Snoop called Tupac “the greatest rapper of all time” in a heartfelt speech.
Last night (April 7), Snoop Dogg inducted his friend Tupac Shakur into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
As Rolling Stone reports, Snoop delivered an emotional speech that paid tribute to the legend. “While many of you remember him now as some kind of thugged out superhero, Tupac knew he was only human. It’s a fact that he never shied away from – he wore it like a badge of honor,” said Snoop, who also called Tupac “the greatest rapper of all time.”
Snoop continued: “With an unapologetic voice, Pac embraced those contradictions that proved we ain’t just a character out of someone else’s story book. To be human is to be many things at once. Strong and bold. Hard headed and intellectual. Courageous and afraid. Loving and vengeful. Revolutionary and – oh, yeah I’m getting fucked up.”
The ‘Gin & Juice’ artist recalled the first time he met Tupac at a wrap party in LA in 1993. “And on that night, Pac passed me my first blunt. That’s right, Tupac is the one that got Snoop Dogg smoking weed. I was a Zig-Zag man before that shit. We became very good friends quickly thereafter.”
Snoop also spoke about Tupac’s late mother Afeni Shakur and how he felt when he first heard that Tupac had been shot. “I was so weak I damn near fell over and his mom came over to me and she grabbed me and she held up and she said, ‘Baby, you need to be strong.’ I went and sat next to him and I whispered to him telling him I love him and to hold on and he was going to be OK and even in that moment his mom was thinking more about me than herself and showed me how to love strongly. I mean it was amazing that his momma was so strong and loved so hard.” You can read the full speech via Rolling Stone.
During the ceremony, Alicia Keys also honored the late West Coast legend with a medley of his tracks that included ‘I Ain’t Mad at Cha’ and ‘Ambitionz As a Ridah’. Snoop Dogg and YG performed ‘Gangsta Party,’ Treach from Naughty by Nature ‘Hail Mary’ and T.I. covered ‘Keep Ya Head Up’.
