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Dating back to the mid 1980s, Alpo Martinez was an advocate offering support to members of the New Jack Swing movement, as well as the biggest rap label, Def Jam. During that time, Alpo had associates in music like Puff Daddy, Teddy Riley, Keith Sweat, Biz Markie, LL Cool J, and even Eric B.
However, there was no serious money in the rap game, until the end of the 90s, which kept Alpo in the streets. Before Alpo was arrested in 1991, 2pac would frequently revisit his original neighborhood in Harlem, including having a girlfriend from the area. There, he knew of Po through word of mouth in Uptown, and how strong his reach was in the streets. Alpo would do research on 2pac in prison, learning that the two had mutual acquaintances from Sugar Hill.
With Po inside, Pac linked up with Haitian Jack, which many believed was the worst thing to happen to Mr. Shakur. Since Alpo knew the same people 2pac grew up with, we believe this could’ve helped save his life. We know what happened after Alpo was arrested, but he saw his demise from the streets early and couldn’t properly graduate to entertainment.
While also having issues with both King Tut and Jimmy Henchman, protection from Alpo Martinez would’ve had 2pac in the clear to move how he wanted to in NY without getting shot in 1994. Sub-0 confirmed that Alpo planned to invade Hollywood with his multiple film projects that were in the works before he died. If the money and resources were available for Alpo to somewhat make the same type of profit he did from the streets in the industry, we would’ve seen him linking up with 2pac.
Regardless of Po being from the eastside and Pac from the westside of Harlem, these two had too many mutual acquaintances for him not to find that type of security. Considering it was legal money, Alpo would’ve been a music mogul, and likely be the biggest ever given the circumstances. Before Pac linked with Suge Knight, he had already made enemies in New York for eternity, with no plans of reconciliation.
Off the Eric B connection alone, that was one of 2pac’s most trusted people from New York, who held him down. Like previously mentioned, Eric B was one of the only people in the industry we believe that Alpo had respect for. Considering how things went down with both Haitian Jack and Jimmy Henchman, linking up with Alpo would’ve changed 2pac’s story.