Got Your Back : The Life of a Bodyguard in the Hardcore World of Gangsta Rap [Hardcover]

Heide Sigmund Cuda (Author), Frank Alexander (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1998

The shadowy world of gangsta rap has been the topic of immense media scrutiny, but all of the coverage has lacked one important element--an insider's point of view. Now, Frank Alexander, the bodyguard for Tupac Shakur in the last year of his life, tells his agonizing tale of guns, drugs, and, ultimately, death. photo insert.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Alexander?ex-Marine, bodybuilder and professional bodyguard?began working for Suge Knight, president of Death Row Records, in 1995 and soon became the friend and chief bodyguard of Tupac Shakur, who was recording for the record company. Aided by Cuda, coauthor with Ice T of The Ice Opinion, Alexander recounts his year with the famous rapper, leading up to September 13, 1996, when Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, Nev., by a killer who has never been identified. Written in gangsta style ("I thought to myself 'Fuck, I can't park here.' It was so nasty, I didn't want to get my Benz all messed up"), the book presents a stunning picture of the "Thug Life," as one of Shakur's tattoos read, replete with drugs, sex and brawling. Alexander admired Shakur for his daring, humor and sexual prowess, and shows him to have been driven, complex and tempestuous as well as generous and caring?"both poet and warrior." A cloyingly sentimental conclusion dwells on Alexander's pride in having worked for Shakur. It also includes Alexander's lament that, although there was nothing he could have done to save his hero, he was abandoned by the Death Row family after the killing, becoming the fall guy who will always be known as "the brotha who let Tupac get shot." Eight pages of b&w photos, not seen by PW.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

This dispatch from America's favorite frightening subculture explores that most necessary component of the gangsta-rap-star lifestyle, the body guard. Alexander was Tupac Shakur's bodyguard during the last year of his life. That may not be an ideal professional credential, but it does lend him the authority to present, with the help of a freelance writer, the gangsta life from the perspective of, uh, security. His contribution to the literature of that wastrel lifestyle's excesses is significant for its lucidity and for his informed musings on the thug lifestyle in general and the death of Biggie Smalls in particular. Conjecture about shifting relationships in the big-money, bitter-rivalry gangsta world gains more credence when delivered by an insider, even or especially one who, like Alexander, professes no bitterness toward past or present rivals. In the welter of books about gangsta, Got Your Back stands tall, not to mention its packing slightly more ordnance than the others. Mike Tribby

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 213 pages
• Publisher: St Martins Pr; 1st edition (June 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312181116
• ISBN-13: 978-0312181116
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wanna Really Know About Pac!, December 8, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Got Your Back : The Life of a Bodyguard in the Hardcore World of Gangsta Rap (Hardcover)

I have to tell you I truly could not put this book down. If you really want to know what it was really like to kick it with Pac. Frank gives a really good description of what it was like to be with & look out for Pac. I also read the book by Cathy Scott, however this book is on a whole other level, it doesn't really talk about theories & all the other hype it just talks about being with Pac, honestly reading this book almost made me feel like I was there; and to Frank, you can't hold all that guilt inside you forever, I truly believe you when you say it was out of your control, you were right things just started coming too fast at Pac, he can't fight all the wars & either can you, it would have caught up to him sooner or later, he knew that, & you know he ain't mad at cha!

Peace, Late, Out!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very informative, interesting read, April 25, 2000

By 

chris (U.K.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Got Your Back : The Life of a Bodyguard in the Hardcore World of Gangsta Rap (Hardcover)

wow! pac !

In retrospect, I think what stands out most about the book is the fact that it's told by someone who understood tupac, unlike all the writers currently looking to score off his name. He instead offers a blow-by-blow (literally) account of tupac's last few months on earth . If you think you would like to know the real Tupac Shakur, read this. It presents you with the real Tupac and you'll be glad you bought it.

As a sidenote, read around page 83 first. Rest assured there's one part of tupac that the media never got to show ;) Rest In Peace ,pac.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tupac, the Person, August 9, 2000

By 

Bryan Moscoso (New York ,NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Got Your Back : The Life of a Bodyguard in the Hardcore World of Gangsta Rap (Hardcover)

I've always enjoyed Tupac the rapper. The Thug Life, all that. I knew everything about his life. I related to all his lyrics, coming from the projects of NYC. But after reading this book i not only understood Tupac better, but i got to know the real Tupac, the person. The Tupac who showed love to all his fans, and just a plain down to earth dude that had a loving heart. And i think if your a huge Tupac fan, this book is for you. And to Frank Alexander where ever you are I understand, it wasn't your fault. In Memory of Tupac, Only God Can Judge You, Revelation 20:12.