The 1995 Source Awards was the most famous year of the short-lived ceremony, but one of its most forgotten moments involved Tupac and A Tribe Called Quest.

During a recent interview with former Source Magazine head Benzino and publisher Dave Mays, from N.O.R.E.’s Drink Champs podcast, more details about what happened a year earlier leading to the tumultuous 1995 edition were unearthed. According to Benzino, while Tribe was receiving their award for “Best Group,” Tupac got on stage and snatched the mic from them and proceeded to perform his song “Out on Bail.”  

“We knew nothing about this, my n***a," Benzino explained. "[Somebody in the entourage] went to the sound-man and told the n***a, ‘Yo, you gonna put this in there' — the 'Out on Bail’ song… nobody knew that; they just had him hostage."

“He just went up there and Q-Tip was saying his speech, and [Tupac] just grabbed the [microphone] and said, ‘Yo, throw that sh*t on. Out on bail!‘“ he continued. “All them n****s just started [going crazy]. The music came on and he ripped that sh*t.”

Prior to telling the story, Benzino explained that the security was rather light during the earlier years of the Source Awards. He also says that Tribe member Ali Shaheed Muhammad was crying and distraught backstage after what went down. This was in no way the beginning of the East/West beef, but it certainly didn’t help the two coasts come together.

Watch the full interview segment between N.O.R.E., Benzino and Dave Mays below.