Johnny J (Tupac’s Producer)

One wet afternoon back in 2006, I was struggling to assemble an Ikea bed (sultan hogbo, since you ask) while listening to Radio 1Xtra. A 2 hour documentary about the iconic rapper Tupac came on. Now, although I’m not a massive fan – I kept listening, mainly because of its presenter, S-Endz.

It turned out he was a Birmingham rapper whose knowledge of Tupac had won him 1 Xtra’s “Ultimate Tupac Fan” competition. First prize? Fly to L.A. and present a documentary about the man himself. S-Endz (AKA Simon Balmain) did an amazing job – So, I tracked him down and invited him to speak to Radio Documentary class at Birmingham City University.

He’s now a regular guest lecturer – and even has students asking for autographs. Very weird…

When Tupac’s producer Johnny J died under mysterious circumstances in an LA prison, S-Endz and I put together this two part tribute…

S-Endz wrote:

“In 2006 I interviewed legendary hip-hop producer Johnny J at his studio just outside of LA as part of a documentary about Tupac Shakur to mark the 10th anniversary of his passing.

Johnny was a great interviewee, a hospitable host, and generally a very cool guy. He went above and beyond the call of duty to accommodate us, we spent several hours chatting (on and off mic), discussing everything from Tupac (obviously) to old school funk music (which Johnny, ‘Pac, and I all shared a love of), to the current state of the hip-hop scene and much more. After we were done we jumped in Johnny’s car and he took us to Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles to grab some food.

We stayed in contact for a while, and in October 2008 I heard the sad news that Johnny had passed away in a reported suicide. However, I and others do not necessarily believe this was the case.

This is a recap of my interview with Johnny, synced with previously unseen photos from my trip.

To read more of my thoughts regarding my interview with Johnny, and more memories from the experience, please visit www.s-endz.com“