Presented here are Tupac’s handwritten lyrics to the song “Military Minds”. This song, performed with Buckshot of Boot Camp Clik and Tek and Steele of Smif-N-Wessun, was released on Tupac’s fourth posthumous album, “Better Dayz”, which was released in 2002.

     Tupac performed the first verse of “Military Minds”, and his final lyrics match the lyrics he wrote on this lined paper. Written in green fiber-tip marker, Pac’s bars are classic Tupac meditations on growing up in the ghetto and surviving on his own terms. Beneath his 16 bars, Tupac wrote “Written by PAC” in bold green ink.

     Tek and Steele perform the second and fourth verses under the name “Cocoa Brovaz”, while Buckshot performs the third and fifth verses. This song was intended to be included on a double album released by Tupac that bridged the gap between East and West Coast hip-hop. The relationships between rappers from opposite coasts at the time were very tense, with Tupac even accusing Diddy and the Bad Boy Records crew of ordering a hit on him. This album, called “OneNation”, was never released but certain songs from the album made their way to posthumous Tupac offerings. These lyrics come with a LOA from JSA (Z17650) and this handwritten lyric sheet is accompanied by an extremely thorough Letter of Provenance from a former original Death Row Records employee who had a close, personal relationship with Shakur. The employee attests that this song was written a week before Shakur’s untimely death, making this likely one of the final sets of lyrics penned by Shakur in the studio.

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