Makaveli lives on.
It seems like every other week there’s something new of 2Pac’s up for auction. This week is no different as the original liner notes from the late rapper’s (under the alias Makaveli) 1996 album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory are up for grabs.
Probably 2Pac’s most venomous album, The 7 Day Theory lyrically took aim at various rappers and public figures but it has now emerged that it wasn’t just the music that was scathing, the original liner notes to the album were just as fiery.
In the handwritten note, ‘Pac blames Jacques “Haitian Jack” Agnant and Walter “King Tut” Johnson for the Quad Recording Studios shooting in 1994 that saw him shot five times. He also highlights Diddy, The Notorious B.I.G. and a few others as being responsible for “quietly conspiring my downfall.”
Going on to call Wendy Williams “a fat bitch”, Mobb Deep “no record selling asses”, Dr. Dre a “closet homo”, and De La Soul “fat, washed up bums,” he also fires off shots at Nas, Lil’ Kim, Faith Evans and JAY-Z.
The album’s actual liner notes, that appear inside the rapper’s final album whilst alive, are much shorter that the newly discovered version, reading: “WAR TIME! Worldwide, Nationwide, Citywide, Real Ni**az Do Real Things.”
Of course there are questions about the validity of the liner notes but according to Gotta Have Rock and Roll – the company selling the liner notes – a “very close friend of 2Pac’s” supplied the newly discovered notes.
It wasn’t just the liner notes of The 7 Day Theory that were changed, there was also an alternative rear cover to the album designed and painted by Death Row Records graphic artist Ronald “Riskie” Brent. Talking to HipHopDX, he explained what the original cover was supposed to depict:
“I worked on the back cover for it that was never used. 2Pac came up with the concept for that, too. I painted Biggie as a pig and Puffy in a tutu. Hen Dog did the drawing of Dr. Dre getting hit from the back by a drag queen. After ‘Pac died, they decided not to include that.”
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released November 5th 1996 and spawned the singles “Toss It Up”, “To Live & Die in L.A.” and “Hail Mary”.
The auction for the liner notes begins Wednesday April 11th with the starting bid listed at $30,000. You can check out the listing here.
