. Storm / Duane Nettlesbey
  • 1996/06/12. Remixed in Better Dayz (2002). There is no mention of the One Nation concept here. The music has been re-used a few days later for the One Nation's song "Fright Night (How Many Shots Will It Takes)" by Outlawz. Duane Nettlesbey produced many songs with Stratch & 2Pac in late 93 - beginning of 94, often under the alias of Thug Music (cf. R U Still Down Original Interscope Project).
  • Samples : 
06. Lost Souls (Movie Version) feat. Edi & Young Noble / QD3
  • 1996/07 - 08 (?) (new mix, new verses ?). Included in an alter mix in The 3 Day Theory demo, then released in Gang Related soundtrack (1997, Death Row). The song appears in early Makaveli tracklists and then 2Pac replaced it by "Toss It Up" right after having recorded his dissing second verse. The song then appeared in Ghetto Starz project. But in handwritten tracklist of it, 2Pac listed Edi, Noble, Kastro, Napoleon, and not himself. That mix with Edi starting and then Noble, that can be heard during the movie could be an edited mix of that Ghetto Starz second version. The full version could have Kastro & Napoleon instead of 2Pac, and 2Pac just at the chorus, giving them the song like he did for "U Can Be Touched".
  • Samples : 
    • The System - "Don't Disturb This Groove" (melody)
    • Roy Ayers - "Everybody Loves The Sunshine" (vocals interpolation : "just wait until the rain turn to sunshine, cause I hate to spend my life my life my life duckin one time")
    • Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick - "La Di Da Di" (vocals interpolation : "for y'all keeping y'all in health just to see you smile and enjoy yourself")
07. Hell 4 A Hustler feat. Edi, Kadafi, Kastro, Young Noble & Napoleon / Big Simon Says
  • 1996/09/06. Remixed in Still I Rise (1999). Maybe this track has an anterior version - maybe just with tha Outlawz verses - that could have been recorded in early July (in the handwritten papers, it is a Kadafi, Napoleon & Noble song...). The concept ("Ghetto Heaven") was already in the Outlawz Troublesome, Tha Secretz of War album tracklists.
08. All Out feat. Kadafi, Edi, Kastro, Napoleon & Young Noble / Big Simon Says
  • 1996/09/06. Remixed in Until The End of Time (2001). Probably the latest track 2Pac recorded (with the previous) and it is a diss song...
09. High Speed feat. Kadafi & Edi / Darryl Harper
10. Jawz Tight (New Mix) / Daz - STUDIO TAKE??
  • 1996/06 - 08 (?) (new mix?). The song is also known as "Let'z Fight" was recorded for One Nation album with many guests. At the same time than "Tattoo Tearz", it was erased from One Nation tracklist and then added to Ghetto Starz project. So there could be a cleaner mix made for this project. An existing studio take where only 2Pac raps (but you can still hear some voices in the background) seems to wait for other verses to be edited in a clean mix (like for "Tattoo Tearz").
  • Samples : 
10. Smile (Original Sara Smile) feat. (?) / Darryl Harper - REMAKE 
  • 1996/08/13-17. Remixed in Death Row's Greatest Hits (1996) and again in Scarface's The Untouchable (1997, Rap-A-Lot). Darryl Harper produced the original unleaked version with the sample of Sara Smile's "Hail and Oates". It is said that the very first version was from the 13th but had Kadafi & Edi instead of Scarface (the song was firstly intended to be for Outlawz LP, cf. Troublesome, Tha Secretz of War). Damon Thomas aka Assassin was probably asked to make a first remix because the sample was too hard to clear. Scarface was hoped for One Nation and the song "Smile 4 Me" appears in One Nation late tracklists.
  • Samples :
11. Tattoo Tearz (SIR Mix) feat. Young Noble, Napoleon, Kadafi, Kastro & Sixx-Nine (?) / Kurupt REMIXED By Edi (?)
  • 1996/06 - 08/03 (~) (new mix). Remixed in Still I Rise (1999, Interscope). This version sounds clearly different from the One Nation's version. It is clearly a later mix (most of the original adlibs in the background have been taken off). This mix was probably made for One Nation before 2Pac dropped the song circa mid August (cf. One Nation, Part Two). But as a strictly Outlawz song, 2Pac could probably have repurposed it to the Ghetto Starz project.
  • Samples : 
12. Scared Str8 feat. Kadafi & Hussein / ? - SNIPPET
  • 1996/08/15-31 (?). The song has probably been recorded in the second half of August (not recorded yet at the time of the tracklist we have). 2Pac and Hussein are supposed to have their verses with Kadafi (in the snippet), but is there anybody else ?
13. As The World Turns feat. Napoleon, Hussein, Edi & Kadafi / Darryl Harper
14. The Good Die Young feat. Napoleon, Young Noble, Kastro, Edi & Val Young / Darryl Harper
  • 1996/07/22 - 09 (?) (Outlawz added ?). Released in Still I Rise (1999, Interscope). Young Noble's verse seems to mention 2Pac & Kadafi's death... or is it just a fiction by Noble because he also says "first Storm" ? Or the real original version is still unleaked or has just 2Pac, and Outlawz recorded their verses after 2Pac's death for their album Retribution.
15. Pac's Life (Rough Mix) / Darryl Harper
  • 1996/07/29. Awfully remixed in Pac's Life (2006). Is it an incomplete song awaiting for Outlawz verses, or just an outro ?
  • Samples :
    • Prince - "Pop Life" (concept, melody interpolation)
16. Let'z Get Ready 2 Rumble (Let's Get It On) (Mike Tyson Dedication) / Big Simon Says
  • 1996/09/05-06 (~). This song is one of the last tracks Pac recorded (same night or one day before "Hell 4 A Hustler" and "All Out"). He recorded it for Mike Tyson's fight against Bruce Seldon (September 7). In it, he already announced the next fight against Evander Holyfield (that would take place the 9th of November and will mark the decline of Tyson 's career). We can notice that it wears the same subtitle ("Let's Get It On") than the first known 2Pac's recorded song (cf. The Early Years). So... the circle is complete !!
 
 
BONUS TRACKS

. Can U Relate (by Young Noble, Kastro, Napoleon, Edi & Asu) / ?
  • 1997 (?). No known date of recording. The song was in the bootleg Revenge iz Sweet by Dramacydal (tracks recorded in 94-95 before Death Row for a Dramacydal album). But of course this is a later track with Young Noble. With the Asu featuring and the kind of strange sound, it sounds kind a like One Nation. But it is more probably from after Pac's death (Edi saying "Makaveli lives on"). So a Retribution leftover track or even later because Kadafi isn't there (or an Asu song).
. Novakane (Rough Mix) by Outlawz / ?
  • 1996 (?). Released in Outlawz Retribution album (2006).
. One Day At A Time (First Take) / Hen Gee
  • 1996/08/29. Recorded at Ice-T's home studio. This unfinished take has slightly different 2Pac vocals take. Is he awaiting for Outlawz verses or for One Nation guests : E-40 & The Click ? Outkast & The Goodie Mob ? Hen-Gee was known for his album Brothers with Evil-E in 1991. In 1996, he was producing for Ice-T and Spice 1. But the topic of the song could maybe fit more to the Ghetto Starz album.
  • Samples : 
 
. Euphanasia by Outlawz / ?
 

 
















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