In an excerpt shared by author Sulaiman Jenkins who captures the life of Mutah ‘Napoleon’ Beale for his autobiography ‘Life is ЯAW’, it is explained how Tupac ensured his newly formed group the Outlawz would instantly distinguish themselves from all other artists in Hip Hop.
Tupac was locked up for eleven and a half months, and was quickly consuming books during that time, something he did even before his incarceration. Pac’s thirst for knowledge, would bring him to the readings of Niccolò Machiavelli, a 16th century philosopher known best for his political ideas.
Counting the days until his release from prison and ready to come back fifty times stronger, Tupac took on an important Machiavellian concept as told in this particular excerpt of ‘Life is ЯAW’. “Pac was becoming what Irvington had been to him his entire life: raw and unforgiving. Interscope was cool and all, but it was foreign; now he was getting back to the familiar. Having killed off the old Tupac, Pac had to do away with Dramacydal as well; one important Machiavellian concept is being able to change accordingly when circumstances necessitate change.”
“A new order was taking place, so Dramacydal had to be no more. No more Lil’ Mu. No more Young Hollywood. No more K-Dog. No more Big Malc. Pac had to reinvent his young, thorough protégées, but he couldn’t just choose any names. They had to have significance. Influenced by a Machiavellian principle which overlooked brutality if it meant maintaining power, Pac suggested they assume the names of some of the worst militaristic tyrants in history with a clear message; war was looming on the horizon.”
Tupac was on the verge of signing to Death Row records, part of an agreement that would have Suge Knight put up over a million dollars to bail Shakur out of prison. In return Tupac would record three albums with the label.
With Tupac’s work ethic of recording multiple songs daily, Shakur would have no problem holding up his end of the deal. Two of the three albums came with Tupac’s double album in ‘All Eyez On Me.’ Leaving him with only one album left to release, Tupac would record his final album for Death Row records in three days. (View: Suge Knight From Prison Talks Tupac’s Recording Contracts)
Upon his release from prison, Tupac formed the Outlawz with Big Malc, K-Dog, Lil’ Mu, and Young Hollywood taking on new aliases. “He mostly chose enemies of the West. Big Malc became E.D.I. Mean (now E.D.I. Don), after the African dictator of Uganda, Idi Amin. K- Dog was now Kastro, after Fidel Castro, a sworn enemy of the US who ruled Cuba for decades. Young Hollywood became Yaki Kadafi, after the Libyan dictator, Muamar Qaddafi, who ruled his country with an iron fist, eventually being killed by his people in 2011,” the excerpt reads.
“Last but not least, Lil’ Mu was now Napoleon, after Napoleon Bonaparte, a fiery French general who never let size determine how many people he would have to murder to conquer Europe. The stage was set. The Outlaw Immortalz and Makaveli were ready to mobilize to the front lines of the rap industry. Operating. Under. Thug Lawz. As. Warriors. OUTLAW.”
Tupac would also take on a new alias in Makaveli for his last recorded album, which was ultimately Tupac’s first posthumous release. With that new alias, Tupac would release one of Hip Hop’s most controversial and classic albums of all time, ‘The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.’
E.D.I Mean who was interviewed by VLAD TV, also spoke about how Tupac gave the Outlawz members aliases named after enemies of the United States.
“While he was in jail, he was reading a lot of books, and when we would come and visit him we would just talk about a lot the (ishh) he was reading,” E.D.I Mean explained. “Just building off the information he was getting. That’s when he was like, ‘Yo, going forward we gon be the Outlawz Immortalz, and I’m taking the name Makaveli’.”
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