The 1990s saw a massive surge in the popularity of West Coast hip-hop. Following the earthquake that was NWA in the 1980s, gangsta rap became California’s de facto sound. In the early ‘90s, while working on his album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…, 2Pac called upon two LA legends to help him with a track. 

Released in 1993, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z… was considered 2Pac’s breakout album. Although the emcee had been on Oakland’s underground alongside Shock G and others, singles such as ‘I Get Around’ and ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ firmly placed 2Pac on the map.

Having lived in New York and Baltimore prior to moving to Oakland, 2Pac always professed that he was born on the East Coast but made on the West Coast, and, as such, he has a lot of love and respect for artists in the region—particularly those who told raw, unfiltered stories of the streets.

This is why 2Pac asked Los Angeles legends Ice Cube and Ice-T to jump on his track ‘Last Wordz.’ The West Coast producer Bobcat made the instrumental in collaboration with the late icon Jam Master Jay.

In 2022, Ice-T took to X (formerly Twitter) to share the rare moment that was captured on video of the three in the studio. Ice-T and Ice Cube are seen working on a song collaboration while others observe, and 2Pac is visibly present. In the caption for the video, Ice-T wrote, “Throwback: Super Rare. Me, Ice Cube, and 2Pac in the studio.”

After Ice-T posted the clip, fans were quick to comment, with one user writing, “OMG. Wow, that was amazing having [been] together in one room with 2Pac and, of course, my other two favourites of all time, Ice-T and Ice Cube. Wow. Wow!” While another wrote, “It’s all about the music. You three are icons. [I] love you all.”

Despite the collaboration Ice-T did with 2Pac for the 1993 track, he has since revealed that when the ‘California Love’ rhymer signed with Death Row in 1994, he saw a change in his demeanour and attitude towards music.

In a 2023 appearance on the Drink Champs podcast hosted by Noreaga and DJ EFN, Ice-T explained the difference he saw between the Oakland ‘Pac of the early ’90s and the Los Angeles Death Row version, which surfaced later that decade.

Detailing the transformation, Ice-T explained, “When I first met Pac and Money B and all of them, it was Digital Underground. So you had Shock G, who’s 100% different Parliament [Funkadelic], this that and the third, but I didn’t recognise Pac as militant or nothing like that. [I Saw him] just as a dancer, friend, cool guy.”

Still, according to Ice-T, Shock G of Digital Underground told him that individuals at Death Row were radicalising Shakur, divulging, “Shock was like ‘They feeding Pac gunpowder, Pac is not listening to me.’ But when you’re working with a rapper, you need to get a rapper in a state of mind. Death Row was training Pac to be a killer! You heard that in the music!”

Regardless of their differences their collaboration 1993 collaboration was legendary and Ice Cube’s appearance makes it a must-hear hip-hop track.