In a recent interview with Men’s Health, American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor Busta Rhymes shared a memorable incident from the ’90s when Tupac Shakur passionately defended Leaders of the New School at a college show.
During a West Coast college show where Digital Underground, Tupac’s group at the time, was also performing, Leaders of the New School arrived late for the soundcheck. The sound engineer, frustrated by their tardiness, started turning off the equipment, informing them that they had missed their window for the soundcheck.
Tupac overheard the situation and was not pleased. He confronted the sound engineer and ended up choking him in his frustration.
Leaders of the New School members stepped in, worried that Tupac’s actions might lead to them being kicked off the show.
“We doing a college show somewhere on the West Coast, and Digital Underground, [Tupac] was still with them. We get to the soundcheck late, so the sound man was kind of turning off the equipment and was like, “Y’all kind of missed your window for the soundcheck.’ Pac goes to the sound man ‘cause he hears the sound man trying to tell us we ain’t gonna get the soundcheck today, we late. Tupac starts choking this m###########.” Busta explained.
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Tupac, however, justified his actions by referring to the group as “legends,” despite having released only one album at that point.
“[Tupac said], ‘You not gonna disrespect m############ Leaders of the New School, m###########,” Busta recalled. “We ain’t asking for none of this. So, we grabbing Pac like, ‘Stop, B! You gonna f### around and not even get us the opportunity to perform. You gonna f### up the whole bag.’ [He said], ‘Man, f### that! They can’t be disrespecting y’all. Y’all legends.’ We one album deep. He calling us legends.”
Busta shared this story about Tupac in light of an unexpected development in the late rapper’s murder investigation.
More than 25 years after the murder, police searched a Nevada home connected to Keefe D in July. Keefe D is the uncle of Orlando Anderson, who was considered the prime suspect in Tupac’s 1996 murder.
Anderson died in an unrelated shooting in 1998. The police collected various items during their search but did not announce any charges against Keefe D.
Busta Rhymes’ recollections of Tupac add to the legacy of the iconic rapper and shed light on his fiercely loyal nature towards his fellow artists.
Listen to more of Busta Rhymes’ stories below.
