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Read Eminem’s Touching Tribute To Tupac Shakur: ‘His Ability To Touch People’s Lives Was Incredible’

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Recently we learnt of how Eminem had touched the life of a young fan of his, which he felt inclined to do because someone also touched his life once.

It was many people, but one of them was Tupac. Eminem has always idolised him, and recently Paper Magazine gave him the chance to put that into writing when he was asked to pen a tribute piece to him.

 

Eminem paid tribute to the lyrical genius of the man, the ability of his music to invoke emotions and transcend time. To Eminem, and many other people, this was one of the all time greats.

“His spirit spoke to me because it was like you knew everything that he was going through, especially when he made ‘Me Against the World’. You just felt every aspect of his pain, every emotion: when he was happy, when he was sad. His ability to touch people’s lives like that was incredible.” Eminem wrote.

Read the entire tribute piece below, from Paper

The first time I ever heard Tupac was his verse on “I Get Around” with Digital Underground. I was 18 or 19 years old and I remember thinking, “Who is this?” He stood out so much. Once I heard that, I got his first album, 2Pacalypse Now. I saw the video for “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and I remember thinking, “Holy sh*t.” By the time he got to Me Against the World, it was him at his pinnacle. He’s off and running. He knows what he wants, and he’s figured out how he wants to be and how he wants to sound — everything. I would probably put that up against anything as far as a classic hip-hop album goes.

He was taking things further than a lot of rappers at the time — pushing it to the next level as far as giving feeling to his words and his music. A lot of people say, “You feel Pac,” and it’s absolutely true. The way he chose which words to say with which beat was genius; it’s like he knew what part of the beat and what chord change was the right place to hit these certain words… to make them jump off the track and make you feel what he was saying. Like, listen to “If I Die 2Nite.” Whatever he was rapping about, it was urgent. If it was a sad song, it’d make you cry. But there were a lot of different sides to him: fed-up, angry, militant, having a good time. His spirit spoke to me because it was like you knew everything that he was going through, especially when he made Me Against the World. You just felt every aspect of his pain, every emotion: when he was happy, when he was sad. His ability to touch people’s lives like that was incredible.

The school I come from growing up, we spent a lot of time studying rappers, everyone from N.W.A. to Public Enemy to Big Daddy Kane to Kool G Rap to Rakim to Special Ed, taking all these bits and pieces from each one. Tupac was the first one to really help me learn how to make songs that felt like something.

He was so versatile — if you weren’t in the mood for what he was doing on this song here, he’s got something for you over here. He covered such a broad perspective and there were so many different sides to him, but the best part about him overall was that he was a human being. He would let you see that. I used to be fascinated with his interviews like, “Yo, what he’s saying is so true.” He would also be able to trump people who were interviewing him when they would hit him with hard questions — it was incredible. He was a superstar in every aspect of the word. You just wanted to know that guy. Like man, I wanna hang out with Pac.

I don’t know if he was talking to Arsenio [Hall] but I remember him saying something to the effect of “[it’s like] people standing outside watching through the window at a bunch of mother**kers throwing food around and having a party and everybody’s hungry outside and they’re seeing through the window and after a minute, you got people out here singing, ‘We’re hungry, we’re hungry. Let us in, let us in.’ And the next minute when no one’s listening, it’s like ‘Alright, we’re kicking the door down, coming through, picking the lock, blasting.’” When he was giving those analogies, they were incredible. It was almost like he was writing songs when he was doing interviews.

When his mother, Afeni (Shakur), let me produce one of Tupac’s albums — the Loyal to the Game album — I wrote her a letter thanking her for letting me do it. You wouldn’t be able to tell the 18/19-year-old Marshall that he would ever be able to get his hands on some Tupac vocals and have that opportunity. It was such a significant piece of history for me and so much fun. I’m like a kid in a candy store; going nuts with the fact that I’m putting beats under his rhymes. Regardless of how good a rapper someone is, it’s easy for things to eventually get dated. But when you make songs like Tupac did, songs that feel like something, that feeling never goes away. I can put “If I Die 2Nite” in and want to fight somebody the second it comes on. That’s the kind of emotion he sparked. I could put “Dear Mama” in and damn near be in tears. He was just so good at evoking emotions through songs and I picked up so much from that. Biggie had that as well. It was that same kind of thing… he was so good at putting the right words and music together. I would have a hard time believing that they didn’t know what they were doing when they were putting certain words on certain chords of the beat. I would have a hard time believing that it was all accidental. It was true genius.

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Bad Bunny sued for $40m by ex-lover over unauthorised voice recording

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Carliz De La Cruz, the ex-lover of Bad Bunny, the Puerto Rican rapper, has sued him, claiming a voice recording she provided him before he became famous has been used without her permission.

Cruz argued that she is entitled to $40 million in compensation for “negligence and attack on her privacy and dignity.”

According to BBC, Carliz filed a lawsuit against the rapper, claiming he used the catchphrase “Bad Bunny baby” — which she recorded on her phone in 2015 — in two of his songs without her consent.

The line is said to have appeared on the rapper’s 2017 single ‘Pa Ti’ and his 2022 song ‘Dos Mil 16’.

‘Pa Ti’ has raked in more than 355 million views on YouTube and over 235 million plays on Spotify, while ‘Dos Mil 16’ has over 60 million YouTube views and more than 280 million Spotify plays.

According to the legal documents by Carliz’s lawyers, prior to the release of ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’, Bad Bunny’s recent album, the rapper had offered to buy the rights to the line from his ex-lover for $2,000.

She was said to have declined the offer but the album was, however, released with her line on it. ‘Un Verano Sin Ti’ was then nominated for album of the year at the Grammy Awards.

Carlos also said that her recordings have been used in concerts, adding that it is a “gross negligence, bad faith and, worse still, an attack on her privacy, morals and dignity.”

In the legal documents, Carliz said harassment from supporters of the 29-year-old rapper has made her “overwhelmed and anxious” while she seeks “psychologists for help”.

The duo dated in 2011 and both worked in a supermarket while Bad Bunny also made music by the side.

They, however, parted ways in 2016.

The rapper’s former lover is also suing Rimas Entertainment, his record label, and Noah Assad, Bad Bunny’s manager.

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I never asked Mo Bimpe sex for movie role, Yomi Fabiyi insists

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Yomi Fabiyi, the actor, has once again dismissed claims of sexual harassment against Adebimpe Oyebade.

In 2021, the actress — better known as Mo Bimpe — accused Fabiyi of subjecting her to “constant harassment, bully and threats.”

Her claim had come as a response to the release of ‘Oko Iyabo’, a movie by Fabiyi on the sexual assault allegations against Baba Ijesha.

“I didn’t make myself available for his sexual needs despite how much he tried. Yomi Fabiyi needs to be stopped. Thank God for grace, I would have given up on this dream because of his constant harassment, bully and threats,” she had said.

But in a recent interview, Fabiyi denied claims that he demanded sex from Mo Bimpe before enlisting her in his movie.

“I starred her in my movie when nobody knew her and I never asked her for sex before I put her in the movie,” he said.

“I always tell her that whenever she is chanced, she should come to Lagos so that I can brush her up and keep her up to speed before shooting.

“We shot the movie and we were there together, I didn’t say before I give you this role I must have sex with you. People who do such things, that will be their first condition before they even give you that kind of role.

“I didn’t demand anything from you, I didn’t say come and have sex, I just wanted to help you. After we finished shooting and she noticed I didn’t ask her for anything, she came to tell me she’s following another man, Gabriel to Lagos.

“Why is she saying that I sexually assaulted her when many men have slept with her before she settled down with who she’s with today.”

Fabiyi had previously addressed the allegation against him.

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Rita Dominic and Omoni Oboli call out INEC for moving polling units

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Rita Dominic and Omoni Oboli have called out the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for allegedly moving their polling units.

The movie stars took to their social media pages to express their shock over the decision by INEC officials.

Dominic took to Instagram to state that she had been voting inside Victoria Garden City (VGC) for the last 10 years.

The actress, however, wondered why “the INEC staff came to move the centre outside the gate.”

She lamented that the decision has denied several people the opportunity to cast their votes.

“At my polling unit in VGC with fam but @inecnigeria @ineclagos decided to move our polling unit and set up outside the estate on the main road without prior notice,” she wrote.

“I have voted in the same polling unit for over 10 years and did so just about 3 weeks ago for the presidential election. I can’t fathom why INEC officials will decide to move this outside?

“There are many senior citizens who live inside the estate, who want to exercise their civic duty but as it stands now might not be able to do that because of this decision.

“What reason would you move thousands of voters from somewhere that is organised to a chaotic place that would obstruct traffic? I just can’t wrap my head around it!”

Similarly, Oboli claimed that their polling units have been reduced to three, instead of eight. She also alleged that they were asked to vote outside VGC.

“INEC has come to set up outside. There’s an uproar going on here. It is a mess. There’s some sort of military outside. But guys I don’t think it’s safe. I just said I should come outside. I am just gonna go right back into VGC. It is what it is. INEC, is this what we’ve reduced ourselves to?” she asked.

“We voted the last time and everything went reasonably okay. Why are we voting outside? There are eight polling stations inside. And you set up three canopies out here.”

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Bodex F. Hungbo, SPMIIM is a multiple award-winning Nigerian Digital Media Practitioner, Digital Strategist, PR consultant, Brand and Event Expert, Tv Presenter, Tier-A Blogger/Influencer, and a top cobbler in Nigeria.

She has widespread experiences across different professions and skills, which includes experiences in; Marketing, Media, Broadcasting, Brand and Event Management, Administration and Management with prior stints at MTN, NAPIMS-NNPC, GLOBAL FLEET OIL AND GAS, LTV, Silverbird and a host of others

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