Tupac, Snoop Dogg at Brotherhood Crusade Rally – Today in Hip-Hop
XXL celebrates 50 years of hip-hop with this moment:
Aug. 15, 1996: On this day in 1996, Tupac Amaru Shakur and Death Row Records CEO Marion “Suge” Knight, along with labelmates Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Hammer and R&B singer Danny Boy, attended the Brotherhood Crusade Rally in Los Angeles.
In August of 2015, a vintage video surfaced on the Tupac Facts YouTube channel featuring the late Tupac Shakur and Death Row Records artists speaking at the event about the importance of voting. Following a few opening remarks, Suge Knight was introduced to speak at the podium. He shared some words about the Death Row artists and the success they have achieved thanks to their supportive fans.
“One thing I’d like to say, if it weren’t for the community it would be no Death Row Records,” he told the crowd. “And more important than all that, if it weren’t for Snoop, Daz, Hammer, Tupac… it would be no me.”
Suge then introduced Tupac and Snoop to the podium. Tupac, who was dressed in an all-white suit, expressed gratitude to his fans for buying his double album, All Eyez on Me, which had sold over 5 million copies since its release on Feb. 13, 1996. Recognizing there is strength in numbers, he also urged fans to become voters.
“We just want y’all to know that at Death Row, we appreciate everything y’all doing for us,” ‘Pac stated. “My record sales, we got 6 million. Snoop got 4 million. Dogg Pound got 3 million. And we keep going.”
“That means we represent that many votes,” he continued. “If we can represent that many votes, we gotta let these politicians be scared of us. That means anytime we drop something, y’all gotta pick it up. Every time y’all call for us, we gon’ come.”
After Tupac spoke, Snoop followed up with his own words on voting. He even showed the audience his voter registration documentation.
Sadly, Tupac died less than one month after his appearance at the voting rally. The late hip-hop icon succumbed to gunshot wounds suffered in a drive-by shooting on Sept. 7 in Las Vegas. He died on Sept. 13, 1996.
In the end, the vintage footage showed that Tupac Shakur was a man of the people.