The Rock & Roll Pop Culture Auction November 2017

Lot #355:

Tupac Shakur 1990 Original Unreleased Music Demo Recording

Tupac Shakur original unreleased music demo recording on C.D. circa 1990. A total of five songs and some personal talk are heard on the recording. This is the only known copy of this recording as the original cassette from which the C.D. was made was destroyed. One song features Tupac rapping throughout and another song features him in the background. In addition to these two live recorded songs there are three additional songs that were taped from the radio. The songs in order are: 1. "Kick Back and Smoke a Joint (6:30). The rapper heard in this song is Ryan D. Tupac can be heard in the background saying things such as “uh huh, alright, etc.” but he doesn’t explicitly rap in this song. At one point Ryan D does start calling out friends in the room to “kick back and smoke a joint” and if you listen at 5:17 or 5:18 he actually says “TUPAC - Kick back and smoke a joint.” 2. " Never Be Beat" (6:00). This song is all Tupac rapping. He later released a song under the same name but that is significantly different from this original draft. On the record spinning is his friend “Clarke Gable” and on the beats is his friend Ryan D. But all the vocals are Tupac. The three remaining songs, "Self-Destruction" (7:00), "Gangster Boogie" (6:30) and "Life is too Short" (2:50) are popular songs from rap artists in the late 1980's that were taped from the radio. Very good condition. This lot is being sold as a collectible with no copyrights. Comes with a letter of provenance and a Gotta Have Rock & Roll™ Certificate of Authenticity.