Appearing on Comedy Hype, E.D.I. Mean recalls Tupac Shakur’s infamous bathtub photoshoot which apparently Mariah Carey was a fan of.
As stated by Outlawz member and childhood friend of Tupac, Shakur was one of one. The nose ring, the “Keep Ya Head Ups,” Tupac created his own lane and many followed. This holds true to his infamous bathtub photoshoot which is perhaps more impactful today than it was 26 years ago.
“I heard Mariah Carey bought one of those pictures. Famous photographer did that photoshoot. I think his name was David LaChapelle. He did that photoshoot. She bought like a big a** wall size picture. this was years after he had passed away,” revealed E.D.I. Mean around 3:16 mark of the interview clip. “I heard it was up in her crib.”
Although not confirmed, a wall size photo of Tupac Shakur inside Mariah Carey’s home could be possible. The two met one time briefly at the 23rd American Music Awards. The interaction was told in Mariah’s 2020 autobiography, The Meaning of Mariah Carey.
“He was alone, leaning back in the driver’s seat, so that the arm that gripped the leather steering wheel was nearly straight. He propped his head back just enough that his luxurious eyelashes didn’t cast a shadow and obscure his alert and amazing dark eyes that looked into mine,” Mariah said in her autobiography. “‘Hey, Mariah,’ he said softly, my name pouring out of his lips like smoke. Then that spectacular smile burst through everything. In an instant, the window went back up, and Tupac rolled away. Had it not been for a production assistant or someone calling me back to the stage, back to earth, I may have stayed there stunned for hours. My heart fluttered nervously… I’d just had Tupac Shakur’s eyez all on me.”
Mariah wasn’t the only singer a fan of the infamous Tupac photo. Back in 2015, Jhené Aiko shared her recreation of the bathtub shoot with MTV. Aiko, a Tupac fan since the day she watched the documentary Tupac: Resurrection, decided to pay tribute on his 44th birthday by recreating the David LaChapelle photoshoot.
As those photos have resurfaced, some have questioned Tupac for taking such photos, not understanding the art behind LaChapelle’s creativeness that led Tupac to take the chance. And according to Outlawz member E.D.I. Mean that is exactly what he and his comrades took away from the shoot – not to be afraid to take chances.
“That day when he was doing the photoshoot we were all there. It was at a hotel,” recalled E.D.I. Mean on Comedy Hype. “We clowned! We had a ball. That’s how our relationship was, we clowned. Like, ‘What the hell is going on here right now.’ It was different photos. He also did another photoshoot where he drove way out to like a farm it was a reenactment of him as a slave with some small children. So it was a series of photoshoots. What it did was for us, it taught us you can’t be afraid to be daring and not box yourself into one lane. Because at that time, us being young kids from the block, we had no expose to what high fashion was and what an actual photoshoot was when you’re coming up with different scenarios.”
