Unruly: The Highs and Lows of Becoming a Man by Ja Rule

Author:Ja Rule [Rule, Ja]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography & Autobiography, Composers & Musicians, Personal Memoirs, Cultural Heritage
ISBN: 9780062316172
Google: 9_vGAgAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0062316176
Publisher: Amistad
Published: 2014-07-01T02:39:25+00:00

IN SEPTEMBER 1996, it was all over the news. Tupac was dead. It had been a year since Brittney was born and things were moving along with my music. When I heard about his death on the news, I thought that it was some kind of a joke.

I remember the first time I met Tupac. It was at Queens’ Day, which is a festival where they also have concerts. It’s held in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, where they have the 1964 World’s Fair Unisphere. Tupac was performing and he was with some of my homies from around the way—Stretch, Madge and Nichols. Stretch and Madge were part of a group called Live Squad. I would always hear stories about all of them hanging with Pac on Hollis Avenue, but I had not gotten the chance to meet him. That day, it would all change. I saw Pac walking toward the stage. My friend Nichols was headed in the same direction and he introduced us. I shook his hand. I was happy to be in his presence and to meet him. Never could I have imagined that day, that one day, I would be mentioned in the same breath as Pac, even compared with him.

The next time I got a chance to see him was one night in The Tunnel, a legendary nightclub in Manhattan. He was there with Big. This was before all of the East Coast/West Coast beef. Tupac and Big were at the bar, and Pac had a line of women just wanting to touch him, be in his presence, or whatever. I remember thinking, I want that. I want to be large like that.

The death of Tupac shook us all to the bone. We had just lost Easy-E from NWA in March 1995 and death seemed to be creeping up on us as young Black men in the hood. Like I was telling Aisha, muthafuckas were getting killed every day around the block. Now, even famous young Black men like Easy-E. But not Tupac. He had sold 75 million albums worldwide. He was considered one of the bestselling artists in the world. He wrote songs that were reflecting the consciousness of Black people. Tupac was a chameleon. He knew how to adapt to his surroundings. He was hard and soft at the same time. His impact was powerful in the hood.

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