Amaru Fights Bootlegging of "Loyal to the Game"

Even before Loyal to the Game hit stores, it was available on the Internet. As AllHipHop reported on November 27, 2004, Amaru Entertainment condemned the bootlegging in a statement. Illegal downloads had been circulating for weeks, with some sites offering the single “Uppercut,” which neither Amaru nor Interscope had officially released. According to the label’s experience, most leaks occur during the pressing and shipping of finished albums.

Fans as an Early Warning System

Many fans had alerted the label to the bootlegs via email. Amaru called them Tupac’s “extended family” and wrote that the fans did not tolerate these bootlegs. Their loyalty had provided warning early enough to make arrangements for an earlier release. Tupac’s mother Afeni Shakur, executive producer of the album alongside Eminem, funded an investigation, according to the label, to put an end to the illegal offerings.

Tupac and the Street Vendors

Amaru recalled that Tupac himself had already taken action against bootlegging. There are recordings from the 1990s showing him confiscating illegal cassettes from street vendors. The vendor, Tupac said at the time, was taking money that did not belong to him for a product that Tupac had put “blood, sweat and tears” into. Amaru planned to put a portion of the proceeds from album sales into the planned arts center in Stone Mountain, Georgia.