2Pac’s “Fuck The World” Was A Prince Remake That Shock G Meant to Tape Over
Sometimes great art happens by mistake. For Digital Underground member Shock G, a very fortuitous mistake happened when he sent 2Pac a beat tape of potential tracks for Me Against The World. “I sent three good songs to Pac for the Me Against The World album,” Shock recalled in an interview with Vibe. “The first one was what turned out to be Digital Underground’s ‘Oregano Flow’, the second was ‘So Many Tears’, and the third one was a beat I can’t remember.”
As luck would have it, there was also a rough demo version of a Prince-inspired track hiding at the end of the beat reel. Though Shock hadn’t intended for anyone outside of Digital Underground to hear the song, he left it on the tape by accident. “Pac calls me back in Oakland and he’s like, ‘I like the first one and the fourth one,’” Shock told Vibe. “And I’m puzzled because I only sent three tracks. I thought he was fucking with me.”
After their confusing phone conversation, the two musicians met up in LA to figure out what was going on. “I flew up to LA to meet with Pac about the songs,” Shock told Vibe. “I’m like, ‘There is no fourth beat…I searched and searched.’ He played the tape for me and when the third beat ran out some old, dusty shit that I had taped over and didn’t want no one to hear came on.”
“He was not a businessman out to get rich. He was trying to change the world through music…I still tear up when I think about him.”- Shock G on 2Pac
Even though Shock had tried to erase the tape from existence, 2Pac had other ideas. “He’s like, ‘This one, n***a!’ It was that ‘Fuck The World’ beat, which was really a Prince remake,” Shock told Vibe. “We had all that Minneapolis shit in it. But we [Digital Underground] ended up not doing it because nobody felt the beat but me.”
It’s fitting that 2Pac saw the potential of a Shock G track that other people missed. From hiring him as a dancer for Digital Underground to playing an instrumental role in his pre-Death Row rap career, Shock G knew 2Pac on a level that few others did. The two artists shared a special bond, finding a connection that some musicians spend their entire careers looking for. Although Pac has long sense passed, that connection remains strong today. “He was not a businessman out to get rich. He was trying to change the world through music,” Shock told Vibe. “I still tear up when I think about him.”
Connect with Shock G on Facebook and on Twitter @HumptyFunk.
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