Unseen footage has recently surfaced of Suge Knight, Tupac Shakur, Snoop Dogg, and many other Death Row Records artists actively participating in the Brotherhood Crusade Rally on August 15th, 1996.
Suge introduced Tupac and Snoop as the spokespersons of Death Row Records. He said:
One thing I’d like to say, if it weren’t for the community it would be no Death Row Records. And more important than all that, if it weren’t for Snoop, Daz, Hammer, Tupac…it would be no me. So, I’m not here to try to get the limelight or be famous, nothing like that. I think my spokesperson for Death Row always will be—The guy who acts, raps. The other guy who raps and now he’s a model. I’d like to bring Tupac and Snoop up.
Tupac went on comparing the numbers of record sales to voters. Pac said:
My record sales, we got six million. Snoop got four million. Dogg Pound got three million. And we keep going. That means we represent that many votes. If we can represent that many votes, we gotta let these politicians be scared of us. That means anytime we drop something y’all gotta pick it up. Every time y’all call for us, we gon’ come.
Snoop said a few words following Pac’s speech while holding a voting registration form. He spoke about how community’s a represented by voting:
It’s our voice that means something. It’s all on us. If we don’t speak ain’t nobody gonna speak for us. They gon’ speak against, so we got to speak up. As a rapper. As a brother from the community. Somebody who is intact with what y’all feel and with what y’all go through. I’m one of the main voices saying that I’m with getting out here, voting. And getting y’all to get out there and vote. And be about what you about cause y’all community is you.
The Brotherhood Crusades Rally was one of the last moments of Pac’s life. He was shot dead a month later. The crowd’s feedback to the rappers and their words is more proof of how influential Hip Hop is, and how this influence can be used positively.
Check out the rare footage in its entirety above. The Death Row Records representatives begin speaking at the 8:00 minute marker.
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2 Comments
Yeah dats all I can say
I love the brother hood