Suge Knight’s spilling tea about how 2Pac was completely blown away by Aaliyah.
During a chat with The Art of Dialogue, shown above, the Death Row Records co-founder shared the story of when Pac first laid eyes on the “One in a Million” star.
“We had a thing: I would always listen to oldies, and Pac would listen to rap,” Knight said. “He didn’t like oldies, so I told him, ‘I gotta show you what oldies are about.’ So, I took 2Pac to go see Gladys Knight perform.”
During the show, Knight, who was married to Aaliyah’s uncle Barry Hankerson, brought out the young singer to perform. Pac was instantly hooked and couldn’t wait to meet her.
“Aaliyah starts singing and 2Pac said, ‘Don’t get up! Don’t get up!'” Knight said. “I said, ‘Why?’ He said, ‘Because Gladys Knight knows you, you’re gonna speak to Gladys Knight and then you’re gonna talk to that little girl singing. And the next thing you know, you’re gonna be doing an album with [Aaliyah].’ He said, ‘I’m gonna go talk to her… I want to do an album with Aaliyah.”
Knight says Pac was absolutely stoked after seeing her perform and had his mind set on signing her.
“He wasn’t thinking about signing nobody else,” Knight continued. “He thought she was the biggest star, got the best voice ever.
“Me and that dude spent hours and hours and days and days together. Me, personally, I never seen him get so excited about no female artist … He lost his mind over Aaliyah. He talked about her for days and days. I got tired of him talking about that little girl. He said, ‘I got these songs I want do with her. I’m gonna do this song with her…’ He was super, super, super excited.”
Knight, currently locked up for a deadly hit-and-run, believes Pac and Aaliyah would’ve definitely linked up if Pac hadn’t been killed in 1996. Word is, Aaliyah later shared that she “looked up” to the rap icon.
“I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get over his death,” she reportedly said. “But I do know his music will live forever.”
Aaliyah’s life was cut short in a plane crash in the Bahamas in 2001.
