Snippet of Tupac's Never Before Heard Rikers Island Interview Gets Released

With the arrival of hip hop enthusiast and writer Kevin Powell's book The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood, a snippet of Tupac's never-before-heard Rikers Island interview was released for fans.

In a recent interview promoting the new book, Powell reveals a snippet of a conversation with the late great rapper detailing the night he was shot at Quad Studios in NYC. That night started an irreversible feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers,beginning a rivalry between Tupac and Biggiethat lasted until their untimely deaths.

In an interview with Complex, Powell, for the first time, shares audio of a conversationhe had with a 22-year-old Tupac, who was serving a sentence at Rikers Island on sexual assault-related charges he received for allegedly being present when a woman was raped.

During the interview, Powell shares a three minute audio clip where Tupac discusses the moments leading up to that fateful night he was shot five times and left for dead outside an NYC studio. In his book, Powell pens his coming of age story as a young journalist, and reveals that there was a whole chapter dedicated to the slain rapper.

In the audio clip, Tupac began his story of what happened the night, revealing that someone had contacted him to do a track, and seemed very impatient for him to arrive to the studio saying the following, as transcribed by Hip Hop DX:

"I wasn't thinking. 'Why they want me here so bad? We got lost looking for the studio in Manhattan. We lost like, 'Where the hell the studio at?' He's like, 'Where you at?'...I knew he was from the streets. I knew he was trying to get legitimate, so I thought I was doing him a favor. He was like, 'I don't have the money, though.' I said, 'You don't have the money, I ain't coming.' He kinda left the phone, called me back, he said, 'I'ma give you the money outta my pocket.'...We got there, parked the car in the garage. We walkin' up to the building. Somebody screamed from up the top in the studio, it's Lil Cease. He's like Biggie's sideman. That's my homeboy. I've been knowing them since before they came out. So I was like, 'What's up, yo?' He's like, 'I'm coming downstairs. I'm coming downstairs. 'Pac, what's up we going to kick it.' He had been calling me at the hotel, wanted to kick it and everything, so this was like the champ. So as soon as I saw him, all my inhibitions about, this could be a set-up, was relaxed."

Watch the interview and Tupac's account of what happened leading up to him being shot in NYC.

Tags

Tupac