Snoop Dogg was comedic, revealing, and passionate when he talked about his friend Tupac Shakur Friday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Pac was in the 2017 class of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and fittingly, was inducted by his iconic former Death Row Records labelmate.
Snoop started off with a sobering reflection.
“I really can’t believe it’s been 21 years that we actually got to hear from Tupac,” Snoop said before noting that Shakur died at 25, an age not too far off from Snoop’s oldest son right now.
“Tupac knew he was only human, and represented through his music like no one before,” The Dogg would say later. “To be human is to be many things at once. Loving and vengeful. Revolutionary and don’t-get-it-fucked-up, Gangsta! I’m here to make sure Tupac is remembered like he would want, as a strong black man that stood for his. Not simply an actor or rapper, but as a human.”
Snoop then gave a hilarious account of meeting Pac for the first time in 1993 at the wrap party for Poetic Justice, with Pac starred in with Janet Jackson. Snoop revealed that Tupac passed him his first blunt ever, and the rest was history.
“I was a zig zag man before then,” Dogg laughed.
He also gave a funny but touching retelling of a time when he and Tupac went parasailing (“We were scared as a muthafucka, damn near holding hands.”). Snoop described Tupac as the Greatest Rapper of All Time and Death Row records as “the most unfuckwitable label of all time, comparable to the “Showtime Lakers” of the 1980s.
“Dre was the coach, Suge was the owner and me and Pac were the stars on the court,” he said.
Before ending, Snoop talked about seeing Tupac in the hospital before he died and Pac’s mom Afeni Shakur encouraging Snoop to stay strong. Pac got his loving heart, Snoop said, from his mother.
“Through his music, he shared the love with all of us,” said Snoop, who described Pac’s induction as both Hip hop history and American history. “Tupac, we love you. I love you, Tupac. Welcome to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Thug life!”
Read REVOLT’s recap of the star-studded performance for 2Pac’s induction, which featured Alicia Keys, Naughty By Nature’s Treach, YG and T.I. performing hits from the West Coast legend’s catalog.
Tupac enters the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this year with fellow inductees Joan Baez, Nile Rogers, Journey, ELO, Yes, Pearl Jam and Journey. The ceremony airs on HBO on April 29.