In a recent interview with The Las Vegas Journal, MC Hammer recalled his relationship with late rapper 2Pac Shakur.
Hammer was signed to Deathrow Records between 1995 and 1996 but never officially released an album via the label.
During his time with Deathrow, Hammer established a bond with 2Pac and recorded various songs with him.
"He was one of the hardest workers I knew. Over the course [of] seven months, I was in his studio while the man did over 100 songs. It was unbelievable," Hammer recollected.
"You come in the studio. Pac sits down, cracks open a bottle, rolls him up a joint, tells the producer, 'Play some tracks.' They play a track. They might play 20 tracks. He'll say, 'All right, now, I like track number three, eight, nine and 14, so put back on number nine' ".
"And he would say, 'Anybody in here who wants to collaborate on this -- get a verse. You're welcome to join with me.' They play the track, and everybody gets their pen and pad out. And 15 minutes later, Pac would say, 'I got a verse.' He would go in and rap his verse and come back out and say, 'Anybody got a second verse?' And everybody would say, 'I'm working on it.'
"And Pac would sit down, take a couple hits of his joint, take another drink, and 10 minutes later, he'd pop up: 'I finished the second verse, let me go spit this one. If y'all got a third verse, let me know.'
"So in the course of an hour, Pac would have written all three verses and recorded them. And you're still trying to be technical on your prolific first verse that you're gonna write. And he'd be so nice about it," Hammer says.
Hammer also recalled when 2Pac wrote and recorded a song for him which was inspired by the Ohio Players.
"He had literally done the whole song -- rapped like he was me. So it's Tupac rappin' like he's Hammer off an Ohio Players record. He did vocal arrangements, he had the women sing the background, he did the whole thing, it was done," Hammer said. "Literally, the only work for me to do was for me to come in (and rap). He knew we had similar vocal tones. He said, 'Hey Hammer, when you come in, if you like it, I would love for you to do this song. It's a gift.'
"I cherish that," Hammer emphasized. “I don't know of anybody else period that he wrote a song for."
Hammer revealed that he got along with 2Pac because they had instances where they showed their true characters to one another.
"[Pac] knew where I stood and I knew where he stood," said Hammer. "We were both stand-up cats. And we liked that about each other."
Hammer also revealed that he last spoke to 2Pac minutes before he was shot on the Las Vegas strip on September 7th 1996.
Hammer said he had driven to Vegas for a night out with 2Pac and they met up at the Luxor hotel.
Before meeting with Hammer at the hotel, 2Pac had gotten into a brawl with a Crip at the lobby of the MGM hotel after a Mike Tyson fight.
"Pac came up to my Hummer and told me what had just happened with the fight he just had at the MGM," Hammer recalled.
Hammer said he asked 2Pac to wait for him to change clothes but when got back down, 2pac had taken off but left a message for them to meet up at a club. Minutes later, 2Pac was shot and rushed to a hospital, where he died six days later.
Prior to coming to Vegas, Hammer said that 2Pac had given him a song.
"He said, 'Hammer, I wrote this song. I need you to rap it. It speaks about some things. ... It's better for you to address as my "big brother," than it is for me to address them right now, and it's called "Unconditional Love". It very well could be one of the last songs he could have written," Hammer said.
"When I heard it, it blew me away," Hammer added. "And you gotta know it blew me away more listening to it with him laying in a hospital bed, as I drove around the hospital. ... I got the song on repeat. And it was fresh from his heart. ... It'll always be something that lives deeply, deeply in my soul."
Hammer was signed to Deathrow Records between 1995 and 1996 but never officially released an album via the label.
During his time with Deathrow, Hammer established a bond with 2Pac and recorded various songs with him.
"He was one of the hardest workers I knew. Over the course [of] seven months, I was in his studio while the man did over 100 songs. It was unbelievable," Hammer recollected.
"You come in the studio. Pac sits down, cracks open a bottle, rolls him up a joint, tells the producer, 'Play some tracks.' They play a track. They might play 20 tracks. He'll say, 'All right, now, I like track number three, eight, nine and 14, so put back on number nine' ".
"And he would say, 'Anybody in here who wants to collaborate on this -- get a verse. You're welcome to join with me.' They play the track, and everybody gets their pen and pad out. And 15 minutes later, Pac would say, 'I got a verse.' He would go in and rap his verse and come back out and say, 'Anybody got a second verse?' And everybody would say, 'I'm working on it.'
"And Pac would sit down, take a couple hits of his joint, take another drink, and 10 minutes later, he'd pop up: 'I finished the second verse, let me go spit this one. If y'all got a third verse, let me know.'
"So in the course of an hour, Pac would have written all three verses and recorded them. And you're still trying to be technical on your prolific first verse that you're gonna write. And he'd be so nice about it," Hammer says.
Hammer also recalled when 2Pac wrote and recorded a song for him which was inspired by the Ohio Players.
"He had literally done the whole song -- rapped like he was me. So it's Tupac rappin' like he's Hammer off an Ohio Players record. He did vocal arrangements, he had the women sing the background, he did the whole thing, it was done," Hammer said. "Literally, the only work for me to do was for me to come in (and rap). He knew we had similar vocal tones. He said, 'Hey Hammer, when you come in, if you like it, I would love for you to do this song. It's a gift.'
"I cherish that," Hammer emphasized. “I don't know of anybody else period that he wrote a song for."
Hammer revealed that he got along with 2Pac because they had instances where they showed their true characters to one another.
"[Pac] knew where I stood and I knew where he stood," said Hammer. "We were both stand-up cats. And we liked that about each other."
Hammer also revealed that he last spoke to 2Pac minutes before he was shot on the Las Vegas strip on September 7th 1996.
Hammer said he had driven to Vegas for a night out with 2Pac and they met up at the Luxor hotel.
Before meeting with Hammer at the hotel, 2Pac had gotten into a brawl with a Crip at the lobby of the MGM hotel after a Mike Tyson fight.
"Pac came up to my Hummer and told me what had just happened with the fight he just had at the MGM," Hammer recalled.
Hammer said he asked 2Pac to wait for him to change clothes but when got back down, 2pac had taken off but left a message for them to meet up at a club. Minutes later, 2Pac was shot and rushed to a hospital, where he died six days later.
Prior to coming to Vegas, Hammer said that 2Pac had given him a song.
"He said, 'Hammer, I wrote this song. I need you to rap it. It speaks about some things. ... It's better for you to address as my "big brother," than it is for me to address them right now, and it's called "Unconditional Love". It very well could be one of the last songs he could have written," Hammer said.
"When I heard it, it blew me away," Hammer added. "And you gotta know it blew me away more listening to it with him laying in a hospital bed, as I drove around the hospital. ... I got the song on repeat. And it was fresh from his heart. ... It'll always be something that lives deeply, deeply in my soul."
