Posts Tagged ‘Tupac’

Former 2Pac protégé Napoleon launching Muslim-based TV show

Mutah Beale, who shot to fame as a member of the “Outlawz” formed by hip hop legend Tupac Shakur, is set to launch Napoleon TV on Dec. 1 to introduce people to the “true” Islam and counter what he terms “media lies about Islam.”

Napoleon & Tupac

Islam is backward, breeds terrorists and suppresses women, these are just some of the lies the media promotes about Islam, says American rapper and convert to Islam Beale, who is set to launch a TV show next month to counter the negative stereotypes about Muslims.

Napoleon, who was a member of 2Pac’s rap group The Outlawz, converted to Muslim after leaving the group in 2002. He changed his name to Mutah Beale and began reaching out to youth by warning them against the dangers associated with hip hop culture.

Mutah Beale, center, talks about the dangers of life in the streets

“It seems like here in America the media is attacking Islam in every way possible, so I decided to use the media to give people an understanding about the true religion of Islam, which is whole and peaceful” Beale told Al Arabiya, the leading news channel in the Arab world.

Napoleon TV, named after Beale’s rap alias, will be launched in Britain on cable network Sky’s Up & Coming channel where Beale will present his audience an eclectic mix of segments from introducing top celebrities to Islam to explaining verses of the Quran.

Napoleon TV will launch in Britain on the cable network SKY’s Up & Coming channel.

The show, which will reach people in Europe and North Africa, will also give Muslims in the West unprecedented access to scholars in the Middle East with a segment on fatwas, or religious edicts, where people can call in and seek advice from accredited scholars in English, a feature Beale says will help Western Muslims in need of guidance on religious matters.

Beale will also use the channel, which brands itself as a “platform for up and coming TV channels, to air his documentary, “Life of an Outlaw,” which is currently in the works and will be produced by Hollywood actor and comedian Mike Epps.

Mike Epps is producing Napoleon's Documentary

Napoleon also plans to air a reality show on the channel called Napoleon: The Real Me. The show will give viewers an inside look into his daily life.

When asked what makes his life so interesting, Beale answered:”I want people to see that being a Muslim is a part of everyday life, which could be me taking my sons to a soccer game or me in a business meeting.”

“People will get to see me going about my business while always striving to get closer to Allah.”

The audience will also get a look at exclusive footage of Beale in the African nation of Gambia where he is currently working on opening an orphanage with U.K.-based charity Muslim Global Relief.

“I was an orphan and this is something I want to do because it is close to my heart,” Beale said, adding “I will not be making a single penny out of this all money raised will go towards helping orphaned children.”

Napoleon TV will be premiere on December 1 and air daily from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.

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Happy Birthday Tupac

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June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996

Tupac, also known by his stage names 2Pac & Makaveli, would have turned 38 today, instead his life was cut short just 3 months after his 25th birthday. Hard to believe he packed so much living into 25 years.

In addition to his status as a top-selling recording artist, Shakur was a promising actor and a social activist. Most of Shakur’s songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society and conflicts with other rappers.

Shakur’s work is know for advocating political, economic, social and racial equality. Shakur was initially a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.

Shakur became the target of lawsuits and experienced other legal problems. He was later shot five times and robbed in the lobby of a recording studio in New York City. Following the event, Shakur grew suspicious that other figures in the rap industry had prior knowledge of the incident and did not warn him; the controversy helped spark the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry.

Shakur was later sent to prison on a sex related crime. After serving eleven months of his sentence he was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion “Suge” Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records. In exchange for Suge’s assistance, Shakur agreed to release three albums under the Death Row label.

On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He died several days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center.

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2Pac shortly before his shooting

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Rare Tupac Freestyle Footage

RARE Tupac Freestyle Footage (1993)

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Tupac is overrated

or so says Blender in their October Issue.

Blender, the self proclaimed “Ultimate Guide to Music” & “Authority on Tupac Shakur’s Music” says, Tupac Shakur, rap’s great matyr who went from wannabe to savior, is one of the most overrated people in music.

We at Hip Hop Spy doubt the Blender Boys can even understand the meaning behind Tupac’s lyrics let alone be Tupac authorities.

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P Diddy & Henchman implicated

 In an explosive story published today by the L.A. Times, one reporter claims to have obtained confessions from two men involved in the 1994 shooting of iconic West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur. One of those men says Czar Entertainment honcho Jimmy “Henchman” Rosemond was behind the attack.Tupac was beaten, shot and left for dead outside New York City’s Quad City Studios in 1994. The ambush waged a war in hip-hop pitting one coast against another and eventually leading to the unsolved murders of Pac and East Coast rap rival the Notorious B.I.G.Pac insisted that friends of Biggie (born Christopher Wallace) and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs were behind the attack and now, new evidence may support that claim.The L.A. Times reporter who broke the story, Chuck Phillips, says he located the unnamed FBI informant from 2002 who named Jimmy Henchman as the one who arranged the attack, and he interviewed this informant. His story lines up with Pac’s. The reporter also says he talked with other witnesses who were at the studio that night and they’re all telling a similar story.Henchman and promoter James Sabatino allegedly lured Pac to the Quad City Studios that night, offering him $7,000 to record a track. According to reports, three men were waiting there to attack Pac, with directions to beat him and to make it look like a robbery, but not to kill the rapper. A member of Pac’s own camp is said to have cooperated with the assailants, keeping them abreast of his movements throughout the night and even telling them of the $7,000 payment.Phillips interviewed the three alleged assailants, all currently in prison on unrelated charges and two of them admitted to the attack on Pac. One said Henchman arranged the hit and another, confident that the statute of limitations had run out, offered to produce a medallion taken from Pac that night. The other alleged hit man denied involvement.The attack was reportedly set up because Pac was offered a deal with Bad Boy and he refused. Diddy, Biggie and Henchman are said to have seen this as disrespect. Biggie and Diddy allegedly okayed the attack but did not know Pac would be shot.Rosemond and Combs both responded to these allegations, denying them as false, in separate statements this morning.”In the past 14 years, I have not even been questioned by law enforcement with regard to the assault of Tupac Shakur, let alone brought up on charges,” Rosemond responded in a statement. “Chuck Phillips, the writer who in the past has falsely claimed that the Notorious Biggie Smalls was in Las Vegas when Tupac was murdered and that Biggie supplied the gun that killed Tupac — only to be proven wrong as Biggie was in New Jersey recuperating from a car accident, has reached a new low by employing fourth-hand information from desperate jailhouse informants along with ancient FBI reports to create this fabrication. I simply ask for all rap fans and fans of Tupac to analyze this fiction for what it is along with Phillips’ motives behind it. I am baffled as to why the L.A. Times would print this on its website when a simple and fair investigation would reveal that the allegations are false. I am currently consulting with my attorneys about my legal rights regarding this libelous piece of garbage.”Diddy offered a statement as well.”This story is beyond ridiculous and completely false,” he said. “Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”Sabatino declined to comment.Federal prosecutors have continued investigating the attack as well as the murders of Pac and Biggie and have called several music industry sources to testify before a grand jury about the incident.

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