To Live & Die in LA

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To Live & Die in L.A. is a single by rapper 2Pac (who at the time went by the name Makaveli) from his album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. It is considered by many to be one of the most memorable songs from the album.^[who?] The song samples "Do Me, Baby", a song by Prince from the early '80s. It starts with an interview originally performed on Streetside Radio; The host asks a man what he thinks of 2Pac's new album and he responds by saying he loves it. He then expresses that his music heightens the East/West Coast Feud, most likely referring to 2Pac's personal attack song toward The Notorious B.I.G., Hit 'Em Up. The song then starts as 2Pac reflects on his life, with Val Young singing the chorus. The song peaked at #10 on the UK Singles chart. It is unknown, however, if the song did peak at #10 on the U.S. Rap chart. It was later included on 2Pac's Greatest Hits album in 1998.

This video was filmed a month before Tupac's death and is one of the last videos the rapper filmed. The video for this song features Tupac at various locales around the Los Angeles area. Most notable is the Baldwin Hills-Crenshaw Plaza which was used as a major film location. Tupac can be seen rolling up to the mall in his Jaguar convertible, and walking inside. He is also seen singing with a group of teenagers dancing around him.

[edit] Trivia

• In the outro, Shakur refers to the song as "LA, California Love part 2, without gay Dre"^[1], referring to their duet "California Love" on his previous album All Eyez on Me.
• The song was produced by QD3 (Quincy Jones III) who was a good friend to Pac. QD3 Entertainment later made a documentary called Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel: The Life of an Outlaw about the rappers life.
• "To Live & Die in L.A.X." is a variation of the song used as a motto for the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling stable the Latin American Exchange.

[edit] References