On September 13, 1996, Tupac Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas. Millions of fans wept, while many critics claimed it was the inevitable result of a thugged-out lifestyle. The mystery surrounding the shooting-a suspect has yet to be named-has increased, and rumors of gang wars, disloyalty, and government conspiracies continue to linger. Only Frank Alexander, Tupac's bodyguard druing the last year of his life, knows the real story.
Got Your Back details the exploits of one of the most famous rappers of all time. The drugs, the women, the violence, the money-all provided fuel to the fire that was Tupac's life. As his platinum-selling, posthumously released albums prove, Tupac lives on through his music. Complete with exclusive new interview material with Tupac's mother, Afeni, Got Your Back provides an insider's view of a life gone awry.
"The insights Alexander offers are those of a levelheaded insider...He conveys an evenhanded, endearing honesty, and an appreciation for the randomness of fate." --The New York Press
About the Author
Frank Alexander is an ex-marine and professional bodyguard. Heidi Siegmund Cuda is a freelance writer and the coauthor, with rapper Ice-T, of The Ice Opinion. They both live in California.
Product Details
Paperback: 240 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (January 10, 2000)
Chicago native Frank Alexander has been many things during a varied and exciting journey through life. Frank has served with distinction in the U.S. Marine Corps. as well as an Orange County Deputy Sheriff Jailer. Frank was an amateur/professional bodybuilder (Frank placed first in his weight class 16 times in 32 competitions between 1979 and 1995. He was the overall winner 5 times.) And co-author of the book about Tupac Shakur, "Got Your Back" along with Heidi Siegmund Cuda. Frank was also the highly successful owner of his own personal training business prior to becoming Tupac Shakur's hand-picked, personal bodyguard during the last year of Tupac's life. Tupac Shakur was also many things during his brief life of 25 years: Poet and prisoner, poor and platinum, prophet and agitator, saint and sinner and eventually shot and killed. The documentary film: "Tupac Shakur: BEFORE I WAKE", is the true and factual story of a personal relationship between a much missed iconic superstar and a much maligned personal protector . This film was co-executive produced by Frank Alexander, who also appears in the film and Sean Long, head of Sepiatone Entertainment. "Tupac Shakur: BEFORE I WAKE" is presented by Frank's production company, Step N' Up Enterprises along with Sepiatone Entertainment, and Xenon Pictures. This film contains never-before-seen footage of Tupac recording his last album, "Until The End of Time" with commentary by Frank and others, discussing the life, and more importantly, the death of Tupac Shakur, revealing new information and fresh insight into what remains an unsolved murder.
"I had taken a job working as studio security with Death Row. Me and Tupac were on a strictly "hi, bye" relationship at first. Then I moved up to video security. My very first body guarding experience was with Snoop and The Dogg Pound in New York. This is how everything kicked off. We're in New York, December 1995. We're doing the video shoot for "New York, New York." We're in Times Square. Biggie Smalls gets on the radio and announces to all of New York that Tupac and The Dogg Pound is in Time Square shooting a video. That was Friday night. Nothing happened but Biggie had fueled the fire. Even though he was loud and wrong, he got folks hot. Tupac was in California at the time. The next afternoon we were in the Bronx to shoot another scene when somebody shot into Snoop's trailer from across the street. I did my job and safely evacuated Snoop and The Dogg Pound (Daz, Kurupt and Nate Dogg) and we all returned safely to California. To my surprise, after we got back, I learned that the word at Death Row as that I was a hero. I was personally summoned to Suge Knight's office where Suge asked me what happened, thanked me and informed me of my "hero status." Frank explains. Little did Frank know then that his actions on that scary day in the Bronx would send him on a collision course with the most successful and controversial figure in Hip-Hop...Tupac Shakur.
"Now I'm being asked to bodyguard Tupac. I said no. I didn't want to bodyguard 'Pac. I had heard stories from the other security guards about how hard Tupac was to keep up with. They said he drove 100 miles an hour, he tried to lose you Frank Alexander/Page 2.
all the time and this and that. I didn't want to do it but I was asked again and then again. Finally I said...all right. I was Tupac 's personal bodyguard. It was a challenge. Tupac drove like he had a brick at the bottom of his foot. He never shook me. I accepted him, he accepted me and we became friends."
Frank Alexander was now personal bodyguard to Tupac Shakur at the height of Tupac's success as a recording artist on Death Row Records, a rising film star, and the increasingly antagonistic point man fueling the flames of the tragic and infamous east coast-west coast rift.
"I want to show Tupac fans and all the people who didn't know him...I knew 'Pac, and despite what they may have heard, or how the media represented him, Tupac had a loving heart and a kindness in him that was anti-thug and pro family. He cared a lot about his people. He cared a lot about his family and my family too. What he did for me, and my family, I will never forget. I will always remember and appreciate him. I was with Tupac the last year of his life and the night he was shot in Las Vegas. I want people to know what really happened. The film shows that." Frank recalls.
"Tupac Shakur: BEFORE I WAKE" will be available nationwide in stores on video and DVD on January 15, 2002. Tupac's life and artistic output was as full of answers, direction and facts as his untimely death was as full of questions, confusion and rumors. Now, five years later, Tupac's bodyguard, Frank Alexander through his Step N' Up Enterprises along with Sepiatone Entertainment and Xenon Pictures sets the record straight on the last year and still unsolved murder of Tupac Shakur. With never-before-seen in-studio footage of Tupac and photos from Frank Alexander's personal collection, Tupac fans can see and hear for the first time, a birds-eye view of what happened in the days leading up to that tragic night in Las Vegas. They will see an astonishing talent awakening to a different reality, only to be cut down at the very moment of his transformation. Frank chose the title "BEFORE I WAKE" from the familiar prayer..."If I should die before I wake"...because Tupac was killed before he fully awoke. Although, according to Frank, Tupac's eyes were at the time of his shooting and subsequent death, fully open to a new, positive direction for himself.
Tupac: Assassination unfolds as a compelling whodunit that reveals what actually happened the night Tupac was shot and most importantly, why this happened as well as the events leading up to that fateful night and the ensuing investigation. Two perspectives are explored in the film. First, how the shooting happened, what may have led to it and the disconnect between those facts and what the public has been told, and secondly, the testimony of Tupac bodyguards, whose provocative comments provide the answer to why Tupac was shot and killed. These men were never questioned by the police. This film allows them to finally go on the record with what they know. This eye-opening documentary points out all of the failures of law enforcement officials to fully investigate, follow up on leads and interview key parties involved. By the time this DVD ends, the smoke and confusion caused by unsubstantiated rumors, myopic myths and urban legends will dissipate and a clear picture will appear. Alexander and Bond have done something that the Hip Hop community has long awaited. They have provided the facts that may finally bring justice for Tupac and his mother Afeni Shakur - 11 years later. Is there enough evidence in this DVD to spark a Grand Jury inquiry? You will be the judge after you see this powerful film.
"Unlike the last film that I did, Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake, which was more of a personal saga about the relationship between Pac and I, this is a film concerning things that happened the night Pac was shot and even months and weeks earlier that the police didn't bother to question some of Pac's bodyguards about. So this film is more of a news piece rather than a personal story coming from me," says former Tupac bodyguard Big Frank.
"No one can judge me but God. Tupac's mother Afeni doesn't blame me for Tupac's death. I'm not trying to profit from Tupac's death. I want people to know what really happened during the last year of his life. This film does that." Frank says in conclusion.
Frank is also an Executive Producer of the Platinum Selling Documentary "Tupac Shakur: BEFORE I WAKE" as well as "Tupac Assassination "Conspiracy Or Revenge" and Tupac Assassination "Reckoning"
This review is from: Got Your Back: Protecting Tupac in the World of Gangsta Rap (Paperback)
I've always been a Tupac fan. I've always enjoyed listening to his music. I always related to his lyrics, coming from the projects of NYC. I basicly liked anything that had to do with him. Befor reading this book I only knew the media Tupac, this Bad Boy Tupac. But after reading this book i've come to learn tupac was a real down to earth dude who loved his fans and had nothing but a loving heart. I came close to tears when i finished this book. If your a true Tupac fan, this is the right book for you. And to Frank Alexander where ever you are, I undertsand. It wasn't your fault. In Memory Of Tupac, Only God Can Judge You, Revelation 20:12.
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This review is from: Got Your Back: Protecting Tupac in the World of Gangsta Rap (Paperback)
Although at times an interesting look into the decadence and fast living that is offered to those with fame and fortune, it amounts to nothing more than a poorly ghost-written book of recollections by a first-hand witness (bodyguard) of Tupacs last year of life. Like so many other projects that make an attempt to capitalize on the late Rap Stars life, it never gets below the surface of Tupac the celebrity, and leaves the reader without any insights as to how and why, Tupac had, and continues to have, such an enormous impact on Rap/Hip-Hop music and culture. Instead we get insights like the one on page 84 in the book "Do you know why woman loved Tupac? The obvious reasons are his talent, his looks, and his charisma..but also Tupac had a f**kin' horse c**k". From the way it was written and presented, it doesnt seem like Mr.Frank Alexander had any strong motive or desire to bring this book to the public, otherthan reasons that start with dollar signs $$$. But I have to say that in the final chapters the book finally comes alive with Mr.Alexanders powerful, poignant, honest memories of the events that took place when, and after Tupac was shot, and eventually died in Las Vegas. In these chapters he reflects on his confrontation with Suge Knight, and the confusion, guilt, sorrow and fear he was feeling as Tupac struggled for his life in the hospital, and the aftermath that followed Tupacs death, it ends with an intimate phone conversation between Alexander and Tupacs Mother. Its worth reading the book just for these last chapters alone, its very, very moving. Unfortunately, its too little, too late in the book to make its entirety a good read. I was 25 when Tupac died, and I was into Heavy Metal more than Rap/Hip-Hop, but always being a big Tupac fan, upon hearing of his death that day, besides feeling sorrow, I also remember feeling it was the end of an era, I knew Rap would never be the same and there would never be another one like him. It was the same feeling I had when Kurt Cobain died. And ten years later, looking at all the Rap/Hip-Hop that has come after Tupacs death, I realized my feeling that day was right, Pac was truly one of a kind, and something special died with him that night in Vegas, and Raps never been the same since. This books OK, but I expected more.
RIP Tupac. We all miss you.. and we're still down for you.
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This review is from: Got Your Back: Protecting Tupac in the World of Gangsta Rap (Paperback)
You cannot get much closer to the real thing, as the "real thing's bodyguard." This book is interesting because it chronicles a portion of Pac's life from a different angle. Throughout Pac's life, people tried to destroy him; whether it was mentally, psyhically, or psychologically. Alexander, in "Got Your Back," shares his experience with Pac as the one who was to ultimately protect and maintain him, his bodyguard. Although Pac had a far more profound impact on hip-hop than this book's setting of one year, it chronicles a set of interesting and unique happenings, all of which transpire within an intersting web of unbelief at the end. Read it. It is a good book. RIP
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