Suge Knight has claimed Tupac Shakur wanted to sign Aaliyah.
The Death Row Records co-founder claimed the late rapper was blown away when he first saw Aaliyah perform at a Gladys Knight concert in Las Vegas and he was determined to sign her to the label.
Speaking over the phone from prison with The Art of Dialogue, Suge said: “We had a thing. I would always listen to oldies, and Pac would listen to rap. He didn’t like oldies, so I told him, ‘I gotta show you what oldies are about.’ So, I took 2Pac to go see Gladys Knight perform in Vegas.
“Aaliyah starts singing and 2Pac said, ‘Don’t get up! Don’t get up!’ I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because Gladys Knight knows you, you’re gonna speak to Gladys Knight, and then you’re gonna talk to that little girl singing. And the next thing you know, you’re gonna be doing an album.’ He said, ‘I’m gonna go talk to her, you come later on, because I want to do an album with Aaliyah.’
“He wasn’t thinking about signing nobody else. He thought she was the biggest star and had the best voice ever. Me and that dude spent hours and hours and days and days together. Me, personally, I never seen him get so excited about no female artist. … He lost his mind over Aaliyah. He talked about her for days and days. I got tired of hearing him talking about that little girl. He said, ‘I got these songs I want do with her. I’m gonna do this song with her.’ … He was super, super, super excited.”
Tupac was shot and killed in Vegas in 1996 at the age of 25 and Knight claimed he is still not over his death.
He said: “I always looked up to 2Pac because he was such a real brother. I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get over his death, but I do know his music will live on forever. All of us have suffered a major loss, including those who tried to destroy his name, reputation and spirit when he was alive.”
Aaliyah died in 2001 at the age of 22, following a plane crash.