Stretch (rapper)

Randy Walker was born in 1968 in Springfield Gardens, Queens, to an African American father and Jamaican, immigrant mother. Randy had a younger brother and two sisters. His father died in 1981, and his mother, Lucilda, was a nurse at New York University Medical Center.{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Charisse|date=1 December 1995|title=Rapper Slain After Chase in Queens|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/01/nyregion/rapper-slain-after-chase-in-queens.html|accessdate=1 December 2012}}

In the late 1980s, Randy, dubbed Stretch, and his brother Christopher, dubbed Majesty, teamed with DJ K-Low, forming Live Squad. In 1988, both rapping and producing it, Live Squad debut with an EP, titled BQ In Full Effect, which, featuring Percee P, includes the tracks "Troopin It" and "We Ain't Havin' It." Noteworthy is Stretch's voice, deep and raspy.

In 1990, Stretch met Shock G of Digital Underground, the Bay Area rap group's 1991 album featured Stretch on its track "Family of the Underground." That year, Live Squad remixed the group's single "No Nose Job." That summer, Stretch met Underground ally Tupac "2Pac" Shakur. The two became fast friends. Rapping his February 1992 single "If My Homie Calls" on Yo! MTV Raps, 2Pac was backed by Stretch, friend of host Ed Lover, who, praising Live Squad's demo tape and taking "executive producer" credit on its releases, helped Live get signed to Tommy Boy Records.

In 1992, Live Squad released a double A side, "Murderahh!"/"Heartless," followed by single, "Game of Survival"/"Pump for a Livin'," in 1993. Live Squad also released an ultra-violent promo short film, Game Of Survival, on VHS tape, showcasing six songs from through group's forthcoming album. In June, national outrage broke out over the Los Angeles area's original gangsta rapper Ice-T's side project, his rock band Body Count's album of heavy metal with its track "Cop Killer." Tommy Boy, favoring radio friendliness, dropped Live Squad and shelved the album.

While Tupac filmed his breakthrough role in Juice, Stretch and Treach, of rap group Naughty By Nature, were extras. Once Tupac's trailer was robbed of jewelry, they delivered a beatdown on set.{{cite news |title=How Tupac Dealt With A Jewelry Thief On The Set Of "Juice" |url=http://www.vibe.com/2011/11/oral-history-tupac-shakurs-acting-career-uncut-pg2/ |work=vibe.com |publisher=VIBE |date= 16 November 2011 |accessdate= 9 April 2016}} In late 1991, after studio recordings, live shows, and TV appearances with Stretch, 2Pac put out his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, with two tracks, including "Crooked Ass Nigga," where Stretch produces and raps.

Unable to put a track on Juice's soundtrack,{{cite news|last=Murphy|first=Keith|date=16 January 2014|title=Oral History: Tupac, Fist Fights and the Making of 'Juice'|url=https://myspace.com/article/2014/01/13/oral-history-juice-tupac|accessdate=9 April 2016}} 2Pac saw his album sell modestly,{{cite news|last=Preezy|first=Brown|date=12 November 2016|title=How '2Pacalypse Now' Marked The Birth Of A Rap Revolutionary|work=vibe.com|publisher=VIBE|url=http://www.vibe.com/2016/11/tupac-2pacalypse-now-anniversary/|accessdate=9 April 2016}} but Juice's release in 1992 sent his star on the rise. In 1993, 2Pac's second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., found Live Squad producing and featured on "Strugglin'," while featured, along with Treach and rapper Apache, on "5 Deadly Venomz." That was produced by Stretch, who produced two more tracks, "The Streetz R Deathrow" and, featuring Live Squad, "Holler If Ya Hear Me."

Stretch made cameo appearances in music videos for the Mac Mall song "Ghetto Theme," directed by Tupac, and, in 1993, for the Above The Law, Money B, and Tupac song "Call It What You Want,". He appeared in movies, Ed Lover & Doctor Dre's 1993 film Who's the Man? and Tupac's 1996 film Bullet.{{cite news |title=Stretch filmography at IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0834280/ |work=imdb.com |publisher=IMDb| accessdate= 12 September 2015}} In March 1994, on The Arsenio Hall Show, 2Pac and Stretch performed "Pain," a track on the Above the Rim soundtrack's only cassette version and merely a single's B side, but swiftly a rap favorite.

In 1992, with rapper Big Syke, 2Pac and Stretch recorded "Thug Life."[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p211189|pure_url=yes}} Big Syke bio] at Allmusic In 1993, that song was still unreleased, so Tupac expanded the group, also named Thug Life, and got it signed to Interscope Records, releasing in 1994 the group's only album, Thug Life: Volume 1. Stretch produced and rhymed on the song "Thug Music". Amid controversy over lyrics, the label cut "Out on Bail", which Tupac and Stretch performed at The ’94 Source Awards, anyway, and "Runnin' from tha Police", featuring Biggie Smalls. Via trademark issues, Biggie would soon take another stage name, the Notorious B.I.G.

In 1993, Tupac met Biggie, a promising young rapper from Brooklyn, on his visit to California. Tupac supported and mentored him, a prospective member of Thug Life.{{cite news |title=How Tupac and Biggie Went from Friends to Deadly Rivals |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/tupac-biggie-friends-to-foes/ |work=VICE |date= 12 September 2016 |access-date= 8 April 2016 |last=Westhoff |first=Ben}} During 1993, Live Squad, 2Pac, and Biggie performed a joint set at Maryland's Bowie State University, in Prince George's County, Maryland.{{cite news |title=2Pac, Live Squad & The Notorious B.I.G. – 1993 Live In Maryland |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87gq2T1C2ow |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/87gq2T1C2ow |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|publisher=YouTube| accessdate= 8 April 2016}}{{cbignore}} and recorded "House Of Pain," unreleased, for Biggie's debut album in the making.

Biggie's debut album arrived, without the song, in 1994 as Ready to Die. The alliance was severed through events on the night of November 30, 1994, at the Times Square building of Quad Recording Studios.

In late 1994, Tupac was reportedly hired by fledgling music manager James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond to record a verse for rapper Lil' Shawn's single "Dom Perignon." Arriving with Stretch and two others, they reportedly found rapper Lil' Cease—a member of the Bad Boy record label's circle via Biggie's side group Junior M.A.F.I.A.—watching the sidewalk from above and greeting them. In the lobby, three men pulled pistols to rob Tupac, who, resisting, was shot five times.

Suspecting a shooting as the primary motive,{{cite news |title=Tupac Interview 1995 recording |url=http://chuckphilipspost.com/ |publisher=Chuck Philips Post |date=1 December 1995 |accessdate=20 September 2013 |last=Philips |first=Chuck |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022001021/http://chuckphilipspost.com/ |archive-date=22 October 2013 |url-status=dead }} Tupac pointed to, among others, Henchman and Biggie.{{cite news |title=Tupac Interview for VIBE Magazine |url= http://hiphop.sh/tupac-vibe |work=VIBE |date= April 1995 | last=Powell |first=Kevin}}Jason Rodriguez, [https://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/pit-of-snakes-2pacs-quad-studios-shooting-excerpt-from-sept-2011-issue "Pit of snakes"], XXL magazine, Sep 2011. Blaming Henchman and Haitian Jack for the setup, Tupac accused Biggie of withholding prior knowledge.

The day after the shooting Tupac was convicted in a Manhattan court of sexual assault. On February 14, 1995, he was sentenced to at least a year and a half in prison. In March, 2Pac's third album, Me Against the World, was released with Stretch removed from its track "So Many Tears." In a jailhouse interview published in April, Tupac discusses the November shooting and Stretch, incidentally 6'8":

"I was, like, 'What should I do?' I’m thinking Stretch is going to fight; he was towering over those niggas. From what I know about the criminal element, if niggas come to rob you, they always hit the big nigga first. But they didn’t touch Stretch; they came straight to me."

In the interview, Tupac reflected,

{{Blockquote|text=Stretch was my closest dog, my closest homie. I did a lot of drama, I got into a lot of cases and shit because of Stretch. Money-wise, he could've had anything. His daughter was my daughter; whatever she wanted she could have. Then this shit happened and the nigga didn't ride for me. He didn't do what your dog is supposed to do when you shot up. When I was in jail, nigga never wrote me, never got at me. His homeboys was coming to see me and he wasn't coming to see me. And he started hanging around Biggie right after this. I'm in jail, shot up, his main dog, and he hanging out going to shows with Biggie. Both these niggas never came to see me.{{cite magazine |title=Tupac Interview for Source Magazine |url= https://2paclegacy.net/tupac-interview-source-magazine-march-1996/ |magazine=Source|date= March 1996 | last=Strange|first=Adario}}|author=Tupac Shakur|source=Source magazine, March 1996|title=}}

No strong evidence emerged to implicate Stretch in the crime. Publicly responding, Stretch contended, "Pac's saying all this shit in the interview, like, 'I thought that Stretch was gonna fight. He was towering over them.' Now, that nigga know I ain't never going out like no bitch. But I ain't dumb. I ain't got no gun, what the fuck am I supposed to do? I might be towering over niggas, but I ain't towering over no slugs."

Some reporting suggested forensics evidence that Tupac had shot himself. Stretch offered, "Me personally, I only heard one shot. ... Tupac got shot trying to go for his shit. He tried to go for his gun, and he made a mistake on his own. But I'll let him tell the world that. ... He tried to turn around and pull the joint out real quick, but niggas caught him. Grabbed his hand when it was by his waist."{{cite news |title=Stretch Interview for VIBE Magazine |url= http://www.2pacmania.de/fanlife-presse-vibe_14.php |work=VIBE |date= 1995 }}{{cite book |last=Scott |first=Cathy |year=1997 |title=The Killing of Tupac Shakur |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7ouBgAAQBAJ |publisher=Huffington Press |orig-year= 1st |pages=149 |isbn=9781935396543 |access-date=8 April 2016}}

{{Blockquote|text=Me and Pac have been down from day one. Before he did Juice, before his first album. That's my man. So the interview he did in Vibe bugged me out. But I know him. He likes to talk a lot. Especially when he's upset, he'll say shit that he won't even mean. And then he'll think about it later and be, like, "Damn, why the fuck did I say that?" ... In that interview, Pac was talking all that shit about Thug Life is ignorance and telling niggas' names and all that shit. I don't even understand why he went there. I've seen Pac mad times after the shooting and he never kicked none of that shit to me. You know how he feels about the media, so why would he go and do an interview like that? He's supposed to be a street nigga; he should've kept it in the street. I mean, niggas had to go and get their names changed. I want him to get a reality check. Recognize what the fuck he's doing. Niggas on the street live by rules, man. And that rule right there, that's a rule that's never to be broken.|author=Randy "Stretch" Walker|source=Vibe magazine, 1995|title=}}

Bill Courtney, retired New York Police Department officer, once with its infamous "Hip-Hop Squad," suggested that the stickup answered Tupac's comments, published in New York's Daily News,{{cite news |title=Two Smalls-Minded Women |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/gossip/smalls-minded-women-article-1.751140 |work=Daily News |location=New York |date= 6 January 1997 |accessdate= 8 April 2016 |last=Benza |first=A.J.}} about Jimmy Henchman's associate Haitian Jack, big in the Queens nightlife scene and criminal underworld. Haitain Jack and two other men had been indicted with Tupac for the November 1993 sexual assault on a woman in Tupac's hotel room, whereby Tupac was convicted on December 1, 1994.

By then, Haitian Jack had taken a misdemeanor plea deal for no jail time, and the newspaper published Tupac's gripe. The onetime "Hip-Hop Squad" officer hazards, "A message was being sent to him not to name-drop." Jimmy Henchman has since commented, "Nobody came to rob you. They came to discipline you."{{cite news|last=Philips|first=Chuck|date=12 June 2012|title=James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond Implicated Himself in 1994 Tupac Shakur Attack: Court Testimony|work=The Village Voice|url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/james-jimmy-henchman-rosemond-implicated-himself-in-1994-tupac-shakur-attack-court-testimony-6719276|accessdate=8 April 2016}}

On October 12, 1995, with bond posted via Suge Knight, former CEO of Death Row Records, and pending appeal, Tupac was released from prison in upstate New York. Joining the label in Los Angeles, Tupac feverishly recorded his fourth album, All Eyez on Me. Two tracks, in particular—"Ambitionz Az a Ridah" as well as "Holla At Me"—have lyrics that some people believe, though not proven, to be against Stretch, one envisioning his death.In "Ambitionz Az a Ridah", 2Pac raps, "Had bitch-ass niggas on my team / So, indeed, they wet me up". And in his first verse in "Holla At Me", 2Pac raps, "When me and you was homies / No one informed me it was all a scheme / You infiltrated my team and sold a nigga dreams / How could you do me like that? / I took ya family in / I put some cash in ya pocket / Made you a man again ... You're a shell of a man / I lost respect for you, nigga / We can never be friends / I know I'm runnin' through your head now / What could you do? / If it was up to you, I'd be dead now / I let the world know, nigga, you a coward / You could never be Live—until you die / See the motherfuckin' bitch in your eye".

By the album's release on February 13, 1996, Stretch was already dead. Released a few months later, in July 1996, the sophomore album, It Was Written, by rapper Nas, from Queensbridge in Queens, had Live Squad production on two tracks, "Take It In Blood" as well as "Silent Murder," from Stretch's final recording session exactly one year after the November 30, 1994, shooting of Tupac.Nas recalls, "I met Stretch by some dangerous cats that I was hanging with. They put me with Stretch, who they were cool with. Stretch became my brother immediately. He wasn’t really recognized for the great work he was doing with Tupac and the hardcore records he did with his own group Live Squad with his brother Majesty. ... Stretch was really hurt by Tupac. I would hear him talking about how Pac was so mad at him because Stretch was with Tupac when he got set up and robbed in the studio lobby. Tupac was mad at everyone after that. I felt bad for Stretch because he really had a lot of love for Pac and he couldn’t believe that Pac thought he had something to do with it. [After the recording session,] Stretch dropped me off at home and went home and he was killed. That was a real great guy. He produced "Take It In Blood" and "Silent Murder"—the irony. It was just a messed-up moment for me. It was the last work he did. Very sad" [Insanul Ahmed & Rob Kenner, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120629172316/http://www.complex.com/music/2012/05/the-making-of-nas-it-was-written/take-it-in-blood "The making of Nas' 'It Was Written' "], Complex.com, Complex Music, 25 May 2012, archived from original on 29 Jun 2012].

On November 30, 1995, Stretch was on his way to a Biggie Smalls event after leaving the Nas recording session at midnight. He dropped off his own brother Majesty at his Queens Village home. Two or three men in a black car pulled up beside Stretch's green minivan, and gave chase, firing from a rolled down window. Stretch crashed at 112th Avenue and 209th Street, just after 12:30 AM. He was found dead with four bullets to his back.

In one theory, Stretch had robbed "a big drug dealer of over 10 bricks". Despite the "pressure on the street," he refused to return the over 10 kilograms of cocaine, and this is why "a hit was issued."{{cite news |title=Sources: Death Of Stretch Walker No Accident, Drug Hit |url=https://allhiphop.com/2007/04/18/sources-death-of-stretch-walker-no-accident-drug-hit/ |work=allhiphop.com |publisher=AllHipHop.com |date= 18 April 2007 |accessdate= 8 April 2016 |last=Strong |first=Nolan}} In April 2007, via separate investigation into the murder of Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC, in his native Jamaica, Queens, federal prosecutors named Ronald "Tenad" Washington as a suspect in both murders.[http://www.today.com/id/18159877 Suspect named in '02 slaying of Jam Master Jay] Washington would eventually be indicted for Jam Master Jay's murder in August 2020;{{Cite news|last1=Southall|first1=Ashley|last2=Rashbaum|first2=William K.|date=August 17, 2020|title=2 Are Arrested in Killing of Jam Master Jay, Hip-Hop Pioneer|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/17/nyregion/Jam-master-Jay-murder-arrests.html|access-date=January 22, 2024|issn=0362-4331}} Washington's trial would then begin in January 2024,{{cite news|url=https://www.fox5ny.com/video/1399295|title=Jury selection begins in Jam Master Jay murder trial|publisher=Fox 5 New York|date=2024-01-22|access-date=2024-01-22}}{{cite news|url=https://pix11.com/news/local-news/brooklyn/dozens-probed-during-jury-selection-for-2-accused-in-jam-master-jay-murder/|title=Dozens probed during jury selection for 2 accused in Jam Master Jay murder|first=Mira|last=Wassef|publisher=PIX11|date=22 January 2024|accessdate=22 January 2024}} and he, along with another defendant, would be convicted for Jam Master Jay's murder in February 2024.{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jam-master-jay-run-dmc-murder-trial-rcna139699|title=2 men found guilty of murder in Jam Master Jay killing|first=Dennis|last=Romero|publisher=NBC News|date=February 27, 2024|accessdate=March 5, 2024}}{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2024/02/27/jam-master-jay-run-dmc-murder-verdict/72762332007/|title=Jam Master Jay murder: 2 men convicted nearly 22 years after Run-DMC's rapper's death|publisher=USA Today|accessdate=2024-03-05}}

After Tupac's death in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, in September 1996, a Live Squad production, the track "Nothing to Lose," appeared on the first posthumous 2Pac album, released in 1997, R U Still Down? (Remember Me). Released in 1997, Greatest Hits has the cryptic "God Bless the Dead," dedicated to "Biggy Smallz," but not the famed Live Squad and onetime 2Pac associate Biggie Smalls who is otherwise called The Notorious B.I.G., and instead a Latino rapper who worked with one of 2Pac's main producers, Johnny J.{{cite news |title=Would the real Biggie Smalls please stand up? |url=http://33jones.com/blogentry.asp?EID=1052 |work=33jones.com |publisher=33jones |date= 10 December 2009 |accessdate= 8 April 2016 }}

In 1999, a promotional release for The Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous album Born Again, has a Bad Boy remix of "House of Pain," featuring Stretch and 2Pac. Stretch's brother Majesty founded Grand Imperial Records jointly with rapper E-MoneyBags. He was killed in July 2001, allegedly by order of Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a suspect behind the murder of Jam Master Jay;{{cite news |title= Two Charged In E-Money Bags Slaying |url= http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/65563/two-charged-in-e-money-bags-slaying |work= allhiphop.com |publisher=Billboard |date= 19 November 2004 |accessdate= 9 April 2016 |agency= Associated Press}} McGriff would eventually be convicted for E-MoneyBags' murder and be sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2007.{{cite news |title=Infamous NYC drug lord with rap music ties gets life without parole for 2 slayings | url=https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/news/state/2007/02/10/infamous-nyc-drug-lord-with/52971967007/ | first=Larry |last=Shane |publisher=southcoastoday.com |date= 10 February 2007 |accessdate= 22 January 2024}}{{cite web | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna17073926 | title=Drug lord with hip-hop ties gets life in prison | website=NBC News | date=10 February 2007 }} In 2001, Majesty released the Live Squad album that Tommy Boy Records had nixed, Game Of Survival.

• List of murdered hip hop musicians
• List of unsolved murders

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.discogs.com/artist/173627-Stretch-4 Stretch] at Discogs
• [https://www.discogs.com/artist/173786-Live-Squad Live Squad] at Discogs
• {{IMDb name|0834280|Stretch}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080619091145/http://www.live-squad.com/ Live Squad Fan Site] (archived)

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Category:1968 births

Category:1995 deaths

Category:1995 murders in the United States

Category:20th-century African-American male actors

Category:20th-century American male actors

Category:20th-century American male musicians

Category:20th-century American rappers

Category:African-American male rappers

Category:20th-century American male rappers

Category:American rappers of Jamaican descent

Category:Deaths by firearm in Queens, New York

Category:Gangsta rappers

Category:Murdered African-American people

Category:Rappers from Queens, New York

Category:Unsolved murders in New York City

Category:20th-century African-American musicians