968 words · 4 min
Unreleased Songs and OG Versions
152 recordings in a court filing, tapes in the Death Row vault, remixes instead of originals: what is documented about Tupac's unreleased music.
In April 1997 a number appeared in a court filing: 152. That was how many unreleased recordings Afeni Shakur wanted placed under court control so that Death Row could not exploit them on its own. Seven months after Tupac’s death, his unheard music was already the subject of a dispute.
This page separates what is documented about that stockpile from what circulates among fans: how much there was, where it was kept, what an “OG version” is and what has become of it.
How many recordings there were depends on who is counting
The first solid figure comes from the lawsuit of April 18, 1997: 152 unreleased recordings (news item). Reports from the end of that year spoke of almost 200 unreleased recordings, valued at up to 100 million dollars. In 2007 the estate again cited up to 152 tracks from Tupac’s final period.
Other figures describe only parts of the whole. Johnny “J” said he recorded more than a hundred songs with Tupac, far from all of which were released. According to the album details, 21 tracks were completed during the Makaveli sessions in the summer of 1996, and twelve made the record.
The tapes were at Death Row
Almost everything Tupac recorded between October 1995 and September 1996 was made at Death Row Records, mostly at Can-Am Studios in Tarzana (Studios). After his death, the tapes sat in the label’s vault. Death Row demanded 7.1 million dollars in alleged advances back from the estate, and the estate countered with claims of its own.
In September 1997 Death Row dropped its claim in a settlement. After meeting Suge Knight in prison, Afeni Shakur was allowed to release around 100 recordings from the Death Row period. The tapes of All Eyez on Me and The Don Killuminati stayed with the label. To release the music she founded Amaru Entertainment in 1997, initially distributed through Jive Records.
The settlement did not end the conflict. After Death Row’s bankruptcy in 2006, the trustee, according to the estate, wanted to auction up to 152 Tupac recordings; in July 2007 Afeni Shakur sought an injunction (news item). That same year, Beginnings: The Lost Tapes, with early recordings, came out of the bankruptcy estate (archival albums). In 2009 the WIDEawake Entertainment Group bought the catalog and announced an album of unreleased Tupac music (news item).
Only a settlement with the later owner Entertainment One brought the turning point in 2018: all unreleased recordings went back to the estate, enough for two or three albums according to the website The Blast (news item). When the 2008 fire in Universal’s archive was reported in 2019, Universal stated that Tupac’s master tapes had not been lost.
OG means: the way Tupac recorded it
Among fans, “OG” stands for the original version of a song, meaning the version with the beat Tupac himself rapped over. Its counterpart is the posthumous remix: the same voice, but new music, often built years later.
The albums released after 1997 consist mostly of such remixes. For Until the End of Time (2001), most of the tracks were remixed from their original state. Better Dayz (2002) states the double role openly in its credits: on many tracks Johnny “J” is listed as producer of the original, next to the name of whoever built the remix, such as Jazze Pha, Frank Nitty or E.D.I. Mean. In 2003 Death Row itself put new beats under familiar songs with Nu-Mixx Klazzics, without the estate’s involvement.
Many fans prefer the originals. They circulate as bootlegs, unauthorized copies whose origin and completeness can rarely be verified.
Documented examples: from the vault to the record
| Song | Recorded | Released | What is documented |
|---|---|---|---|
| Changes | 1992 | 1998 | on Greatest Hits, six years after recording |
| Ghetto Gospel | 1992 | 2004 | originally for A Very Special Christmas 2, never released; reproduced by Eminem |
| Runnin’ (Dying to Live) | 1993 | 2003 | original by Easy Mo Bee, new version by Eminem and Luis Resto |
| Hit ‘Em Up | 1995/1996 | 1996 | early version from October 1995, final recording in April 1996 |
| Watch Ya Mouth | 1996 | never officially | cut from the Makaveli sessions, later surfaced online |
| Too Tight (for MC Hammer) | 1996 | never officially | surfaced as a studio clip in 2008, in good audio quality in 2016 |
Changes shows how much a find from the vault could achieve: in 1998 the song became Tupac’s biggest hit in Europe. Ghetto Gospel shows the other side. The 1992 version was built on Tracy Chapman’s Crossroads; for Loyal to the Game, Eminem replaced the music with an Elton John sample. Both versions have their followers, but only the second is official.
The earlier stages of Hit ‘Em Up and Runnin’ are covered on the respective song pages.
What is still pending in 2026
The last posthumous studio album was Pac’s Life (2006). The albums announced after the 2018 settlement had not appeared by October 2026. New Tupac music has since come out piece by piece: in July 2026, 50 Cent announced a track with Eminem and an unreleased Tupac recording for the Street Fighter film, made, in his words, with the estate’s approval (news item). As of October 22, 2026, neither a title nor a release date had been announced.
Who owns archival material still occupies the courts. In August 2026, in an ongoing case, Amaru accused Daz Dillinger of having sold archival items, including at least 40 studio tapes. That is one party’s allegation; nothing has been decided (Estate and royalties).
Almost thirty years after the 1997 lawsuit, the number of unheard songs is as unclear as it was then. The only thing that has grown is the number of versions in which the songs we do know exist.