Danger Times

Overview

Danger Times is an unreleased collaboration between Live Squad and 2Pac, recorded during 1994 for Live Squad's planned second album, Diary of a Poor Man, later also referred to as Ghetto Blues. The recording features Stretch and Majesty alongside 2Pac, representing one of the last major collaborations between the artists before their careers began to take different directions.

Lyrically, the song reflects on the dangers of street life, betrayal and survival, themes that were central to both Live Squad's music and Tupac's work during the mid-1990s. The chemistry between Stretch, Majesty and Tupac is evident throughout the recording, with each artist delivering a distinct perspective while complementing one another's performances.

Although the album was never released, Danger Times circulated among collectors for many years and has become one of the best-known unreleased recordings from the planned Live Squad project. For the Live Squad archive, it stands as one of the group's most significant collaborations with Tupac.

Recording History

The song was recorded during the sessions for Live Squad's proposed second album, Diary of a Poor Man. Although several track listings are known to exist, the album was ultimately shelved and has never received an official commercial release.

Unlike many unreleased Tupac recordings that originated from his own album sessions, Danger Times was created specifically as a Live Squad recording with Tupac appearing as a featured guest. This makes it a unique entry within both artists' catalogues and an important part of Live Squad's unreleased body of work.

The production combines a soulful melodic sample with hard-hitting drums, creating a sound that is immediately recognisable as a Live Squad production from this period.

Release History

Year	Release	Format	Notes
1994	Diary of a Poor Man	Unreleased Album	Recorded for Live Squad's unreleased second album.
1994	Studio Recording	Unreleased	Later circulated privately among collectors.

Samples

Samples Used

• Joe Sample - Invitation
• Live Squad - Heartless - Vocal sample.

Lyrics

[Chorus]

Danger Times (Repeat)

Majesty

It's on, a dead body found wrapped in the carpet
A healthy pretty baby found cryin' in the garbage
Walk your dog, she pees on the sidewalk
No movies no clubs, cause you're bound to get caught
In a mix, runnin for your life, time to get home
See somebody ... straight to the dome
For no reason, death is still the season
Everybody's scared, leave the body bleedin
People runnin frantic, cause the shots are still ringin
These damn thugs, just wont stop the gun slingin
Havin fun in these days, you gotta wear a vest
1-2-5 in the summer's like the Wild West
Something jump off,
a nigga cap, everybody cap,
Worst about it is every fuckin body's strapped
All you can do is cross your fingers and hope you're lucky,
I say ...
But if I'm ok when the shots stop, not laying in blood
Hop in my ride, tryin to slide with the ....
Dangerous times, dangerous days, dangerous nights
Everywhere we go the danger's never out of sight
Junior high school in 86 and 87
They had 38's and 94 is Mack 11's
What the hell is going on God?
Pass the indo,
What the hell they killing over Nintendo?
I think the world is ending, and AIDS is the plague
So you can die later if you don't die today
Mothers cryin, can't understand it
Their kids gone and he aint even reach a man yet
I try to free the hip hop when i write my lines
But everytime i try, it ends up being crime time,
Go to school, go to the movies, go to the club, go to the store
Turn on the news, its like were living in a war
No one to trust, the cops are the fuckin crooks
In these days, they ain't going by the books
Proceed with caution, if you're not you're lost
In these fucked up times they have no remorse in
Get twisted, the last thing on your mind
You got caught kid, living in these Danger Times

[Chorus]

Stretch

Yo im riding through the back streets
pumpin black beats
stop where the niggas selling crack be
say w'sup to my neighborhood dealers
niggas rolling ... , local car stealers
Narks cruising by, they wanna lock us on the way
no eye contact, we wanna lead them astray
but the nigga's in the backseat looking like a snitch though
cops ... , looking like a little bitch yo
so you know I'm ...
can't get caught in the mix
by these fake ... cops and they crooked ass tricks
and uh, hold up yo, niggas rollin up, for what?
I don't know, but they was busters so I gives a fuck
pop a man in his fuckin dome had to yank the chrome,
I forgot I was lurking in the red zone
when the smoke cleared, I see my man was dead,
and the cops on the corner, then a muthafucka fled the scene,
its gotta be a dream yo im buggin
I sit on the scene lookin' mean mad muggin muthafucka
that I be from the streets
for the first thing jump, I got my hand on my heat
yo its danger times

[Chorus]

2Pac

Yo, will I live or die ?
I don't know cause it's stranger times
I'm too high to read the muthafuckin danger signs.
niggas all on my phone talkin major shit
and you mad cause I don't wanna page you, bitch
now quit being quick to flip
my niggas dying over small time trifling shit
so I ain't got time for these you know whats
on the nuts of a nigga makin major bucks
I'm all lost, running from the police force,
New York's finest, comin right behind us
mind flippin off the Moet that a nigga's sippin
open fire on them bitches if they get to trippin
mob on the scene with the Squad from Queens,
drinkin Hennessey, muthafuckin ... green
Plus the mini 14 for the punks wit funk
drop the trunk on them silly bitches, blast them punks