New Tupac Shakur Album Victimized By Bootleggers And Internet Piracy

11/29/2004 4:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
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Another posthumous album from deceased rapper Tupac Shakur, Loyal To The Game, is due to drop on December 14. However, due to bootlegging and illegal downloading, the set has already turned up online prior to its release date.

The late rapper's label, Amaru Entertainment, headed by his mother, Afeni Shakur, issued a statement to Allhiphop.com thanking the fans who brought the fact that the album was being illegally downloaded to their attention. The label's statement said, "Tupac's fans are completely intolerant of this bootlegging and piracy. The reality of today's music industry is that Internet piracy and bootlegging run rampant like a plague...Tupac had always said that he could not do any of this without his fans and today is no different. It is your undying loyalty to Tupac and your undying devotion to carrying out his legacy in a respectful manner that gave us enough warning to take measures to insure an early release of our album."

The first single from Loyal To The Game is "Thugs Get Lonely Too" featuring Nate Dogg. The song was produced by Eminem, who produced a total of 12 songs on the new album. The remainder of the set features the production of Raphael Saadiq, Red Spyda, DJ Quik, and Scott Storch.

Loyal To The Game, which is Shakur's seventh studio release since he was shot and killed in 1996, features guest appearances by 50 Cent, Jadakiss, Lloyd Banks, Obie Trice, Outlawz, Sleepy Brown, Young Buck, Ronald Isley, and Nate Dogg.

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