Quincy Jones III, the son of legendary producer Quincy Jones, revealed on BET’s oral history of The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, that Michael Jackson was supposed to feature on the album, but declined due to his relationship with Biggie Smalls.
The oral history was published earlier this month to coincide with what would have been Shakur’s 51st birthday. In the article, Quincy Jones III, also known as QD3, recalled that he had set up a meeting at Neverland Ranch to talk to Michael about featuring on 2Pac’s song, “Thug Passion,” which featured a sample from Jackson’s 1983 song “Human Nature.”
Michael said he couldn’t do the song because he “liked Biggie.”
“So I set up a meeting at Neverland. I go up there and told Michael about it. And do you know what Micheal said? He liked Biggie.”
MJ and Biggie Smalls had collaborated the year before on the song “This Time Around.”
“Thug Passion” ended up not being on The Don Killuminati, but would go on to be released on the 2000 Death Row compilation album, Too Gangsta For Radio.
Elsewhere, QD3 talked about 2Pac’s process when it came to making music.
“‘Pac would take all my beats including the ones I would never play for people,” QD3 said. “I learned a lesson that you gotta be spontaneous more and he taught me how to just think and just do it. ‘Pac would get irritated when you sat there and fiddled with sounds almost like you were disrespecting his time a little bit.”
He added: “I would say he was manic. There would be moments that called for quiet voice and candles and all that and he would be screaming and smoking Newports. He was on fire with this manic push. He was always pushing. You could tell he wasn’t comfortable in some way and there was something that was making him uncomfortable.”
