That night when I went to the studio, there were three sessions going on. There was Little Shawn’s session, then upstairs SWV was happening, and on the other floor Biggie Smalls [The Notorious B.I.G.] was doing his thing. Hope was in the air and success was all around. Everybody was all excited about Pac comin‘ in, but we were starting to get antsy because he was supposed to get there at a certain time, and we wanted to see how this song with Little Shawn was going to set off.
When he got off the elevator, we were all standing in the hall. Tupac was just bopping back and forth saying, „I was set up.“ At first I didn’t realize he had been shot, because he wasn’t bleeding heavily from the head. It looked like he had a fight. He said, „It’s not goin‘ down like that.“ I was, like, „Yo, Money, you shot. You need to sit down.“ He told Stretch to roll him up a spliff. He was in movie mode at this point. He did the whole James Cagney thing.
I said, „Let’s call the ambulance.“ I was basically the one who was taking care of the police and the ambulance people. I wasn’t making any calls; I was directing the studio exactly who to call, so I was talking more to Stretch because the paramedics were looking at Pac. There was no need for me to look at the wound.
I remember telling Stretch, „You got to go with him.“ ‚Cause I wasn’t trusting the police with Tupac. He had too many open issues with the police. I was feeling like something could have happened between the ride and the hospital. I ended up staying in the studio till 4 in the morning, ‚cause the police interviewed everybody and wouldn’t let anybody leave. I tried to call the hospital when I was walking out of the studio to see if I could go by there. They said they were looking at him and nobody could see him.
I was glad Tupac said he was basically through with the whole bad-guy image and that he wants to redirect his energy. So I guess there was some level of positivity that came out from all this. I want to go and see Pac and just talk to him, see where his head is at. ‚Cause he knows what’s real and what’s not, and in the quietness of his mind, you know, he’s dealing with all the truth. And for me, that’s almost enough.
