Tupac Shakur’s legendary work ethic is one of the most mentioned things when you talk about the late, great rapper.
When Pac was released on bail from Clinton Correctional Facility on October 12, 1995, the first place he went to was the studio. It was there that he recorded ‘Ambitionz Az A Ridah’ and ‘I Ain’t Mad At Cha’”, both on the same night.
Even after All Eyez on Me dropped in early ’96 and became one of the biggest selling rap albums of the year, Pac never rested and continued recording at a frantic pace. In August of the same year, Pac started working on what would be his last album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, with plans to release it under the alias Makaveli.
While All Eyez on Me was a celebratory album that featured production from legendary West Coast producers like Dr. Dre, Daz Dillinger, DJ Quik and Johnny “J”, as well as guest appearances from big names like Snoop Dogg, Redman, E-40, Method Man, Nate Dogg, K-Ci and JoJo, and more, The Don Killuminati was a much darker project. Pac enlisted Hurt-M-Badd and Darryl “Big D” Harper to produce the bulk of the album and called on his Outlawz crew to carry a majority of the the guest features.
According to an XXL feature on the making of the album, The Don Killuminati was finished in seven days: Pac wrote and recorded the lyrics in three days, while the mixing & mastering took an additional four days. Outlawz member, E.D.I. Mean, also revealed in a 2014 interview that the title was supposed to be Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory released under Makaveli the Don but there was a mix-up during the album’s release.
Napoleon: Pac would tell someone to play a beat. Next thing you know he would be like, “Alright, we’re going to talk about this.” And if you verse ain’t done before Pac’s, you don’t get on the song. That’s how Pac was. He’d be like, “I already got one verse done. Y’all don’t got no verse, you ain’t getting on the song”. We just had to write, man try to keep up with this dude, He’d put the beat on, we’d be like, “Damn, let’s get a head start.” Some of the songs he would take to the neck, man. “Life Of An Outlaw” he was going to do one verse. He was like “I’ve finished one verse, y’all ain’t ready ” Then he’d start writing another verse. And do that verse. He would have kept it going. He would have took over the song and did it himself.
The Making of Makaveli – The 7 Day Theory | XXL
