Chris Rock has never been short on stories, but one of his most surprising involves a near-fistfight with Tupac Shakur rooted in a classic case of crossed romantic paths. The comedian shared the account on a recent live episode of “Fly on the Wall,” the podcast hosted by Dana Carvey and David Spade, painting a vivid picture of an awkward dynamic that shadowed the two entertainers in the months leading up to the rapper’s death.
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The root of the tension, Rock explained, was straightforward. “It’s always the same shit, [we were] fucking the same girls,” he said. “He always won that battle.”
Things came to a head at an afterparty for Rock’s 1996 stand-up special “Bring the Pain.” Earlier that evening at the MTV Video Music Awards, Rock had taken the stage to present Best R&B Video and thrown a quick jab at Death Row Records co-founder Suge Knight.
“Suge Knight, how you doing? Don’t kill me,” he said while presenting alongside Beck.
Tupac wasn’t amused. At the afterparty, the rapper confronted Rock directly.
“Tupac was like, ‘What’s up with all n***as and Black people s**t?'” Rock recalled. “He kinda stepped to me, but Tupac was not that big. He photographs big, but he’s not that big. I’m still pretty skinny. So, a skinny guy can’t wait to fight a skinny guy. But nothing happened. There was some mean-mugging going on.”
Producer Eric B. also pulled Rock aside over the Suge comment. “And he was like, ‘Why’d you talk about Suge?'” Rock said. “I’m like, ‘If this guy is scared of Suge, we’re all in trouble.'”
Tupac was killed just weeks later in September 1996. Rock summed up their dynamic simply: “Tupac didn’t like me.”
