In one of my own original pieces for Medium’s newly launched Cuepoint, I spoke to original HipHopSie.Com co-creator and fellow Las Vegas DJ, Warren Peace, about the time that 2Pac strolled into the DJ booth and Suge Knight’s 662, and destroyed his Biggie vinyl. Read here, true believers…

Celebrated hip-hop journalist Dream Hampton remembers both 2Pac and Biggie, as this weekend sees the 20th anniversary of Ready To Die, and the 18th anniversary of Pac’s death.

She spoke with NPR’s All Things Considered about her friendship with Biggie, and then wrote a nice piece about ‘Pac over at the newly launched Cuepoint at Medium. Take a look see…

In an exclusive interview with VF.com, Michael “Mike D” Diamond of the Beastie Boys remembers the “bizarre” turn of events that claimed the lives of rap icons the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur—and ushered in a violent new era for hip-hop. He also speaks on Spike Jonze’s groundbreaking tribute to 70s cop shows, explains why the world wasn’t ready for Paul’s Boutique, reflects on the decade’s notable developments, and explains why you just can’t wear spandex at a gas station anymore.

Hard Knock TV: “In part 2 Common talks to Nick Huff Barili about his friendship with Maya Angelou and their conversations about Tupac. Common also calls Nas his favorite MC and says that their collaboration project NasdotCom has been put on hold. We have also included clips of a freestyle Common performed during Def Jam listening of his new album Nobody’s Smiling. That’s No ID on stage with him. If you haven’t done so already make sure you check out part 1 of our conversation with Common where he talks about his new album Nobody’s Smiling.

Finally, Common touched on his rumored collaborative album with Nas and said they haven’t “moved” on the project. He explained that he doesn’t “think it’ll happen anytime soon” but would really love to do it in the future.

Bonus, Com speaks to Vlad TV about the violence in Chicago in the second clip.

In celebration of the groundbreaking new Broadway musical “Holler If Ya Hear Me,” J.PERIOD is pleased to announce HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME: REMIXED, the latest in his award-winning music-meets-narrative remix series, premiering Tuesday, June 24. Listen to the project’s first release below, a re-imagining of Pac’s classic tribute to his mother, produced by J.PERIOD.

Contemporary art phenom Naturel mashes up Tupac and Basquiat in celebration of Tupac’s birth, death and musical resurrection. The four piece series was created to chronologically parallel the careers of both artists. !llmind contributes to the project sonically, with this Boomtrap remix.

In pretty amazing, yet not surprising reveal, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Sgt. Chris Carroll, the officer on the scene at the time of his death, said that 2Pac’s last words – to him at least – were “Fuck You”, Vegas Seven magazine reported today.

Giving an in-depth account of the scene of the shooting and ‘Pac’s last moments on earth, Carroll paints a stunning picture of the scene.

So I’m looking at Tupac, and he’s trying to yell back at Suge, and I’m asking him, ‘Who shot you? What happened? Who did it?’ And he was just kind of ignoring me. He was making eye contact with me here and there, but he’s trying to yell at Suge. And I kept asking over and over, ‘Who did this? Who shot you?’ And he basically kept ignoring me. And then I saw in his face, in his movements, all of a sudden in the snap of a finger, he changed. And he went from struggling to speak, being noncooperative, to an ‘I’m at peace’ type of thing. Just like that.

“After that, he started gurgling and slipping out of consciousness. At that point, an ambulance showed up, and he went into unconsciousness.

Carroll reveals that he kept this information private for many years, as he feared that it would add to his martyrdom.

“The second main reason I didn’t go public with this before is I didn’t want Tupac to be a martyr or hero because he told the cops ‘Fuck you.’ I didn’t want to give him that. I didn’t want people to say, ‘Even when the chips were down, his life on the line, he still said “Fuck you,” he still wouldn’t talk to the police.’ I didn’t want him to be a hero for that. And now enough time has passed, well, he’s a martyr anyway; he’s viewed as a hero anyway. My story, at this point, isn’t going to change any of that.”

A behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming 2Pac Broadway musical, Holler If Ya Hear Me, which features the cast singing show tune renditions of “California Love”, “Unconditional Love”, and the title track. Directed by Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun) and starring spoken word artist Saul Williams. Opens June 19th at the Palace Theatre, with previews beginning June 2nd.

Lost 2Pac Interview by Benjamin Svetkey, recorded in March 1994 on microcassette recorder surfaces with an animated short. Some chilling prophecies in this one….

Famed rapper and urban activist Immortal Technique explains where he stood in the 90′s when people were heavily comparing Biggie vs Tupac in the East Coast vs West Coast beef. Immortal Technique also talks about how battle rapping has evolved over the years, how social media has changed things, and why some battle rappers would rather be songwriters.

From Hotel California, in stores next Tuesday. Waiting for the inevitable remix over the “Don’t Look Any Further” sample.

A filmmaker by the name of Gobi has begun a 2Pac documentary called 7 Dayz, which will chronicle the rapper’s last week alive, using footage he shot sixteen years ago. The project is being funded by Kickstarter, with a little over $5k raised so far. Gobi has released a trailer for the project, as well as unseen footage of Pac meeting the Boot Camp Click to record the One Nation album.

1/2 of the Hughes Brothers speaks on the making of Menace II Society on Sway In The Morning. He details a “blow by blow” fight with Tupac back in the day.

This rare image of a young Tupac Shakur and Guru is available now from the X-Label, whom handles all of Guru’s posthumous merch sales. Available now from X-Label.