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Studios: Where Tupac Recorded
From Starlight Sound in Richmond to Quad Studios in Times Square and Can-Am in Tarzana: the documented recording sites and what was made there.
Six days after his release from prison in October 1995, Tupac received a Los Angeles Times reporter in the darkened control room of a recording studio in Tarzana near Los Angeles. It was Can-Am Studios, where Death Row was recording at the time. Over the following year, most of the music now associated with Tupac came out of that room.
Tupac recorded in more than a dozen studios on both coasts. This page lists the places documented by album credits and reports, and what was made there.
Richmond: Starlight Sound and the first album
The debut 2Pacalypse Now was recorded between September 1990 and October 1991 at Starlight Sound in Richmond, north of Oakland. This was the world of Digital Underground, whose collective The Underground Railroad produced the album. Parts of Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. were still recorded there in 1992. How Tupac found his way into this scene is told on the page Marin City.
Los Angeles and New York: studios in rotation
From 1992 the sessions spread out. For Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., the credits list Echo Sound in Los Angeles and Unique Recording in New York alongside Starlight Sound. Thug Life: Volume 1 was made between March 1993 and May 1994 at Blue Palm in North Hollywood and again at Echo Sound.
Me Against the World is the album with the most stops. The details list ten studios, recorded between September 1993 and November 1994: in Los Angeles Echo Sound, Soundcastle, Westlake Audio, Pure Studios and Mobboss, in Burbank Encore and Enterprise, in Sacramento 12 Trak, in New York Unique and the Quad Recording Studios. Those months also included trials and film shoots; recording happened wherever Tupac happened to be.
Quad Studios: one studio, one night
The best-known studio in Tupac’s story is one where no famous song was made. In the early hours of November 30, 1994, he arrived at the Quad Recording Studios on Seventh Avenue in Times Square. He was to be paid to rap on a record by Little Shawn. In the lobby he was attacked, robbed and shot. The Notorious B.I.G. and people from the Bad Boy camp were also recording in the same building that night.
He was accompanied by his friend and producer Stretch. What happened that night and the feud that grew out of it are described on the page Shooting 1994.
Can-Am Studios: the Death Row years in Tarzana
After his release in October 1995, Can-Am in Tarzana became Tupac’s workplace. All Eyez on Me was made here between October 13 and December 18, 1995. According to accounts by Daz Dillinger and others, Tupac recorded Ambitionz az a Ridah on the very first night; 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted followed between October 13 and 15. Johnny “J” described a working pace of several songs a day.
Can-Am was more than a recording space. Journalist Kevin Powell opened his February 1996 Vibe cover story on Death Row in this building, at Suge Knight’s red office (Live from Death Row). The final version of Hit ‘Em Up was also recorded here in April 1996.
In the summer of 1996 came the sessions for The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. Hail Mary is dated July 8, 1996, To Live & Die in L.A. July 10. According to those involved, Tupac recorded most of the album in seven days at the beginning of August.
Ameraycan and the studios after 1996
Not everything was made in Tarzana. Toss It Up was recorded on June 7, 1996, at Ameraycan Studios in North Hollywood; the details of the Makaveli album also list Ameraycan.
After Tupac’s death his vocal tracks traveled through further studios. For Until the End of Time (2001), the details list, besides Can-Am, Skip Saylor and Pacifique in Hollywood, Record One and QD3 Soundlab in Los Angeles and O’Henry Sound in Burbank. That is where the new instrumentals were made; the voice dated from 1995 and 1996.
| Studio | Location | Period | What was made there (selection) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starlight Sound | Richmond | 1990-1992 | 2Pacalypse Now, parts of Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. |
| Echo Sound | Los Angeles | 1992-1994 | Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., Thug Life: Volume 1, Me Against the World |
| Unique Recording | New York | 1992-1994 | Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., Me Against the World |
| Blue Palm | North Hollywood | 1993-1994 | Thug Life: Volume 1 |
| Quad Recording Studios | New York | 1994 | Me Against the World; attack on November 30, 1994 |
| Can-Am Studios | Tarzana | 1995-1996 | All Eyez on Me, Hit ‘Em Up, The Don Killuminati |
| Ameraycan | North Hollywood | 1996 | Toss It Up, parts of The Don Killuminati |
| Record One | Los Angeles | 2000-2001 | post-production of Until the End of Time |
What remains of the rooms
The songs do not name their studios, and most listeners know none of these names. There are two exceptions: Quad stands for the night the feud began, Can-Am for the months in which Tupac recorded night after night and left behind more music than could be released in his lifetime.