In a recent interview, legendary DJ Clark Kent revealed that BK — and contemporary hip-hop — icon Jay-Z recorded a scathing diss record towards Tupac. At the climax of the East/West storm, Pac went on a rampage, dropping a barrage of strongly worded shade towards New York artists, including Biggie, Mobb Deep, and Jigga himself. According to Clark, Jay went full ether on Pac; unfortunately, though, Pac was murdered before the record saw the light of day. Clark mentioned that he was reluctant to put his hands on the record at the time. Because he knew, he’d be unable to hold it back. Can you imagine?
Well, this story got us thinking about some of the other great Holy Grail hip-hop that we’ve never heard. We’ve rounded up some of it below, for you reading pleasure. Happy treasure hunting!
Method Man’s Original Tical album
In the early days of Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man was undeniably a breakout star. With the record “Method Man” serving as the sole solo record on the Clan’s game-changing debut, the stage was set for his breakout Def Jam debut album. As the story goes, a reported 15 of the original beats by RZA slated for Tical — amongst other things — were lost when the 36 Chambers Studio was flooded in late 1993. As a result, most of the albums production was hastily rushed to meet deadlines while juggling a hectic tour schedule. The result was a classic album that upon it’s released cracked top 5 on Billboard; but, can you imagine the heat he lost? Wow. We’ll never know what the album could have been if his original vision had been realized.
Cassette Copy of Snoop’s [Actual] Debut
Before Doggystyle, there was Over The Counter, which was meant to be not only the debut album from Snoop Doggy Dogg but for the entire Death Row brand (rather than the Chronic). With features from usual suspects as well as George Clinton, the album was set to go; unfortunately, due financial restraints the album, which was already pressed, never saw the light of day. It was heavily bootlegged after the fact, but fact checkers were quick to note that cassette copies floating around included a photo that wasn’t snapped until two years later, and improperly listed label credits. The truth is, there is likely only a few legitimate copies of this physical tape [no CDs were made] in actual existence — if it exists at all. Those curious can settle for terribly dubbed snippets on YouTube.
MC Hammer and 2Pac collabration On Too Tight
Remember when Hammer signed to Deathrow? Yeah, I know, right? Well, he recorded a gang of material for the ill-fated — and terribly named — Too Tight, which like many Row projects during that period, never can to commercial fruition. Here’s the thing, though, there were features from Tupac on the record; in fact, some sources say there may have been upwards of three. Luckily one of the tracks has since surfaced on YouTube, but not all of them! Hammer is very kitschy, no doubt about it, but he holds a special place in the hearts of some. As if you wouldn’t be interested in hearing these unreleased collaborations. Stop it 5!
2Pac and Boot Camp Clik Come Together As One Nation
Tupac burned many bridges in the East leading up to his death; although, he had a lot of love for the big apple — and he planned to show this to the world with his One Nation project — a collaboration with the Boot Camp Clik. The whole Duck Down staff paid a visit to PAC summer mansion, and recorded stacks of material; however, a month later Pac was murdered, putting the record in limbo, indefinitely. Words can’t describe how dope and utterly significant this project would have been. A few of the joints have leaked on the net, but the vault is still full!
https://youtu.be/RnK8wa15wzo
Mystery Jay-Z Reasonable Doubt Records
After his original demo tapes leaked, we all kind of thought that we’d heard every Jay-Z record ever. Then Adrien Vargas, the album’s art director, and designer, dropped a bomb on the web, an original track listing that included three additional tracks that we’ve never heard. That raised a whole gang of questions. Have we heard these songs, just with different names? Are these songs sitting on some reels in Dame Dash’s basement? Unfortunately, there are no answers. Die hard fans can only hope that Jigga decides to pull a Nas and drop lost tapes some day.
[Sigh]
