Ice Cube gets candid about meeting Tupac Shakur during his roadie days for Digital Underground in a recent interview. The rapper stopped by the People’s Party podcast to chat with host Talib Kweli, alongside other West Coast legends, Snoop Dogg, Too Short, and E-40, to talk about their OG supergroup, “MountWestmore.” During the chat, Cube shared that he met Shakur as a young, hungry rapper and that N.W.A heavily inspired him, and he even wanted to make music reflective of the music by Cube and the legendary rap group.
“He would always tell me like, you know, ‘This Digital sh*t is cool, man, but I want to do records like y’all.’” He said, “‘Cause where I live at, sh*t is f*cked up. You know what I’m saying? I want to talk about how the sh*t is.’”
Cube noted that he nudged the rapper to keep going and forge his path. He recalls that Shakur was a “fun dude with a lot of energy” and reminiscences on funny moments with the “California Love” rhymer.
The mature rapper also shared what it was like watching Shakur’s star rise before the later years of his career, which were steeped in controversy due to a series of events including several arrests, his involvement with Death Row Records, and the beefing with Biggie Smalls, which launched a regional war between the West and East coasts. The tension would come to a head, leading to the death of both Smalls and Shakur in quick succession.
Check out the full interview above.