"Static": Chopmaster J Recounts Tupac's Time with Digital Underground

Chopmaster J, co-founder of Digital Underground, wrote down his memories of Tupac. According to a report by MTV News on April 20, 2000, his book Static: My Tupac Shakur Story was in US bookstores. The first 10,000 copies included a CD: Tupac Shakur: The Lost Tapes Circa 1989. Library catalogs list the book with a publication year of 1999; according to the MTV report, however, it did not reach stores until spring 2000.

Tour Bus Instead of Gossip Columns

Talk shows following Tupac’s death provided the impetus. When a gossip columnist announced that he was writing a book about Tupac, Chopmaster decided to tell the story himself. Fans were to learn firsthand what went on in the tour bus, backstage, and in hotel rooms. He promised MTV the “rock and roll stories,” the wild anecdotes.

Nine Tracks from the Basement

The nine songs on the CD were created in 1989 in the basement of a house where Chopmaster and Tupac lived together at the time. Tupac had just left the group Strictly Dope and was working as a roadie for Digital Underground while honing his own career. The recordings are raw: just turntables and drum machines like the SP-12 and 808. Chopmaster believed listeners had never heard Tupac like this before. The CD was also released individually in stores on Tuesday of the same week. In Germany, the label ZYX released a CD with recordings from this period a few weeks later, The Lost Tapes.