Though he's crafted beats for Scarface, CNN and DMX, Tony Pizarro's engineering and contributions to classic Tupac albums will most likely go down as his most important credits. On the eve of Tupac: Resurrection's release, Pizzaro remembers the making of "Dear Mama," Pac's artistic evolution and his interestingly successful, yet sadder days.

Pizzaro first met Pac when the late great emcee proclaimed to 'get around." First serving as the engineer for recording sessions, Tony increasingly began submitting beats, which eventually lead to "Dear Mama,' a timeless classic still revered as one of the most heartfelt and best singles of all time.

"Pac used to make reference to 'Dear Mama' in a lot of different songs and I'd always comment like - 'You know that's a song in itself.' And one day he was like 'I got something for that.' And he was like 'Man, you have 'In my wildest dreams' by the crusaders and I was like 'Yeah.' He was like 'Yeah, I got something for that.' So I got the track ready. Pac just came through and just dropped it and blessed it with them vocals," Pizzaro told SOHH.com via phone. "And for me. That's pretty much been the story of my life too. I kind of really knew what do to as far as putting that hook together because at that particular time, that was my story. I hadn't really talked to my mom for a while. So my whole thing was like putting that hook together, making sure that it was letting mom's know that you were appreciated."

The aforementioned session is only one of the countless times Pizzaro got to observe Pac in the booth. To this day, the Oakland's emcee's workaholic habits have been documented, setting a new trend for today's artists who now record excessively for every record.

"I can say I watched Pac evolve as an artist. At one time I can remember Pac, he may be taking a while to write only because he wouldn't be focused. It'd be like a lot of people in the studio so he'd be writing and entertaining. Pac was a real entertainer," Pizarro revealed. "It was almost like he'd be on stage and he was a comedian and he'd have everybody laughing, he'd be telling stories. So sometimes he might take a while making lyrics, [but because] he had to be the entertainer or the centerpiece of his own session."

Though Pac's mind once drifted while in the studio lacing verses, he'll forever be remembered as the man who easily recorded an album worth of material in a week.

"I watched Pac come to the point where he was completely focused. Pac could write them lyrics right there on the spot, like basically behind the mike," Pizarro shared. "I remember Tupac specifically at one point, he'd write the lyrics in probably less than 5 minutes... write a verse and be like 'Tone I'm a go in the booth now.' After he would record the first verse he would be like... 'Alright play that back. This is what you gon do. You gon play it back one time and the second time when you play it back just punch me and record.' And when I would press record there would be the lyrics to the rest of the song and those particular lyrics wouldn't even be written.. and the song would be done, boom rap. And that could be like 20 minutes. Pac could record like 6 songs in a night, finished, lyrics, hooks, everything."

Though Pizzaro and Pac maintained their friendship until his death, the beatmaker didn't contribute any tracks to All Eyes On Me, Pac's infamous Death Row debut.

"Pac had called me to come in to work on that particular album. But just through rumors and stuff.. I just felt like I wasn't gonna get paid cause you always heard brothers weren't getting paid so I was like 'I'm cool ni99a'," Pizarro revealed.

Pizzaro then went on to produce cuts for a few of Pac's posthumous LP's, including R U Still Down and Still I Rise. Furthermore, he has been approached to submit tracks for what is set to be Shakur's last effort.

In the meantime, heads will soon be able to watch their idol narrate his own life story on the screen. In one of Resurrection's most eye-opening moments, Pac reveals that though he was successful while on Death Row, he wasn't happy, a fact that Pizzaro echoes.

"Being around Pac, it was very obvious and very evident. Here was a man who finally reached his goal and what he had set out to do and now that he actually made it... it's like this ain't sh!t," Pizzaro said in regards to Pac's bittersweet success. "Basically it was just real obvious that Pac wasn't happy."

Source: SOHH

Discuss
Printer Friendly