Warren G is opening up about the friendship he shared with the late rapper Tupac Shakur. In the latest episode of “Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson,” Warren detailed how he once tried to come to Tupac’s aid by bailing the rapper out of jail in 1995.
At the time, Shakur was serving up to four-and-a-half years behind bars after being convicted of sexually abusing a fan. It was a claim that the rapper adamantly denied from the moment he was charged and while being sentenced. His bail was set at $3 million.
“People can ask Richie Rich, the real Richie Rich from Oakland. I was gonna try to bail [Tupac] out. I got beat to the punch,” Warren said in the episode that was uploaded to YouTube on Friday (Sept. 9). He continued explaining, “I was gonna put up the money and I didn’t want nothing, I swear to God. You can ask Richie Rich. I was gonna put up the money. I didn’t give a f**k.”
He continued, “It was like, I don’t want nothing back. If I get this money to him to get him out of there, I don’t want nothing. I don’t want him signing no paperwork, you ain’t got to do nothing n**ga. If I ever need you on a song or something, get with me. It was serious, I ain’t never told nobody none of this s**t.”
Suge Knight, who was the head of Death Row Records, managed to strike a deal with the “Keep Ya Head Up” rapper. He agreed to post the $1.4 million needed to get Shakur released from Clinton Correctional Facility, as long as the lyricist agreed to sign with the label. The rapper agreed and was released after serving eight months of his sentence.
Following the iconic West Coast rapper’s release, Warren said the two planned to work on a track together. They previously worked together on the songs “Definition of a Thug N**ga” and “How Long Will They Mourn Me.”
“We didn’t get a chance to link up after he got out. Actually, I seen him one time when he got out. We was in the House of Blues and he hugged me like, ‘Warren!’ We was huggin’ for a lil’ bit and then he hit me a few days after that and he was telling me, ‘Let’s get in the studio. I’ma book some time,’” recalled the rapper-producer. But, their plans for a third song never really panned out.