California-based Hip Hop artist DJ Quik had a close working relationship with the late Tupac Shakur. Quik produced “Heartz of Men” off 2Pac’s All Eyez on Me album.
Talib Kweli recently spoke to DJ Quik on the People’s Party podcast. At one point, Quik discussed feeling threatened over All Eyez On Me leaking before its official release.
According to the Way 2 Fonky creator, his security guard took a copy of the CD from his car and shared it with friends. Unauthorized copies of the project then became available across Los Angeles.
“I almost got killed over a 2Pac bootleg. I had a machine gun put in my face.” DJ Quik told Kweli. “But I was still defending him, I was like, ‘F### it, do what you gotta do.’ I can’t run. This m########### got thirty shots in it, so I’m gonna just man up and take this s###.”
Apparently, a fight broke out at the Death Row office over the bootlegged album. DJ Quik also recalled a confrontation with the security guard who supposedly lifted the unreleased project as well as another person.
“So I’m fighting with this guy, then I end up fighting with the other guy, and the other guy kicked me all in the head and s###, I’m on the ground getting stomped and s###,” said Quik. “I get up and I’m still fighting this guy. It’s like, ‘Man, I can’t fight both. Help me fight these m############.”
According to DJ Quik, he eventually reconciled with the security guard. He stated, “I went and hung out with him a couple of years ago and apologized because I shouldn’t have done that. You know, Death Row was the single most dangerous record company in the world, but if you had on the chain, nothing ever happened to you.”
All Eyez on Me went on to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart by selling 566,000 copies in its first week. The Recording Industry Association of America certified 2Pac’s fourth studio LP as Diamond (10 million units) in 2014.