TUPAC SHAKUR AGREES TO RECORD THREE ALBUMS FOR INTERSCOPE RECORDS, AS REPAYMENT FOR BAIL
An excellent, original document signed by world-famous rapper TUPAC SHAKUR, 4pp. 8 1/2" x 11", dated July 1, 1995, documenting a crucial moment in his career. The document is issued by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Group on the behalf of Interscope Pearl Music, a division of Interscope Records. The contract amends Interscope's original 1993 publishing agreement with Shakur, setting forth the terms for the recording and release of his fourth, fifth and sixth releases through the label. The contract specifically delineates the advances that Shakur will receive for meeting certain conditions in the process of recording and releasing each album. It also defines a "Qualifying LP", in part: "... It is expressly understood that 'greatest hits', 'best of', 'live', and 're-mix' LPs cannot constitute 'Qualifying LPs', and that if more than one LP-length record is included in a single package, such package shall nonetheless count only as one LP..." The document is signed on the final page by Shakur in black ink, with a space for the signature of Warner-Tamerlane Executive Vice President Donald Biederman left blank, indicating that this may be a draft or retained copy of the agreement. Fine condition. At the time this contract was drafted, Shakur was imprisoned at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, pending his appeal of a 1994 sexual assault conviction. Interscope would later agree agreed to advance the necessary $1.4 million bail, an arrangement brokered by Suge Knight, head of Interscope subsidiary Death Row Records. In return, Shakur agreed to release his next three albums - those discussed in this document - through Death Row. Only one of these, "All Eyez On Me", was released before Shakur's murder in September of 1996, although the other material recorded for Death Row would be released posthumously. The document has staple holes at the upper left corner, else very good.