On the evening of September 7, 1996, Tupac Shakur was gunned down on the Las Vegas strip. Six days later, he passed away from fatal wounds, but in the interim the entire city of Los Angeles – not to mention hip-hop as a whole – was on the edge of their seat, gripped with fear that the worst would happen.

While nearly everybody in hip-hop was devastated, we didn't get to hear many raw reactions from people across the industry. But DJ Quik got on the phone with Real 92.3's DJ Theo soon after learning about Makaveli's shooting, and the breathtaking phone call was recorded in full. You can hear it below.

In it, Quik is literally speechless, as silence dominates most of their three and a half-minute conversation.

"One minute, everything is cool...ain't nobody trippin', everything is straight. And then the next minute...you know, drama," says Quik, sounding flabbergasted as Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness" begins playing in the background softly. "And I can't help but to keep thinking about him. It'd be different if I was just looking at him from afar, admiring as a celebrity or what not, but I know him. So it's like...my stomach hurt."

Later on in the call, you feel Quik's thought process break down. "Man, what do you think?" asks Theo. "I can't think, homie," responds Quik, delivering perhaps one of the most bone-chilling responses to Pac's impending death ever recorded.

'Pac didn't get to jump on much Quiksta production, though "Heartz of Men" stands out as one of the finest beats Makaveli ever rapped over. "Late Night" is an unreleased cut Quik produced for 'Pac that ended up on Suge Knight's strange Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000 compilation before appearing on 'Pac's posthumous Better Dayz album in 2001. That same year, another 'Pac and Quik collab, "Words 2 My First Born," surfaced on Until the End of Time. 

Nonetheless, Quik had a huge part in 2Pac's cleanest album, mixing 14 of the songs for All Eyez on Me. 

“He’d come in the studio, light a blunt, grab a pen and paper, cross his legs, and 30 minutes later he’d be like, ‘Okay, ready’,” Quik told Noisey. “I’m like, ‘Who writes these songs so fast?’ He was so important to culture, and I don’t think he realized it.”

Hear the painful phone call below, and check out XXL's hub of exclusive Tupac content for the 20th anniversary of his death.

Rappers Pay Tribute to Tupac on the 20th Anniversary of His Death

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