Alicia Keys and Snoop Dogg pay tribute to Tupac at Hall of Fame induction

Written by . Published: April 08 2017

Alicia Keys and Snoop Dogg have paid tribute to Tupac as he was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.


Alicia Keys honored the West Coast rapper at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Friday (07Apr17), with a medley of his hits, including I Ain't Mad at Cha and Ambitionz As a Ridah, while playing the piano and talking about her love for Tupac.

She finished her set with a powerful rendition of the rapper's biggest hit, Changes, as the audience sang along.

Snoop Dogg and YG then took to the stage to perform Gangsta Party, Treach from Naughty by Nature rapped Hail Mary, and T.I., who wore Tupac's signature bandanna, covered his 1993 hit Keep Ya Head Up.

Before the star-studded musical tribute to the rap icon, Snoop delivered an emotional speech that focused on his friend's kind nature and huge accomplishments.

"Twenty-one years ago, Tupac Shakur was taken from all of us. He was only twenty-five years old, too. Dare me to say that he was gone too soon," he told the audience. "When I sat down to gather my thoughts about my late and great, my homie and my brother there's one thought that kept coming back: Tupac was actually really good. While many remember him now as some kind of thugged out superhero, Tupac really was only good and he represented through his music like no one before."

"I'm here to make sure that Pac is remembered the way he would have wanted to be: a strong black man who stood up. Not somebody who acted like a rapper, but as a human... That's what made Tupac the greatest rapper of all time," Snoop continued.

"He saw more potential in me than I saw in myself and it's funny because after he passed away I started getting a lot of movie roles and all this stuff. Pac was looking out for us even after he was gone. That's the thing with Pac. When he loves, he loves hard," he added.

Recalling how he raced to be at Tupac's side in hospital after he was shot in Las Vegas in September, 1996, Snoop told the audience how he prayed his friend would pull through. Tupac later died on 13 September, six days after he was shot.

"Pac's a part of history for a reason because he made history. He's hip hop history. He's American history and just like in school the more research you do on history the more information that you have. So do your research. I'm not talking about Pac the rapper, I'm not talking about Tupac the actor, I'm talking about Tupac the human being," Snoop concluded, as Tupac was officially inducted into the Hall of Fame.