On February 7th, XXL Magazine will be releasing an issue commemorating the passing of the Notorious B.I.G. March 9th, 2012 will mark the 15th anniversary of the MC's untimely death. The feature stories include interviews from Biggie's closest friends and family, 40+ never-before-scene photos, some of his most quotable rhymes, and much more.

Among those who will provide intimate insight into the life of "Brooklyn's Finest" are both of his children, T'Yanna Wallace and Christopher “CJ” Wallace. In edition to his children, both of their mother's will speak, as well as members of Junior Mafia.

Most recently we saw DJ Kay Slay unite the Mafia's front man, Lil Cease, with those of longtime rival group The Outlawz, for a Hip-Hop truce on "Bury The Hatchet." The record comes off of the celebration of Tupac's 15 year anniversary of his passing, which occurred in September 13th, 1996. While each of these unfortunate losses have yet to find closure, there is hope that it will happen someday soon.

Although, The Notorious B.I.G.'s passing left a huge void in the Hip-Hop community, his legacy lives on. He is still revered by several artists, and entertainers alike. Hip-Hop Wired had the opportunity to speak with actress, Tichina Arnold, who had the pleasure of working with B.I.G. on an episode of Martin. Below is the video where "Pam from Martin," shared her time spent with Biggie.

The infamous East Coast vs. West Coast beef saw Tupac at the forefront vs. almost any and everyone based in New York City. In his classic "Hit'em Up" record, Pac took aim at Mobb Deep.

Prodigy recently sat down with Young Jack Thriller of ThisIs50.com to discuss that particular beef, and its origin. Prodigy also discusses how he felt towards Pac, and what would have happened, if the two actually crossed paths.

It looks like John Singleton is out as director of Tupac's biopic.

According to Variety, Singleton could not close a deal to direct the project for Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek.

Singleton is the second director to drop out following casting struggles to find an actor to play Tupac Shakur's character.

I guess that frees up Singleton to direct the NWA biopic.

If 2Pac's family has anything to do with it, the 1991 2Pac sex tape will never hit the streets.

According to TMZ, Pac's mother Afeni Shukar and the estate of 2Pac are aware of the sex tape and are planning to sue anyone who attempts to distribute the footage.

TMZ reports:

TMZ spoke with a spokesperson for Pac's estate, who was VERY clear, "We will sue anyone who tries to sell a Tupac tape."

The rep insists ... only the estate has the power to authorize the use of Tupac's image for commercial use ... and there's NO WAY the sex tape will ever get the proper approval.

We're told Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, is aware of the tape -- and has told her spokesperson, "Get the legal team ready because [we] will not allow someone to put it out."

Reports also state that Pac's estate is attempting to find out who is behind the marketing of the tape and are trying to track down the woman believed to be in the video, assuming she maybe the behind it.

Sorry to disappoint anyone looking forward to seeing Pac's sex tape.

A new book by former LAPD homicide detective Greg Kading entitled Murder Rap, alleges that both Diddy and Suge Knight had a part in the murders of  rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher “Biggie Smalls” Wallace.

In the book, due to his book stores tomorrow (October 4), Kading claims that the LAPD has taped confessions from those involved with the murders of the rap stars.

Kading says he was removed from the case when he was close to finding out the complete truth, according to LA Weekly.

Kading says he received info from an informant that said he was offered $1 million to kill Tupac and Suge Knight and that Combs ordered the hit on Tupac in September 1996.

Also, Suge Knight's baby's mother, identified as Theresa Swann, told investigators that Knight gave her the money to pay gang member Wardell “Poochie” Fouse to kill Biggie.

Diddy has vehemently denied these claims via email, writing, “This story is pure fiction and completely ridiculous.”

Check out an interview with the author below:

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Following two years of extensive collection and categorization, the Atlanta University Center (AUC) Robert W. Woodruff Library announced the opening of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Collection on the fifteenth anniversary of the death of the platinum recording artist, actor and poet who remains one of the most influential writers and performers in Hip-Hop.

Spanning a period from 1969 to 2008, this remarkable collection includes song lyrics, poems, track lists and video treatments, as well as manuscripts by Shakur family members and members of the rap groups Dramacydal and the Outlawz.

Memorabilia, correspondence to and from Shakur, fan mail, media clippings and publicity materials are also included.

Particularly noteworthy items within the collection are a handwritten video treatment for “Dear Mama,” his song that was inducted into the Library of Congress collection; a notebook of songs eventually recorded for Shakur's immensely successful 2Pacalypse Now album; and handwritten drafts of poems included in The Rose That Grew from Concrete.

The Shakur Collection represents a partnership between the AUC Woodruff Library and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation to make available for scholarly research the manuscript writings and other papers of Shakur.

The collection is extensive and comprises approximately 11 linear feet, with 30 boxes of materials, and has the distinction of being one of the few publicly available research collections of an individual Hip-Hop  artist.

“We're honored to have partnered with the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation to preserve the artistic legacy of Tupac Shakur through this collection,” said Loretta Parham, CEO and Library Director. “He transformed the landscape of hip hop culture and was one of the most compelling voices and talents of his generation. As an academic library, we feel privileged to be the stewards of the Shakur Collection and to promote for scholarly research.”

Vernal Cambridge, Executive Director of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation adds,

"We are excited about the centralization of Tupac's massive body of work and materials. The Tupac estate has done a great job at preserving his history. Similar to his albums, and documentary film, Tupac: Resurrection, this unique collection gives Tupac another opportunity to tell his story in his own words. The lessons that students, researchers, and fans can learn from this close and personal look at his writings are invaluable."

The collection is available for research in digital and original formats in the AUC Woodruff Library's Archives Research Center Reading Room. For inquiries about researching the collection, e-mail the Archives Research Center at archives@auctr.edu or call 404-978-2052.

FOREVER!!!

Jada Pinkett Smith, Marlon Wayans, Eminem and Snoop  reminisce  on the day Tupac was shot and the the days that proceeded until his death.

Ni##as Still Can't C U!!!

More Videos Here

Former Tupac protégés The Outlawz have revealed the artwork and tracklist for what is said to be there last LP, Perfect Timing (Krude/Fontana/Universal).

The album features cameos from Bun B, Scarface, Lloyd, Trae Tha Truth, Krazy Bone, ZRO and Tech N9ne and will be released on the 15^th anniversary of Tupac's death.

 “The album was actually supposed to come out a few months ago, but we had to push back the release,” explains Noble of the destiny of the significant release date.  “When we were ready to put it out there, this date just popped out to us a fitting tribute.  It's the perfect time for some real soldiers with real history to bring real music.”

Check out the tracklist below:

1.      Intro – Change Gon Come feat. Prentice (Tru Soul)
2.      Perfect Timing feat. Chae
3.      Keep It Lit
4.      Fast Lane feat. King Malachi of Dungeon Family
5.      Pay Off feat. Kastro & Young Buck
6.      Paranoid feat. Trae Tha Truth, ZRO & June Summers
7.      Pushin Off feat. Scarface & Lloyd
8.      Tell Me Sumthin Good
9.      Once Ina Lifetime feat. Aktual
10.     So Clean feat. Stormey Coleman
11.     100 MPH feat. Bun B & Lloyd
12.     Remember Me feat. Tony Williams
13.     Borrowed Time feat. Livya Lee
14.     Don't Wait feat. Krayzie Bone & Aktual of Options Ent
15.     New Years feat. Tech N9ne
16.     All the Time feat. Belly

The group also recently addressed controversy surrounding the them after they revealed that they partook in the smoking of some of Tupac's ashes following the icons death.

Pac's mother Afeni Shakur came forward after their revelation saying that she never smoked or authorized the smoking of her son's ashes.

In an exclusive interview with HipHopDX, Outlawz member Noble clarified,

“We never said she was with us. Afeni Shakur had no knowledge of what we did. She wasn't present when we did it. She didn't approve of it. She had no knowledge of it period. That was the media taking what we said and basically putting words in our mouth.…That's his mother, we wouldn't have brought that to her and asked her to agree with it or none of that. That's stupid for people to even think she would've been there and had something to do with that.”

EDI added, “If you can't really respect our intentions, and the honor we was paying to our brother and our family member, then leave it alone and don't comment on it…This is the last time any of us gonna be talking about this subject, because when you bring sh*t up that people don't really understand, they take it and run with it and try to twist it and put they own spin on it [and] turn something positive and something that was special to us into some negative sh*t.”

Perfect Timing hits stores September 13.

Candyman 187 has been on the grind for a minute and is gearing to drop his official release If Tomorrow Never Comes this fall.

Reared by Tupac and game certified by Snoop, peep how the West Coast MC plans to marry the club and the streets.

Hip-Hop Wired:   First of all, you have your new single out, “High Off the Fame” with Snoop Dogg as well as one song that is more of a street song “Show Em All”.   How do you manage to merge those two styles? They seem totally different.

Candyman 187:   “Show Em All” is what I do normally, that's my style usually, the street stuff.  The thing is, the industry isn't really willing to open their doors for you unless you're willing to do the pop and crossover top 40 hit, so I reached out to Snoop Dogg, because after doing this for years, we weren't getting the same types of breaks pop crossover songs were.

We got advice from Snoop as to where to get a big break, and we got the beat for “High off the Fame.” One thing led to another, and the song took me a little bit longer because I had to go into the “pop song” mode, but in the end it worked out.  I feel like I was able to keep my soul intact.

Hip-Hop Wired:   Absolutely. Being diverse is important in the new Hip-Hop climate. 

Candyman 187:   Basically, I felt like “Show Em All” wasn't going to get me enough radio play.  So I thought to myself, what I can do in order to get more known?  Do I sit here and continue to do the whole Hip-Hop  to the streets music?   Snoop basically told me that I can always put that type of music on my albums  but you have to put out something that they can play in the clubs.  From there, people will start getting a better general idea of who you are and trying to find out more about you. And once they listen to your album, they know who you really are.

Candyman 187 feat. Snoop Dogg "High Off The Fame"

Hip-Hop Wired:   How did you build your relationship with Snoop, and what made you take his advice?

Candyman 187:   That relationship has been around for years.  I grew up with Tupac  and he brought me into the music game. We also dealt with Snoop a lot in those days. When I came together with Meech Wells, Meech had access to Snoop and beats and soulmechanix. My goal was to create something for the West Coast.  Don't get me wrong, I love New York and the entire east coast, but I still wanted to incorporate an ode to the OGs from the West Coast. As far as taking advice from Snoop, he's just a good person, he talks from the heart. I've never known Snoop to be a dude that would give you advice unless he really meant it.

We had a good conversation about how I needed to change my style of music, how the industry wasn't the same how it was fifteen years ago, and how I needed to work into the system before I could really stray away from the songs being played. He also knew that my parents were part of the Black Panthers, and a mantra of theirs is “You need to work with the system before you can break it”, basically referring to the fact that I have to create songs for the current music industry before I can go astray. That resonated with me.

Hip-Hop Wired:   You and Tupac had a situation called the “Havenotz” and you also mentioned that your parents were  part of the Black Panthers, is that how you and Tupac initially met?

Candyman 187:   Tupac took me in when I was ten. When we got together, he was always into poetry. The first thing he asked me if I had ever tried rapping, and I replied no, I wasn't a rapper, I just wrote poetry. And he replied “What do you think my raps are?” That's where it all started, and he was always a teacher to me. He would always take me into the studio and was like an older brother to me.

We were always a family and when Tupac put together Outlawz, I was way too young, but he and I later created a movement called “Havenotz”, which includes pretty much 90% of the world, and it came together. Sooner or later, we started working on an album, but he died before we could finish it. We started having it said on a couple of the songs, and we planned to put the entire thing on the Euthanasia project , and it was supposed to come out through that, but God had different plans for us.

Candyman 187 - "Show Em All"

Hip-Hop Wired:   What's the new plan for you guys? You already have two singles out, an album, and you have an independent project in the works.

Candyman 187:   I have people supporting us. I was fortunate enough to meet a group of people who were willing to support me with money, and I don't want to mess that up. I want to play by the rules of the game before I change the game. We're doing a double album.  As far as I know, no other artist has come out with a double album as their first, and I've worked with many people like George Clinton and Digital Underground, so there's a lot of work I'm putting into both albums.

The first album is some of my older work, while my second album is my newer work. It's risky, but my whole life is a risk, so I'm just taking it and running. I've got a song with Jim Jones on the album, and a couple other big names. I can't quite talk about all of it yet, but a lot of those artists showed love  from both coasts of the U.S., and I feel blessed. It's coming this year. It'll be called “If Tomorrow Never Comes.”

Hip-Hop Wired:   Why did Tupac decide to mentor you?

Candyman 187:   After we both grew older, Tupac realized how much dumb sh*t I was doing back in the day, and he took me in and tried to guide me in the right direction.  It seemed like everyone else in my life was trying to push me in the wrong direction, but he was leading me into the right. I remember when I met him again, he asked me for my number, and I gave it to him, thinking that he wasn't ever going to call me and put me on.

But sure enough, a couple days later, the phone rang.  We just started writing, and people told me that he saw the power and hope inside of me, and he wanted to bring that out.  I'm not taking any shots at anyone, but a lot of the work the people who worked with Pac made as compared to the work they're putting out now isn't as good.  Pac pulled that out of people.  I credit him with turning me into the man I am, and he believed in me when no one else did.

Hip-Hop Wired:   What's behind the name Candyman187?

Candyman 187:   We used to call Weed “candy”  and I always had it.  That's where the name came in. Back then, weed wasn't as socially acceptable and everyone thought Tupac had the biggest “sweet tooth” in the world. The 187 came from when Tupac sat me down and basically told me that we were all born to die, and that we were all eventually going to die. The only question is, can you beat the odds?

Can you beat the statistics? If one of your friends dies at 25, the next has to die at 30 and so forth. That's where the 187 came from, because when they put 187 next to your name, that's because you're under a death sentence. It freaks out a lot of people and radio stations when they hear it, but I have to do it with a name that Pac gave me first, and maybe eventually I'll use another name on my second album.

Hip-Hop Wired:   You've mentioned that you're Pakistani.  You also  said your parents were part of the Black Panthers, how did this come about?

Candyman 187:   I'm half and half. So, I'm from both sides. I always joke about that, saying I'm a “n*gga and a terrorist”. For me, I feel like it's the best of both worlds. This time around though, I feel like the revolution surrounds all races.

For More info on Candyman 187, log on here http://candyman187.com/ and follow him on Twitter at @Candyman187