Appearing on Drink Champs, Lil Shawn finally breaks his silence on the infamous Tupac shooting in New York and the alleged rape incident.
During the mid eighties to early nineties, Lil Shawn flirted with a career in the music industry. Releasing an album titled “The Voice In The Mirror” through Capitol Records in 1992.
Lil Shawn would also release the popular single with the Notorious B.I.G. “Dom Perignon” in 1995. A single which garnered success on the charts and was also featured on the New York Undercover soundtrack; the hit crime and drama series on FOX.
When speaking to Nore on Drink Champs, Lil Shawn reveals how he never wanted to record a song with Tupac. “I never wanted to do a record with him. An ex-friend of mine always had celebrities hanging around,” said Lil Shawn. “So now, one day Tupac pops up.”
The ex-friend Lil Shawn is referring to is Haitian Jack. At the time Haitian Jack owned a barber shop which was located right next to a comedy club in Queens. On this particular day Haitian Jack would enter the barber shop with Tupac. This is when Lil Shawn met Pac for the very first time.
After witnessing the relationship between Jack and Tupac, Lil Shawn wasn’t feeling the vibes, and vowed to never hang around when the two were together.
Sharing a story to prove his point, Lil Shawn explains during his interview on Drink Champs. Lil Shawn would go to accompany Haitian Jack as the two headed to the city to pick up Tupac. “So, we’re in the 850, I’m in the backseat. Bro there’s no room in a 850 in the backseat. Pac gets in with a zip lock bag of weed. This dude [Haitian Jack] don’t like weed, or rap music.”
“So, I’m in the back going I gotta get the f*** out this car,” says Lil Shawn. “He’s armed. Pac’s armed. He [Tupac] puts in a Spice 1 tape, he [Haitian Jack] don’t like rap music. I’m in the back going I gotta get the f*** out this car.”
Later that night Lil Shawn had the opportunity again to hang out with Jack and Pac. Lil Shawn declined, as Tupac and Haitain Jack would hang out at Nell’s nightclub. The nightclub in which Tupac met Ayanna Jackson, the woman who accused him of rape.
After Nell’s nightclub, everyone would head over to Parker Meridien Hotel where the alleged rape incident took place. “So we sitting in there, we in the house drinking Champagne watching New York 1. And, we get the call. That’s the night they caught the rape case in Nell’s. They was at nell’s and then it happened at the Parker Meridien,” says Lil Shawn.
When asked by Nore if Shawn thought Tupac raped Ayanna Jackson, Shawn quickly replied, “I know he didn’t. I know for a fact he didn’t.”
It has been well documented that Tupac was heading to Quad Studios in Times Square to record a song with Lil Shawn on the night Tupac was shot. “When that whole thing went down, he was coming to make a record with me,” explained Lil Shawn on Drink Champs. But, the real reason as to why Tupac was going to record with Lil Shawn doesn’t get spoken about.
All this was made possible without the direct knowledge of Lil Shawn himself. Jimmy Henchman, a well known drug trafficker, was looking to get his feet into the music industry. Although Lil Shawn made it clear to Henchman that he no longer was interested in recording music anymore, Jimmy Henchman thought otherwise. Looking to use Lil Shawn as a way to get himself into the Hip Hop world.
Lil Shawn would find himself in the middle of Jimmy Henchman’s own motives, and another high profile New Yorker in Andre Harrell. Harrell who also was the founder of Uptown Records, the label which Biggie Smalls called home before Bad Boy Records.
At the time Andre Harrell would help put together the hit series New York Undercover, and wanted to feature Tupac on the series. At the time Tupac had Juice and Above The Rim on his resume.
Jimmy Henchman and Andre would go on to work out their deal to where Tupac would record with Lil Shawn, and Andre would get Tupac on the series. All this without Lil Shawn knowing.
Shawn was not interested in recording the song with Tupac since the initial intentions was not about Lil Shawn from the start. Getting the call from his label suggesting Shawn to record with Tupac, Lil Shawn agreed, as he did not want to affect any of his future business deals within the industry.
Tupac would go to Quad Studios to record with Lil Shawn, and ended up getting shot, and the rest is history.
Tupac and Lil Shawn never really interacted with one another during the brief time that the two met. Shawn, who was a fan of Tupac’s music before meeting him, felt Tupac never knew the solid street dude that Shawn really was. “He had no idea who I was. The dude never knew who I was,” Shawn told Nore during Drink Champs interview.
Despite thinking Tupac had no idea who he was, during a 2020 interview with former singer Nanci Fletcher who worked with Tupac Shakur on many songs, Fletcher reveals how Tupac really felt about Lil Shawn.
Recalling the time Tupac detailed the 1994 Quad Studios shooting, Fletcher says the only person that showed love was Lil Shawn. According to Nacni Fletcher Tupac said no one approached him after he was shot and went upstairs where Biggie and Puffy were.
The only person who quickly went to Tupac and said, “Oh my god Tupac you’re shot”, was Lil Shawn. “Tupac loved him for that. He was like that’s my dude. He seemed like he was sincere. Seemed like he was the only one that didn’t know about it,” said Nanci Fletcher.
