1991 - Tales of a 90's N.I.G.G.A. (2Pacalypse leftovers)

  • Leftover tracks from 2Pacalypse Now recording sessions (1990-1991).
  • "Tales of a 90's N.I.G.G.A." was the title of his notebook around the time of 2Pacalypse Now, and also for a short time the title of a planned E.P. companion to the album
TRACKLIST :

1. Hymn of the 90's N.I.G.G.A. feat. Mouse Man & Mopreme
2. Fade Away
3. Scared Straight '91 feat. Ray Luv
4. What You Won't Do For Love
5. Tearz of a Clown
6. Funky Freestyles feat. Debbie D, Money B & Del The Funky Homosapien
7. Young Black Male (Alternate Version) - snippet
8. Dopefiend's Diner
9. Revenge of The Lunatic
10. Resist The Temptation
11. Break' Em Off Some feat. WC, Money B & Debbie D
12. Rap Pack - snippet

Bonus Tracks :
13. It Ain't Necessarily So feat. Shock G
14. Neva Surrenda (Live)
15. Rebel of The Underground (Alternate Outro) - snippet
16. Pass the 40 feat. Pee Wee, Saafir, Money B, Stretch, Bulldog, D The Poet 151, Mac Mone
17. Static (Original Raggamuffin' Mix) feat. Cooley Ranks & Julian Brooks


 
 Tupac's notebook cover

"Tales of a 90's N.I.G.G.A." was the title of his notebook, where were all his handwritten papers around 2Pacalypse Now time. It contains the evolution of the album, tracklists, handwritten lyrics...

But "Tales of 90's N.I.G.G.A." has for a short time an E.P. companion that would have contained some tracks not included in 2Pacalypse Now.

 



Handwritten tracklist 1
We follow the line-up of this early tracklist of 2Pacalypse Now. for the present bootleg album.
It contains most of the leftover tracks.

If you look at the 2Pacalypse Now's booklet, you'll notice that all songs are produced by the Underground Railroad. The group was including Raw Fusion (Money B, DJ Fuse & Chopmaster J), Live Squad (Stretch & Majesty), Big D The Impossible, Pee Wee, Jeremy JZ Jackson, Shock G and the other Digital Underground members. Digital Underground influence is here clearer than in the album. At this time, Randy « Stretch » Walker of the Live Squad was already one of Pac's best friend. They recorded together many tracks until late '94.

The collective received his name after the famous network of clandestine routes and safe houses in the United States to help the slaves to runaway and escape to free states or to Canada.



 
Look how some final tracks take place of leftover ones
Tracklist 2 : includes a tracklist for Tales of a 90's N.I.G.G.A. EP.
Tracklist 3 : Tales of a 90's N.I.G.G.A. LP


We can follow the evolution of the project on these handwritten tracklists.

Among these tracklists, we can find many occurencies of the following unreleased tracks :

"Hymn of the 90's Nigga", "Scared Straight", "Do For Love", "Tearz of a Clown", "Funky Freestyles" (also titled "Rap Pack"), "Dopefiend's Diner", "Revenge of a Lunatic", "Resist the Temptation", "Fade Away", "I Thought U Knew". 

We also find the unknown unleaked tracks : "Never Surrender", "Backstabbas", "Use Me", "2FLY4ME" (first version of "Don't Call Me Bitch" ?), "Brain on a 40 Once", "Fever in the Funkhouse", "Got a Thing 4 U", "Uplift the Race" (another title for "Panther Power" ?)... Do these tracks exist somewhere ?





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

01. Hymn of the 90's N.I.G.G.A. feat. Mouse Man & Mocedes (aka Mopreme) / Big D The Impossible
  • 1991/08-12 (?). Awfully remixed on Loyal To The Game (2004, Amaru) as "N.I.G.G.A. [Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished] feat. Jadakiss". Mopreme says "92" but as often he could be anticipating the publishing of the album. 2Pac13.com gave the date 1992/08 like other songs of the trio, but it is also written produced by Truman Jefferson like other songs from that time... Maybe there are two versions of the song - but I think this version is clearly from 1991, as announced in the handwritten projects but recorded a bit later because features were not planned in the early tracklists. The main point is that Mopreme Shakur here has his first nickname - used also when he was rapping in two songs of Tony! Toni! Toné! album The Revival (1990, Wing) - not yet The Wycked. It is funny to notice that Mopreme appeared on an official record before Tupac. Mouse Man was Pac's first rap partner with the East Side Crew in 1985-1987 (cf. Straight From The Underground). Unfortunately, he never appeared in any official records. Big D is said the original producer of the song according to the Loyal To The Game booklet. Could it exist another solo version, maybe produced by Pee Wee, like it appears in early tracklist ? 
  • Sample : 
02. Fade Away feat. Wicked J & Cooley Ranks (chorus) / Big D The Impossible (?), DJ Fuze (?)
  • 1991/03-12 (?). Wicked J is not Mopreme aka The Wycked but Julian Brooks from The Mod Squad (also featured in Funky Aztecs "Don Quixote", cf. Chicano Blues). Cooley Ranks is featured in Raw Fusion's "Ah Nah Go Drip" and could be the same person than Coolie Ranx who sang for the ska groups Toasters and Pilfers, and has the song "New York Hot" in the compilation Modern Girl : Shi is Mine (1988). Both were 2Pac labelmates at T.N.T. recordings. The production of that song is really close to Raw Fusion's "Do My Thing" (cf. Live From The Styleetron). so it could be a reason for the track being taken off from the album. The song also appeared in 2Pacalypse II / Troublesome early tracklists, so it could be more late 91 than early in the year.
  • Samples :
03. Scared Straight '91 feat. Ray Luv (Strictly Dope) / Dj Fuze & Shock G
  • 1991/05 (?). Remixed on Pac's Life (2006, Amaru) as a japan bonus track. This track features his old partner from Strictly Dope (cf. The Lost Tapes). This may be a second version or a fresh mix of a 89-90's unleaked original.
  • Sample : 
04. (What You Won't) Do 4 Love feat. Schmoovy Schmoov (Digital Underground) (chorus) / Shock G
  • 1991/01 (~). This song has been re-recorded in 1994 for Me Against The World / F.T.W. album as "Sucka 4 Love", version which has been brightly remixed by Soulshock & Karlin in R U Still Down (1997). Alternate title could be "I Got A Thing 4 U". Another one is "Live in the Lobby" and refers to the freestyle version of the song with just Shock G playing piano behind 2Pac rapping.
  • Sample : 
05. Tearz Of A Clown '91 / Big D The Impossible
  • 1990 - 1991/? (new mix). Leaked in the sampler tape with incomplete "That's the Way it Is (Changes)", "No Part of Dis" and "Scared Straight 91". I tend to think that Pac re-recorded over a new Big D production this early song recorded in 90 (maybe with Kendrick Wells, cf. Straight From The Underground). He presumably added a new first verse and took off the third one (like in "R U Still Down (Raise Em Up)", cf. Exodus). This new verse mentions Nelson Mandela's freedom (February of 1990), the old one mentioned the assassination of young Yusef Hawkins (August of 1989). But it is used to find an edited mix combining the four verses (in a very poor quality, with a clear change of sound between the two versions).
  • Samples : 
06. Funky Freestyles feat. Debbie D, Money B & Del The Funky Homosapien / Big D The Impossible
  • 1991/06 (?). Raw Fusion sesssions (1990). The track was supposed to be included in 2Pacalypse Now but 2Pac re-used some lines of the song for "Tha Lunatic". So the song couldn't be in the album anymore. Maybe that's why he recorded "Break'em off some" over the same music. Debbie D is probably Deborah Hooper from Beat Street OST also appearing as "femme fatale" in "Evolution" by Juice Crew. Banned from Bomb1st owns a Drop The Grease cassette promo single featuring Dave Hollister & Roniece produced by Big D with "Funky Freestyles" as a b-side.
  • Samples : 
    07. Young Black Male (Original Version) / - SNIPPET
    • 1991/03 (~). Snippet leaked by Banned from Bomb1st forum.
    • Samples : 
    08. Dopefiend's Diner / Big D The Impossible & Pee Wee (piano)
    • 1991/02 (?). Remixed in Best of 2Pac, Part 2:Life (2007, Amaru). Shock G also gave a remix version, probably around 98. Tupac here tells a tragic story and is almost singing. It is said the song was later given to The Kidz for the Ghetto Gospel mini album project.
    • Samples : 
    09. Revenge of the Lunatic feat. Money B (backing) / Big D The Impossible
    • 1991/02 (?). Probably the first version of "Tha Lunatic". It contains a verse of it and a verse taken from "I Thought U Knew", the Ryan D/2Pac freestyle from 1990 (cf. Straight From The Underground). There are two leaked versions : one with only two verses and the second version, 7 min long, with 4 verses. In handwritten papers, 2Pac also speaks about a clean version and a Shock G remix. The song will re-appear in 2Pacalypse II / Troublesome early tracklists.
    • Samples : 
    10. Resist The Temptation / Big D The Impossible
    11. Break 'Em Off Somethin' feat. Dub-C (aka WC), Money B & Debbie D / Big D The Impossible
    • 1991/07 (?). Released in a promo cassette single in 92. New posse freestyle over the same music than "Funky Freestyle". With Dub-C/WC from groups Low Profile (with DJ Aladdin) and The Maad Circle (with Coolio and Sir Jinx), future Ice Cube's partner in Westside Connection, is here replacing Del the Funky Homosapien. He was like Del about to release his album Ain't A Damn Thang Changed (the 17th of Sept.). The song could have been recorded one month after "Funky Freestyles" after 2Pac re-used some of the lyrics of the song for "Tha Lunatic".
    • Samples : 
    12. Rap Pack (snippet) feat. various artists / ? - SNIPPET
    • 1991 (?). An early tracklist indicates as featured artists : Money B, Pee Wee, Mocedes, Mac Mone, Del and TMD (also featured in 2Pac/Funky Aztecs' "Salsa con Soulfood").
    • Samples : 

    Mopreme, Tupac & Mouse Man

    BONUS TRACKS :
     
    13. It Ain't Necessarily So feat. Shock G / Shock G - [re-captured]
    • 1991/04 (~). We hear the song in a video from Tupac in New-York, probably during the recording of Juice movie in 91. 2Pac is listening to that song in his car, talks and raps over it, so it could be from early/mid 91. It could be a Digital Underground's leftover from their second album Sons of The P, because it doesn't appear nowhere in Pac's handwritten tracklists.
    • Sample : 
    14. Never Surrenda (Live at the African Liberation Day) feat. Wicked J & Cooley Ranks (chorus) / -
    • 1991/05/25 (live). Recorded at the African Liberation Day in Sacramento. The original song has probably been recorded earlier in late 90 and doesn't originally feature Cooley Ranks & Wicked J. It appears in 2Pacalypse Now early tracklists. The lyrics will partially be re-used in "Don't Call Me Bitch" third verse.
    15. Rebel of The Underground (alternate outro) / Shock G - SNIPPET
    16. Pass The 40 feat. Pee Wee, Saafir, Money B, Stretch, Bulldog, D The Poet 151 & Mac Mone / Dj Fuze
    • 1991/07 / 1992/01/24 (?). Released in the Promo compilation Hollywood Records Sampler (1992, Hollywood Basic). This has probably been recorded during the Raw Fusion's album sessions but a later date has advanced (don't know the source). Pee Wee of Gold Money and 2Pac have only small parts in this. Saafir also appears in Force One Network album The MME Program 1 (1992, Qwest) and will be a Digital Underground member in their 93 album The Body-Hat Syndrome.
    • Samples : 
      • Sly & the Family Stone - "Sing A Simple Song" (vocals interpolation : "Ya ya yaaa", "heeyy everybody")
     17. Static (Raggamuffin Original Version) feat. Wicked J (Julian Brooks) & Cooley Ranks / Willi Mac
    • 1991/03 (?). I long time thought - like many people - that this was only a remix until "Fade Away" was leaked with the same lyricists... Julian Brooks from The Mod Squad (who had the album People's Park published in 1992 also with TNT records) confirmed to me that he recorded this song and "Fade Away" with 2Pac and Cooley Ranks. The three of them also sang together for the African Liberation Day the 25th of May, 1991, notably singing unleaked "Neva Surrenda". Maybe they were the first incarnation of the group Force One Network before each one goes his own way (and Chopmaster J formed a new lineup with Dave Hollister).
    • Samples :
      • Digital Underground - "Same Song" (vocals : "2Pac go ahead and rock this")  

    . Dayz of a Criminal (Klark Gable Remix) / DJ Klark Gable
    • 1991-1992 or 1995 (?), remix from a 1990 Kendrick Wells production. Unofficially published in The Here After (1999, ZYX). Is it a real remix from the old times by Klark Gable from One Nation Emcees & 51.50 Illegally Insane (like he seems to have remixed "U Don't Wanna Battle"), or a later remix by Hitworks (but there is another version that sounds more modern) ? 
    • Samples : 
      • Ice-T - "Colors" (bassline, melody interpolation)
    . U Don't Wanna Battle (I Thought U Knew Remix) feat. Ryan D (51.50 Illegally Insane) & Popcorn (chorus) / DJ Klark Gable (?)
    • 1991 (?) (originally recorded in 1990). Released in the Ryan D/51.50 Illegally Insane's album of 1992 Game People Play (but only in the 1999 re-edition as a hidden bonus track). This is a remixed version of the battle song "I Thought U Knew" he recorded with his old partner Ryan D of One Nation Emcees. 
    • Samples :

    . Nuttin' Nis Funky (Live) feat. Digital Underground / Shock G
    • 2Pac is featured in this live version. His verse is from "Young Black Male", replacing here a featuring by Bigg Money Odis from Gold Money (Pee Wee's group, also signed in TNT Recordings).
    . Sega (skit) / - 
    • Unknown source. 2Pac is spitting some lines of "It Ain't Necessarily So". Maybe it comes from the same source.






















    Could be still unleaked (as we can see on the tracklists and elsewhere) :

    • "2Fly4Me" ==> probably an alternate title for "Don't Call Me Bitch"
    • "Trapped" remix version or original (1x) ==> same version than in Troublesome 21 tracklists, snippet available and remake
    • "Never Surrender" (produced by Pee Wee ?) (2x) - played live with Julian Brooks & Cooley Ranks (at the Liberation Day)
    • "Got A Thing 4 U" (2x) ==> "supposedly an unheard, an early version of "What U Won't Do 4 Love"/Live in the Lobby" (following Filla of Bomb1st)
    • "Revenge of Tha Lunatic Remix" (prod. Shock G) (5x) ==> could be a clean version ?
    • "2Pacalypse Now" (introduction ? outro) (2x) ==> a song stolen during a studio break-in (according to Banned from Bomb1st)
    • "Backstabbaz" featuring Money B (prod. Big D)
    • "Uplift The Race" (1x)  - could be an alternate version of "Panther Power"
    • "Crooked Cop Killer" feat. Ice-T (it could be an anticipated song not recorded that turned to be "Crooked Nigga Too") 
    • "Fever in The Funkhouse" (maybe it turned to be "Funky Freestyles", "Pass The 40" or "Break em off" because it is written to have guests) (1x)  
    • "This is the brain on a 40 once" feat. Treach (1x)
    • "Don't Try to Use Me" (2x)
    • "Ready 2 Rip" (1x)
    • "Rollin Out 2 Forsee the Country" feat. Mocedes (1x)
    • "Brothers N Arms" feat. Stretch (turned to be Crooked Ass Nigga or Crooked Nigga Too ?) (1x) 
    • "20 Drunken Styles" prod. Kay Gee & Treach  (2x) (early version of "5 Deadly Venoms" with Treach)
    • "Rap Pack" ==> alternate early title for "Funky Freestyles" 

    Unrecorded

    • "I Shot The Sheriff" (1x) ; "7 Mad Mics" (1x) ==> only concepts, never recorded (according to Banned)





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