== 1993 - THUG LIFE DEMO ==

  • Dec. 92 - April 93 : first sessions of recording for a new album/soundtrack project around the topic of "Thug Life"
  • This could be the tape which was leaked into Interscope studios, what led 2Pac to scrap the whole project.
  • Source : Thug Life Demo Tape
Pictures taken by Dorothy Law, April of 93


Discogs page
Listen the Demo Tape in Youtube, or grab it there

Tracklist :
 
1. Definition of a Thug Nigga (Demo)
2. Thug Life (Demo) feat. Big Syke & Prince Ital Joe
3. Fake Ass Bitches
4. Pour Out A Lil' Liquor (Demo)
5. I'm Gettin' Money
6. Faced Shootouts (Interlude)
7. Is It Cool 2 Fuck (Demo) feat. Macadoshis, Rated R & Natasha Walker
8. High 'Til I Die (Demo) feat. Rated R & Macadoshis
9. Time 2 Get My Drank On feat. Y?N-Vee
10. Mr. Troublesome
11. Niggaz in the Pen feat. Mopreme & Mouse Man
 
Bonus Tracks :
 
12. Gotta Get Mine (Video Version) feat. MC Breed
13. Yo ! MTV Raps Classic (Interview & Freestyle) feat. Coolio, MC Breed & Macadoshis & Rated R
 
#1 was about to be published in Poetic Justice OST (29th of June '93).
#10 was the eponymous song of Troublesome 21, album shelved in mid of '92.
#11 was supposed to be included in Menace II Society Soundtrack (26th of May '93) but was finally leftover. 
 
 

The Watts Truce : the ethic code of the thugs

It is said that 2Pac had a first use of "thug" or even "thug life" in an early song with his group 2 From The Crew around 88, but there is no proof of that (cf. Early Years).

In April 92 the 28, at the Truce Barbecue in Watts, L.A., 2Pac and his step brother Mopreme transmit the ideas of Mutulu Shakur (activist member of the Black Liberation Army, father of Mopreme and Pac's half-sister Sekiywa, sentenced to sixty years of prison) to the Bloods & Crips gathered, and with the help of some O.Gs (Original Gangsters), they wrote down a text called the "Thug Life code" (here is a copy) in order to appease the gang war (especially between Crips and Bloods). In this code where one can remark 2Pac's style, the negative word of "thug" (coming from Indian gangs) became a synonym of a good gangster, a man who can be a gang member, a person dealing, stealing, drinking, probably about to go to prison... but a person who is good for the community, respecting women and children, protecting the poor and the helpless, financing people around him, organizing the community. 

It is said that 2Pac then formed a sort of "Thug" collective with Stretch and a person named Princess Mell (??). So in late of 92, 2Pac started to use the term of "Thug" and the expression "thug life" in the songs he was recording with Warren G ("Gotta Get Mine", "Definition of a Thug Nigga"), and in his concerts.

 

Gathering a new team

In late 92 (maybe by the intermediary of TNT Recordings), 2Pac met the group Evil Ming Gangsta's : Big Syke then called Little Syke, manager of the group Big Kato, Mental Illness, Domino and their main producer Johnny J. They were about to release their album All Hell Breakin' Loose (1993, Organize Records), fully recorded in Echo studios like most of these Thug Life sessions. 2Pac invited Big Syke and Johnny J to record the eponymous song around his new concept, with Pac as Souljah's voice, Syke and Prince Ital Joe.

He also associated with Double Jep (Macadoshis & Rated R) and with Natasha Walker and Y?N-Vee, and maybe thought to include that finally erased song with Coolio (they were probably recording it at the time of MTV Raps interview). But the album was still mainly a solo album. With Johnny J and Warren G as producers, it was a plain West Coast album.

I think Macadoshis, Tupac, Rated R are crouching
Syke is on the right, but who else ? Big Kato ?

Thug Life was initially not a group but a solo album with many guests

So at that time of these first recordings, Thug Life was not really a group, Double Jep and Syke hadn't recorded together... And Mopreme was probably far from there (because of the end of his project with Mouse Man, cf. Fragile) even if 2Pac included a remix of a song he had with him. So the whole group was already there but not as a group yet.

Giving "Definition of a Thug Nigga" to the Poetic Justice Soundtrack (Epic, released the 29th of June 93), 2Pac acting in it with Janet Jackson, that was a perfect promotion for the album. At that point, 2Pac started to give out a first incarnation of this project, what we used to call "Thug Life Demo Tape".

Timeline of the project

1. circa Dec. 92 - Jan 93. My Mother Fuckin' Money Maker.

Like we can see, the Thug Life project somehow started as a kind of soundtrack. Five tracks of the definitive project are already here (recorded ?) with 3 old tracks (would 2Pac have purposed alternate mixes of these ones ? there are the Greg Beasley mix of "If My Homies Call", the original version, New York and Broadway mixes of "Holler if ya hear me").

At that time is "My Definition of a Thug Nigga" not recorded yet or just reserved for Poetic Justice soundtrack ? It has always been said that "Fake Ass Bitches" had been recorded at the same time than "Pout Out A Little Liquor" or even before. Could it mean that some tracks are in fact not recorded ?


2. Circa March 93. "Thug Life"

2Pac added two old songs to the new ones : "Troublesome" (He was probably disappointed to not having released it) ; "Niggas in the Pen" with Mouse Man and Mopreme (he re-record his verse specially for that project either he did for Menace II Society and he included it as a bonus track).

The two interludes have been lately recorded (except if almost nothing was recorded in the previous tracklist). No Mouse Man nor Wycked/Mopreme in the shoutouts, but Stretch. That could mean he produced this interlude and maybe other songs.

 
 
 
 
February - March ?
 

3. circa early April 93. "Do U Love The Thug Life ?"

Not long after the demo tape, 2Pac took off interludes and the two old songs. tried to fill his album with planned new songs "Do U Love The Thug Life ?" and "Death Around Each Corner". The wrong titles seem to indicate they are not recorded yet. But was it before or after Big Kato's death ? Probably just before otherwise the title (too positive) or anything else could indicate that.

After that 2Pac will record new songs with Warren G ("How Long Will They Mourn Me", "Lie 2 Kick It") and Johnny J ("Death Around The Corner", "I'm Loosin' It", "Ready 4 Whatever") to make a real West Coast album. He will also remix some of these original versions ("Definition of a Thug", "Thug Life", "High Til I Die"). 

But "Do U Love The Thug Life ?" probably became "Who Do U Luv ?" later, maybe was the beginning of the second Thug Life Original album in June, that will turn into Mr. Middle Finger.

DETAILED TRACKLIST

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

01. Definition of a Thug Nigga (Demo) (Poetic Justice OST) / Warren G

  • 1993/01-03 (~). Released without major changes - no circus sound sample during the verses - in 1993 in Poetic Justice Soundtrack (June of 1993, Epic) and in R U Still Down (1997, Amaru). Warren G says 2Pac called him because he heard about the song "Indo Smoke" Warren G produced for Mista Grimm (also in Poetic Justice OST). Maybe it was the promo demo tape Mr. Indo, that 2Pac heard in early 93 (also featuring Warren G & Nate Dogg, 2Pac will also appeared in the Video of the song). He also says they recorded "How Long Will They Mourn Me" the same night, and only after that he produced "I Gotta Get Mine", "Comin' Real Again" for 2Pac & MC Breed and two other songs for MC Breed... MC Breed's album went out in late April so it seems a bit tight (more likely recorded in January like it is everywhere written). These recordings times stay mysterious...
  • Samples :

02. Thug Life (Demo) feat. Big Syke & Prince Ital Joe / Johnny J

  • 1993/01-02 (~). Remixed for Thug Life original album. Syke said that it was the first song recorded for the project, in which 2Pac first used "Thug Life" as a concept. That's probably why Prince Ital Joe will be invited again by 2Pac to record 3 songs in late 95 for his project Thug Life Volume 2. and 2 again for Makaveli.
  • Samples : 

03. Fake Ass Bitches feat. Natasha Walker (speaking) & Rated R (hook) / Johnny J

  • 1993/04 (~). Fairly remixed in R U Still Down (1997, Amaru). U can hear it in the "Thug 4 Life" tour. It is said to be a freestyle he delivered after having recorded "Pour Out A Little Liquor". After the Thug Life original concept album being scraped, Pac firstly thought to include it in his new solo (cf. Out on Bail) before giving it to Nic Nam, a female rapper of Y?N-Vee, during the first Thug Life Volume One sessions in the end of 93 (cf. Honor Among Thugz). The woman who's speaking could be Natasha Walker like in "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch", or eventually Capucine Jackson who will also be speaking in "Bitchin' (Interlude)" before "Death Around Each/The Corner".
  • Samples :

04. Pour Out A Little Liquor (Demo) / Johnny J

  • 1993/01-02 (~). Released without major changes in Above The RIM (1994, Death Row) and in Thug Life Volume 1 (1994, Interscope). It seems that the song recorded with Johnny J has been almost never modified.
  • Samples :

05. I'm Gettin' Money / Mike Mosley (?), Johnny J (?), Stretch (?)

  • 1993/01-02 (~). Fairly remixed in R U Still Down (1997). Mike Mosley was credited of the song in R U Still Down (credits : Mike Mosley & Tony Pizarro, the second being clearly the producer of the remix), but it could be a Johnny J production even if it doesn't really sound like his usual vibe. Mike Mosley was then a producer for C-BO, E-40 & The Click. He will also co-produced "Shit Don't Stop" with Stretch in Thug Life Volume 1, "Heavy in the Game" and "Can U Get Away" in Me Against The World and 3 tracks for Dramacydal unreleased album in late 94.
  • Samples :

06. Faded Shoutouts (interlude) / Stretch (?), Johnny J (?)

  • 1993/01-03 (~). Mispelled "Faced Shoutouts" on the handwritten tracklist of the demo, but it is more likely "faded". It is probably the recorded version of "Welcome 2 The Ghettos of Amerikkka (Intro)" idea written down in the early tracklist of the album/soundtrack, with its "shots" noises and its "faded beat". It will not be included in Thug Life original final album. It shares the same sample of "I'm Loosin' It", it is possible that the interlude was turned into the song.
  • Samples :  

07. Is it Cool 2 Fuck (Demo) feat. Macadoshis, Rated R & Natasha Walker (Y?N-Vee) / Live Squad (?), Johnny J (?)

  • 1993/01-02 (~). The song was really loved by the group. They mention that one was playing when the group was at a party where Kato got killed. And it is also this song that Natasha Walker will hear playing in the Interscope studios, Dogg Pound and Snoop listening at it... Luniz will pay an hommage to that song in their second album in 1997 with the superb "Is It Kool" featuring Mokenstef, using parts of the music and some lines (the song being leaked at that time or maybe Numskull heard the song with Shock G when they were charged of remixing old tracks like "Cause I Had To" (by 2Pac while he was in jail ? cf. When I Get Free).  
  • Samples : 

08. High Till I Die (Demo) feat. Rated R & Macadoshis / Johnny J

  • 1993/01-02 (~). Remixed for the Thug Life original concept album around July of 93 (?). In March 94, months after the album being rejected, 2Pac chose to re-record the concept as a solo song with the same title (cf. Stay True). 
  • Samples :
    • Jr. Walker & The All Stars - "These Eyes" (melody)

09. Time To Get My Drank On (interlude) (Demo) feat. Y?N-Vee / Johnny J (?), Stretch (?)

  • 1993/01-03 (~). Not sure any other Natasha Walker's partner is in it. She is probably doing also the backing vocals and the speakings. The version included in Thug Life Original final album is said to have a Notorious B.I.G. introduction (sampled from "Party & Bullshit").
  • Samples : 

10. Troublesome / Jeremy JZ Jackson

11. Niggaz in the Pen feat. Mopreme & Mouse Man / Truman Jefferson remixed by Stretch

  • 1992/12. The first version of the song is called "Brothers in the Pen" and had a totally different Pac verse and was intended to be in W.A.T.M. album project (cf. Ghetto Gospel). The song has probably been re-recorded to be included in Menace II Society OST (1993), but 2Pac was fired of the movie...
  • Samples : 

BONUS TRACKS :

12. Yo ! MTV Raps (Interview & Freestyle) feat. Fab 5 Freddy, Coolio, MC Breed & Macadoshis & Rated R / Dobbs The Wino, Ted Demme (?)

  • 1993/02/05 (?). Fab 5 Freddy interviews Tupac in the Ecko studios and outside, where he is recording for his new album Thug Life. Tupac wears the same jumpsuit than on the Dorothy Law pictures taken in April 93. 2Pac speaks about his beginnings, presents his team and his new project. They give some shorts freestyles. In the video, there is also Dobbs the Wino. It is said they recorded a song together with Coolio for the album, probably at this occasion. It is also said Dobbs The Wino asked for being paid and 2Pac answered to erase the song... This erased session is often mistaken with "Til I C L.A.", a concept song in Euthanasia / All Eyez on Me tracklists that presumably turned to be "California Love".

 

 


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