At a gun range in Compton (Interview) lyrics

2Pac : Okay, basically all throughout being black in America
we always had to take the route that was non-violent, peaceful, logical and more sane than every other race, you know?
we could never take the stands which is our true stands to be straight soldiers, straight warriors until hip hop came
when hardcore hip hop came, it was all right for a n*gga to say f*ck y'all, you know? we gon' do the f*ck we want, you know? bang bang, you know?. It was cool for a n*gga to do that, other than that it was never heard of even back in 'em Jim Brown days them n*ggas was dying at the end of the pictures, you know?
and hip hop done n*ggas still living that n*gga that doing all the dirt still living it's like.. that's like the hero sh*t that go back to Africa telling stories and sh*t we just pass the hero through soldier though. We passing story through soldier and hardcore youngster that come up when they see there's n*gga that can do something that can shoot back sh*t it's all good you would instill pride you would instill self-defense and everybody got the right of self-defense.

Interviewer : So 'Pac what you think about the movie as far as reality goes, you know? what I'm saying
gang bangin' and is there reality popping right now?

2Pac : In the streets you mean?

Interviewer : yeah
2Pac : Hell yeah it ain't nuttin but killing having right now.
But it's really like; you can't tell a n*gga not to do that.
Because gangs ain't nuttin but tribes, and n*gga could not survive out here by his self, so all I say is that gangs be all black,
you know? Be down for all black, but sh*t you can't survive out here by yourself, the police ain't nuttin but a gang, the National Guard is a gang, the army is a gang, we learn all our gang sh*t from the government, we learn all this gun sh*t from the government, you know? they get somebody get a gun, the gov get a bigger gun. How they gon' show us that we can't pick up, so I'm picking up, feel me?

—

Interviewer : let's talk about violence 'Pac

2Pac : say it again

Interviewer : The violence that's jumping off now, you know? what I'm saying. How'd you feel that'd affect the kids that's coming up right now?

2Pac : I think the black— excuse me—[laughs] black on black violence affect the youngsters making 'em cold-hearted
when we kill each other it make us not giving a f*ck about blackness, you know? when they see they own n*ggas, you know? they're grown n*ggas that's killing other n*ggas, you know?
it make it like to whereas they're cold and they heartless,, you know? I could say that 'cause I'm heartless. I grew up Panther wise, you know? I'm sayin'? And nowadays n*gga is like f*ck that we gotta survive, I'm screaming black like the next man but when the first shot lick off, you know? it's all good, everybody is all in. 'Cause n*ggas will kill you quicker than some of these crackers and then they'll kill you but won't kill some of these crackers, which kills me so and also like that police violence against us that's making us crazy, that's what's making us kill each other 'cause we really want to kill the police, but we scared so we kill each other,, you know? We got guns we just scared to shoot through motherf*ckers that's doing it to us. So I feel as though,, you know? sh*t, the violence is just making us more cold-hearted animals,, you know? Some sh*t they can't f*ck with, 'cause we worse than anything they talked about it.
Interviewer : Let's talk about the black panther thing. How did you come up growing up in it and handle that type of environment

2Pac : I'm saying my peoples, my folks staying [?] in penitentiaries for bank robberies, and killing cops and, you know? I'm saying? That 's my family tree, it ain't no stretch for me to be talking the sh*t I be talking. And they didn't do it screaming let's go move the White— they was screaming African liberation.
I'm talking about straight motherf*cking G's, but now they in jail now,, you know? And did nobody gave a f*ck and theses mothaf*ckas out here with beads, and all that drama that they be wearing and my folks is in the pen' over that sh*t so I takes that sh*t like f*ck it. I'm not that type of n*gga that's gon be like around [?] but,, you know? I live right here and it's hard right motherf*cking here I help y'all soon as I get there, but while I'm right here, I'm speaking the language that we speak, I'm dressing in the clothes that we dress in and I'm fighting the battle that we got to fight,, you know? what I'm saying, and if n*ggas wanna be down sh*t it can be an all n*gga thang but if n*ggas don't, sh*t I be by my motherf*cking self but n*ggas will be following, you know? what I'm saying and n*ggas ain't gonna see it till the last second but now this ain't no sh*t that just happening in this cent'—, you know? in this little 10 years this sh*t been goin' on for a gang of time, everybody been talking about it everybody been making a song about. it's just for real, you know? what I'm saying and we runnin' out of n*ggas to bury

Interviewer : Where's the music going 2Pac? is it gon' get harder?

2Pac : sh*t, I don't know it depends on n*ggas balls. If n*ggas got big nuts like me it's gon get way harder. but sh*t if n*ggas got little nuts, it's gon start getting back to a different type rap, you know? what I'm saying
partying and f*cking and all of that type of sh*t
because that's what we talking about when they don't let us talk about what we really wanna talk about. So it depends you can listen to the radio and listen to what n*ggas be talking about, and if they start talking that crazy sh*t then it ain't cool. If n*ggas still talking that thug sh*t, you know? that hardcore sh*t it's all good. But if they talking about like "hitting", you know? all that crazy sh*t, you know? it ain't gon' be like that. Not that nothing's wrong with that, but it's something wrong with it if you think that's hardcore, you know? what I'm saying

Interviewer : [?]influenced through rappers head on the kids[?]

2Pac : ultimate, ultimate. But see some of these kids don't know that some of these rappers ain't like that and that's the bad part, you know?
the good part it just some rappers who took that sh*t seriously like me
I feel as though everything I rap about sh*t anybody could check my card on it and I gotta be able to pullin'— pull, show and improve whenever somebody wanna pull my card on it some of these n*ggas
gotta do the same thang but it ain't like that
they screaming they soldiers but they not being soldiers in reality, so it's like that what's the bad part
'Cause some of these kids really believe you, you know? they really doing that sh*t
n*ggas be listening to tapes and knocking cop off and sh*t, you know? what I'm sayin' and that sh*t is deep, you know? what I'm sayin'

Interviewer : is that what you saying in like Strictly for n*ggas [?] in the album that came out

2Pac : yeah it's like,, you know? like, sh*t, f*ck it ain't nuttin wrong with it being all black thang that don't mean we're racist 'cause we want n*ggas to survive
ain't nuttin wrong with that we say this just for blacks
can't nobody say sh*t if you sayin' we strictly for n*ggas
can nobody I am being racist I ain't saying f*ck all the crackers
I'm just saying still strictly for my n*ggas that's all n*ggas thang
, you know? and when I'm down Mexicans all that wanna be down but if that sh*t really it's for n*ggas
Interviewer : What about the female rappers [?] 'cause you be dissing the b*tches and hoes and all that sh*t. How you feel about that?

2Pac : I feel as though it really ain't as big as everybody making, you know?. Even the females know what's b*tches
females don't even hang with females. So why would they expect n*gga understand something they don't understand it that's one. Two, is that these b*tches is like boss she out there handling her business she aim, saying why call me b*tches; SHE CLOWNING! And that's what you do, that's how you show and improve bet no n*gga gon' f*ck with her. If you call yourself a b*tch, Who can call you a b*tch? But f*ck it, I'm a n*gga that's just like I don't even believe in that I'm not a b*tch sh*t. If you're not a b*tch. Why the f*ck in that conversation? Why the f*ck you even put— I ain't no b*tch, what okay

Interviewer : What about the female rappers?

2Pac : female rappers some is raw, some is not, some still sellin' c*ck, some getting pimped, some is f*cking whoever doing their music and soon them n*ggas ain't getting more pus*y they ain't putting no more records out so that's like the damn part, if they just, you know? put they c*ck in they hand and just drop records it would be cool
but they keep f*cking mixing business and pleasure that a n*gga can't really be a fan of that
I can't really get in into boss' music if she's hardcore I'm gon' stay hardcore 'cause I can be down for that
liking this n*gga tape
nah I won't buy this b*tch tape
I buy this n*gga tape
but if she starts flip-flopping it's a difference
anybody start flip-flopping, it's a difference so—

Interviewer : (inaudible)

2Pac : every album I did I ain't trippin' off that
only time that I ever sat back and wrote the rhyme that I was goin' do and thought about it like it's the "Same Song" song I did with Digital Underground
besides that every record that came out that 2Pac did I did high and drunk in the studio while they was making the beat like laying the beat down
and that's why I be soundin' little sloppy
but that's all
it be like f*ck it I feel as though n*ggas drunk and high when they gon' still listen to it you gon' like it or not
and I don't even picture myself to be as like Dre
I just picture myself to be like me
I would be putting out Underground if nobody ever bought my record and I'll selling up to whereas I can putting out underground tapes from there it's cool though
, you know? if you just signed with Death Row that's gon' be cool too, they gon' be doing my n*gga up
it's all cool sh*t, they came to me and said : "Do you wanna work with the Row?", and I said "hell yeah"
Dre wanna do some sh*t on my music, my next album
I can't really ask him nuttin more than that really in '93
Interviewer : so that's beginning of a new family thang

2Pac :Yep, we goin' on that tour, it's new 2Pac
Thug Life and Death Row ain't that a b*tch

Interviewer : You coming from up north right you coming from up north and then coming down here just chilling how is it from like up there in Oakland?

2Pac : it really ain't change just different cultures I feel as though the ghetto was the ghetto it ain't near ghetto I can't go to and kicking it and come up and I don't care who colors or not
I didn't always think that so I'm not being c*cky
I was scared in L.A. to whereas I didn't know nuttin about the game thang
that's the only thing I was scared of
just ignorance not knowing we're not to go
sh*t if I been there long enough they can smoke me
I really don't care, it's all good, 'cause I'm in here, I'm in here
Watts, this is Compton, there's no place that I won't go
and I feel as though if you got love and if you putting out real sh*t you can do that
if you kicking that sh*t from your heart you can go wherever your heart wants you to go
if you kicking that sh*t from the white folks office them white folks gon' have to bring you through the hood
if you they tell you when you be a g
sh*t they gon' have to tell you when you come to the hood
so it's cool like this since I got big nuts, my big nuts take me wherever I wanna go and I love that
I like that I like that
I went to Chicago, we was f*cking with them gang n*ggas out there
it's a good feeling to be, you see these white folks running out like a f*cker from these n*ggas then you get there they all like "What's up 'Pac" they all like down
so it's true n*ggas can unite, you know?
--
--
Mo hand me that 40 ammunition, 40-millimeter ammunition
--
I show you how to trick, this a 10 millimeter but I'm loading it with 40-millimeter bullets 'cause it'll work, watch

Interviewer : In this like, anger you shooting at these targets right here?

2Pac : Anger?

Interviewer : Yeah

2Pac : That is when I got that MAC-11, I don't be tryna aim, I just be tryna hit they ass
but when I got the Glock I aims and hit they ass (word)

—

2Pac : huh what on my music?
uhm sh*t the hood
everywhere I been I done live in New York that's where I was raised that's where I came up, you know?
and I done move to I didn't live in Harlem, The Bronx just in New York if, you know? that's two different cultures
then I done live to Baltimore, Marlon that's a whole another type culture that's that the Washington, D.C. scene I done live there for 4 years
I done live in Oakland for 4 years
I done came out to L.A. and here I be
it's like you moving all them ghettos you gon' pick up the slangs in all them towns, you gon' pick up one common thing which is dope-dealing
and that's what everybody do, everywhere I went that was the common thread, you know? dope everybody gotta make it, you know? what I'm saying
no matter how bad we look down on that that the number one career for a young black male in America in the real America

Interviewer : [?] music

2Pac : I don't really got nuttin, I rap, I'm a hip hop fan first
I was first and foremost that's where I am, it shows
when I'm meeting n*ggas I like I show it, ain't no on that bullsh*t
'cause I got big nuts, I don't care I like them n*ggas
but now I like "Beat It" I like all the hardcore n*ggas
I buy they tapes my [?]
any day any car I on anywhere I go
you can check my pockets or anything it's tapes— hip hop
and I don't listen — it ain't got to be the n*gga that is platinum
it could be some underground tape I got from Chicago
but I spread that sh*t around I really do enjoy the music I like that hardcore sh*t I think it's good it get me through a lot to sh*t it get me through a lot to know that another n*gga is feeling what I feel, going through what I going through
And if you keep it hardcore that's how it is
but if we always talking about the good time sh*t
when a n*gga having a bad time he gotta turn his deck off
and listen to keep sweating it's not like, sh*t
hip hop should go through every single emotion that we have, you know?. Aight here we go—

—

2Pac : like that is the perfect example
when people used to ask me last year what you call your music hardcore? I didn't even put it in that position I said it was
soul music 'cause that's what it is to me
it's like Bill Withers and Marvin Gaye, you know? how they used to like sang and no matter who is listening to the tape was still a black music, it was black music and that's how, you know? the rap is it's like like "Straight Up Menace" that song "Straight Up Menace" Compton Most Wanted
when that sh*t came out n*gga was having a bad day, you know? I was on my way to get some weed f*cked up, you know? I done been intense and sh*t and I was listened to that sh*t just to know that another n*gga was feeling the same way you feel
a rapper that, you know? that you seen and the music fit and the words fit that sh*t is like, you know? get you through
just like as if you gotta phone call from a homie to see I understand, you know? what I'm saying it's like the music let, you know? that another person understand and for the black community especially we have like broken families with no father, no big brothers and so the music becomes the big brother or the music becomes the father. Because you listen to all these n*ggas so you be like Ice Cu—. I grew up Ice Cube, Public Enemy, KRS-ONE, LL Cool J, Big Daddy Kane all them n*ggas was my daddy 'cause I ain't have nuttin and that's why I listen to 'em to know how to have big nuts, you know? what I'm saying them the n*ggas who I gauge my nuts by, so if Cube was saying he was knocking this n*gga off and Kane was saying this and this how you do a n*gga and LL was saying you beating n*ggas like this you grew up being okay let's f*ck it — [laughs] f*ck IT
I got big nuts aha, I'm knocking n*ggas off I'm not taking sh*t from the police, Cube told me this "b*tch Iz a b*tch" and I'm not f*cking with these hoes you grew up and you get the lesson that you would've gotten from your daddy but you get it from n*ggas 'cause they got it from they daddy and they spitting the game so the game is the music and it's like you paying 10 dollars for a whole lifestyle of game that why these white kids could dress and act like n*ggas 'cause all they got to do is gon' get Tim tapes and after they study them Tim tapes they got f*cking hood 101 — [laughs] that's the exact example
look at em white boys sh*t they got down pack mode on some n*ggas got they hats to the back they saggin', extra saggin' the right shoes the right belts they know what kinda draws they got to wear they know they got to have T-Shirt they know what Swap Meet to go through they know when to [?] they ass home
that's all from our records we taught 'em that we ain't even get paid really so it ain't like it's just the music we selling we selling the game, the lifestyle
'cause soon we start talking about some of that Vanilla Ice sh*t they ain't gon' buy our records, long as you talking about the hood they gon' buy the record 'cause they wanna know what's happening in the hood
how we can we live as dope as y'all doing in the hood up in these rich ass mansions and that's what some rappers is doing, they portraying the role but they really getting it from tapes they really getting it from all other sh*t

—

2Pac : I got these I got hollow-point rifle bullets
let me show ya
, you know? rifle bullets go through the vest by they self they could go through the vest right
so by me having hollow point on it
, you know? hollow point making it expand it'll go through the vest and then expand (yeah),, you know?
that's for n*ggas they'd be wearing a vest like me
listen for the police
if they ever come get me for some bullsh*t
and I don't wanna go to jail which I don't, I got this phobia
I ain't going to jail not unless I want to, not unless I did some, I go but I finna go for nothing, you know? what I'm saying, so if they come for me
I'm putting a 90 rounder in — [Laughs]

—

2Pac : (hollow point) hollow point like a motherf*cker
so really a 90 rounder, with some hollow point and 223's, a Glock, a MAC-11, a 9 millimeter and 357
gotta 12 gauge Mossberg, over there..[?] sensational
n*ggas talking than the motherf*ckers offer me you feel me, and a bag full of bullets
I'm telling you some n*ggas could pack what I pack in a bag full of bullets
and then you truly achieve unless you do all this I really don't think n*gga should be doing that all rapping 'cause now go check my record and I'm rapping about all this
talking about 9s, 45s all the sh*t that I got
and bullets how you gon' do all that killing n*gga with no bullets
n*ggas be having 3 bullets in they guns
check you n*ggas check you n*ggas that got guns and I betcha
have the n*ggas got 3 bullets in they guns?
'cause they don't go to the range, they don't buy bullets, I gotta bag of bullets and I'm dead serious about this sh*t and I can shoot
half of these n*ggas came to shoot it's a range test I did this to set a precedent
now let's see what other n*ggas is doing all that other sh*t
now, you know? I'm talking it like I welcome it
now all I really gotta do is shoot at a live target
but it ain't got that deep yet and I'm not really tryna prove nuttin, so it's all good until then I keep shootin' in purpose
—
so don't get pistol whips