NBA: Untold Kobe Bryant, Tupac Shakur First And Only Encounter

Late hip-hop icon Tupac Amaru Shakur and late NBA legend Kobe Bryant actually met each other once.

Delray Richardson, a platinum songwriter and Tupac’s friend, recently shared a story about how Bryant and “2pac” met for the first time. The said meeting also was the first and only personal encounter of the two late icons.

Speaking to “The Art of Dialouge,” Richardson revealed that it was on August 11th back in 1996 at the House of Blues when the young Bryant introduced himself to the rap star. At the time, Richardson was sure the two have never met each other because Kobe just got to LA, and he was still a 17-year-old kid.

On the said year, Bryant was still an NBA rookie while Tupac has already established his name as one of the most celebrated and most influential artists of his generation. Richardson didn’t even think that the encounter will be an epic event in the future. He even noted that “it wasn’t something deep” but looking back, the songwriter was grateful to witness a future legend introduce himself to another master in his own craft.

“They meet. It wasn’t something deep or anything like that. More so, Kobe went to 2Pac because he probably didn’t know who Kobe was at the time. I remember he introduced himself and said, what’s up,” Richardson said about Tupac and Bryant.

Since his tragic death in 1996, Tupac’s legacy has been plagued with rumors that he's still alive and hiding somewhere else. In fact, a new documentary suggests that “Pac” is living somewhere in New Mexico.

In his new film “2Pac: The Great Escape from UMC,” filmmaker Rick Boss dramatizes exactly how Shakur was supposedly removed from the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where he was taken after being shot four times by an unknown assailant on September 7, 1996.

It has long been officially reported that Shakur died six days after the shooting but Boss alleges the rapper escaped the hospital and was taken to a Navajo reservation in New Mexico. Boss also claims that Tupac currently resides under the protection of a tribe to this day.

Based on Boss’ story, Shakur was fully aware of a planned hit when he arrived in Las Vegas and devised a “body double” prior to the shooting.

Bryant on the other hand, was among the 9 people killed on a helicopter crash at Calabasas, California last January 26.

Whether Boss’ claims are true or not, many could only wish that Bryant and Tupac are still alive and living somewhere in the world.