Too $hort has once again opened up about why he kept his distance from the late 2Pac during his sensational rise to fame and untimely demise.
In a revealing interview with Dregs One, the Bay Area legend spoke candidly about his early impressions of 2Pac, vouched for his Bay Area-bred DNA and revealed why he made a conscious decision to keep the late rapper at arm’s length during their time in Oakland. Too $hort recalled the early days when 2Pac was beginning to establish himself, running in circles with mutual friends like Shorty B, Pee Wee, and Richie Rich.
“2Pac, they used to run around a lot together… I remember 2Pac coming around, and we didn’t—it wasn’t like too much in each other’s face or nothing,” Too $hort said. “I knew who he was… then after a while he had ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’ and ‘When My Homies Call.’”
He explained that 2Pac’s connection to Oakland came through Richie Rich and others in the Digital Underground camp. At that time, 2Pac was eager to transition from Marin City to Oakland and embed himself in the culture.
“He wants to come to Oakland,” he said. “He finds his way through Rich and some other people and the digital click, and he’s just, he’s there.”
Too Short reveals why he purposely avoided 2Pac and says he didn’t want to be a bad influence on him.
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However, a specific moment made Too $hort take a step back. He described a day when he gave 2Pac and Shorty B a ride, and noticed Pac was carrying a gun. While not uncommon in their environment, the way Pac carried himself set off alarms.
“I carry guns a lot,” he said. “You would never know because I’m from Oakland, and I just wouldn’t let an Oakland n#### or any other n#### know that I got my thing on me at the time. It’s just something you just don’t do. N##### be saying stupid s### like, ‘Let me see your gun. No n####’. Like it’s just, it gets goofy. So if you that cat, I don’t care if somebody I know or not, but I just noticed it and it struck me.”
That moment triggered Too $hort’s decision to distance himself. He saw the ambition in 2Pac, the drive to be more than just a rapper and he feared what that ambition might attract in the streets.
“I can’t really get really close to this guy because I knew what he was getting into,” he said. “If my guys catch wind of his ambition, they’re going to cling to him… I just knew I could tell that he wanted the streets.”
Too $hort respected 2Pac’s revolutionary side but knew he couldn’t be part of that mix without risking something dangerous.
“I can’t tap into that part of him with the pistol on him, hanging out in Oakland and some places I just can’t bring him,” he said. “He’s going to let people know he got that on him… and I just don’t want to bring him in general just because.”
Looking back, Too $hort believes his instincts were on point.
“I personally avoided ambitious 2Pac because he probably would have ended up in some f##### up spaces around me… He did it though, bro. Like when he went to LA, he ended up in those circles and he went all the way.”
“He was like, ‘I want to be that gangster revolutionary, everything, I want to be the ladies man, I want to be the biggest rapper’,’ he had that ambition,” he said. “I was like, get that s*** away from me. I didn’t want to be a bad influence on Tupac.”
Check out the full interview in the video above.