Tweet
In mid 2008, I decided that I wanted to start my own 2Pac site. The reason for this was because I had noticed since the fall of MrMakaveli, that there was no 2Pac site on the internet that was doing things right. There were other sites, but each one had a lot of problems such as having admins that were never around, having lazy admins, being ugly, being unorganized, begging for donations to keep the site running, advertisements everywhere, etc.
I wanted to build a site to fix all of this and do things right. My idea was a site that would ALWAYS be 100% free. No donations or advertisements, ever. An admin who knew what he was doing, since he works in the IT Industry as an administrator. I wanted the site to be organized, clean, and to look good, as well as being as fast as possible. I wanted to have a smart promotions system with actual incentives to post and get to higher usergroup levels. I wanted to provide all the 2Pac content possible, while not having to worry about dying links, wait times, slow download speeds etc. I wanted a site that would be mobile friendly, with access to all the sites contents and features from phones and tablets, as well as computers. I wanted a site where people could chat, publicly or privately, and share information and ideas, and where the staff would be friendly, helpful, and fair.
I started building this site on 1 June 2008. I quickly realized that I could do just about everything on the site, except design, as I had no web design/photoshop skills. On 2 June 2008 I went to my buddy PNC, and asked if he was interested in helping. He was, and immediately got to work designing the sites first style.
On 5 June 2008, we were ready to open. The original site name was www.makaveli-forum.net, and we also had www.makaveli-forum.com as an alias domain. The original staff members were:
007 - Administrator
PNC - Global Moderator/Web Designer
Native Pride - Super Moderator
Princess K - Super Moderator
Chantal - Moderator
Chuck Dirty - Moderator
V.C. - Moderator
Suwu - Moderator
Kace - Moderator
Makaveli Forum Grand Opening
Later on, we picked up Plato as a moderator as well.
As time went on, I realized new possibilities of ideas that could be incorporated into this site. This thread will outline the major things that were added to the site, or major changes that took place.
Later on in 2008, we switched the primary domain to being www.makaveli-forum.com, with www.makaveli-forum.net being the alias.
In February 2009, after receiving months of criticism for being too similar to MB, we decided to change the name, and incorporate Biggie into the site. I registered www.notorious-makaveli.com and www.notorious-makaveli.net, and made the .com the primary, with .net, and the makaveli-forum domains as alias'.
Notorious-Makaveli.com
In April of 2009, I had a series of discussions with the staff at MB, and we squashed all beef's and vowed to work together as partners to take no the 2Pac scene and keep 2Pac's legacy alive.
In May of 2009, the admin at MB decided he no longer wanted to run the site. He let the site expire, and stopped paying the hosting. This caused the web host to delete the site. A little bit later, one of the other staff members who had an old backup of the site restored it to that point, and MB continued on. The restore was from 2007, so over 2 years of posts were completely gone. Because of this, alot of the members, especially those who started after 2007 joined our site and have stayed here since.
Makaveli-Board.net
In December of 2009 we moved from GoDaddy web hosting to HostGator web hosting, due to problems with GoDaddy being too slow and down alot.
New Web Host
In March of 2010, we released NM Radio. It was running on an old computer in my basement and streamed commercial free 2Pac, Biggie, and Death Row 24/7.
NM Radio
In October 2010, I bought a new computer to run as Radio/FTP Server. It replaced the old one running the radio, and provided much more uptime and better bandwidth. Around this time I also got Verizon FIOS to add a dedicated internet line for just the server computer for the best possible speeds.
Radio/FTP Server
On 25 November 2010, we released the mobile site. This included a style that would automatically be selected when using a mobile device. The style is heavily optimized for mobile devices. We also added the tapatalk plugin to the site, allowing the app to be used to access the site via mobile devices or tablets.
Mobile Site
From 25 December 2010 - 31 December 2010 we celebrated the 007 days of Christmas, where we brought 7 days of
leaks over the holidays.
007 Days of Christmas
On 1 January 2011 we announced our plans for 2011 to include:
Upgrading the site from vBulletin 3 to vBulletin 4
The Reference Section
Homepage
NM Video
Interviews
And a surprise on the 15th Anniversary of Pac's death (13 September 2011)
2011 Announcements
On 17 January 2011 we upgraded to vBulletin 4
vBulletin 4
On 20 January 2011 we added the "Home" page.
Forum Home
On 2 February 2011 we released NM Video, which is just like NM Radio, except it streams video content 24/7, without commercials. We normally stream videos that you can't find elsewhere. We streamed the Ohio concert footage along with the release of NM Video, which was the first time ever the public got to see the footage.
NM Video
On 17 February 2011, we released the "NM All in One Gadget" which is a Windows Sidebar app that can be used to quickly access areas of the site, get RSS updates about the site, Listen to NM Radio, and play games.
NM All In One Gadget
On 5 June 2011 for the 3rd sites birthday, we released the mobile radio. This is a new feature added to the NM Radio that allows it to be played via app's on mobile devices. This means you can stream the radio from my basement server, straight to your phone, anywhere, anytime.
Mobile Radio
On 4 July 2011 we changed the sites URL to www.2pac-forum.com, as we felt that the Biggie section just couldn't keep up with the 2Pac section, and the entire staff admittedly was much more interested in Pac than Biggie. All the old domains and a new one, www.2pac-forum.net stuck around as an alias.
www.2pac-forum.com
On 13 July 2011 our site had grown to the point where shared hosting at HostGator was not enough power. Because of this, I upgraded us to our own Dedicated Virtual Server with HostGator. With this server came MUCH more power and alot more control for me over what I could do on the site. Our speed issues were resolved damn near overnight, making the site much faster.
New Server
On 13 September 2011 we released the reference section, which I truly believe is the single greatest undertaking in the history of the 2Pac scene. We also announced that there were at least 5 more phases to the reference section that would be released over the coming years.
REFERENCE SECTION - 13 SEPTEMBER 2011 - RIP 2PAC - 15 YEARS
On 30 December 2011 we released the video archive part of the reference section, which almost doubled the size of the already massive reference section.
Video Archive
On 1 January 2012 we announced that work was well underway on 4 more phases of the reference section and that some would be releasing in 2012. We also had a few other announcements on things that would be happening on the site throughout the year.
Announcements - 1 Jan 2012
By late 2011/early 2012 the site had grown in size yet again, and even our new server was starting to have some issues with speed. I upgraded us again to a higher level server, and over the weekend of 10-11 March 2012, I spent about 48 hours straight rewriting and recoding all of the templates on the site, and adding features such as CDN & CSS Spriting to really increase our speeds. I also upgraded us to the latest PHP version. and vBulletin version. All this resulted in much faster speeds yet again.
Site Upgrades/Performance Increases
Also in March 2012, I got rid of the shoutbox from our main site, and added it to the server in my basement, that was currently hosting the FTP/NM Radio/NM Video. I then used some streaming code to "stream" the shoutbox from my server to our HostGator server, and have it display just like it did before. Of all the modifications on this site, the shoutbox is BY FAR the most resource intensive. By doing this, it put the strain of the shoutbox on my server at home, which isnt affected by the strain from the rest of the site, and took the shoutbox strain off of the main site here. The result was speeds that I never thought possible on a VB4 forum site. I am very happy with the speed of the site since then.
Shoutbox Upgrades Part 1, 2, 3, & 4
On 1 April 2012 we reached 10,000 registered members. With the release we added another mobile app, called Forum Runner to the site for use on mobile devices/tablets. We also started purchasing the tapatalk or forumrunner app for any member with 50 posts or more who was interested in it.
10000 Members
On the 4th site birthday (5 June 2012) we released the Mixtape Archive, which includes the best tapes in the scenes history, in similar style and format to the Reference Section, with no worries about dead or broken links.
We also announced the release of the Versions phase of the Reference Section, that would be released on 2Pac's 41'st birthday.
Versions Reference Announcement
On 16 June 2012, we released Reference Versions. The Versions contains every version of every non-retail 2Pac song ever made. It is laid out in the same style and format as the rest of the Reference Section.
We also announced that work was well under way for part 5 of the Reference Section, the Gallery.
Versions Reference
On 7 September 2012, we announced the Gallery Reference. The gallery is a picture gallery of just about every 2Pac picture ever released. It is all organized by date and era, in the best quality possible.
Reference Gallery Announcement
On 13 September 2012, we released the Gallery Reference and announced that work was beginning on yet another phase of the Reference section.
Reference Gallery
On 13 September 2012 after the release of Gallery Reference, we entered what I call the "Era of Interviews" on the site, where we conducted a huge number of interviews with people who knew Pac and began releasing them almost every single week.
2F Interviews
On 13 July 2012 we released the homepage, which has news and updates, and showcases some of the best and most popular features of the site. It will be updated frequently whenever new features/projects/sections are released, or when any exclusive content or news is brought to the site.
Homepage
On 02 November 2012 we released the Dark Wisdom and Dark Wisdom 2 themes. The themes are professionally made and became very popular on the site.
Dark Wisdom Themes
In November 2012 we started having Friday updates every once in a while to bring new releases and updates to the forum. On December 7th, we had a Friday update, and then from that date on, continued to have Friday updates for over a year straight.
07 December 2012 Friday Update
On 25 December 2012 we started the "007 Days of Christmas" again, taking us through the end of 2012
2012 007 Days of Christmas
On 31 December 2012 we started the tradition of making a "Year in Review" thread, which links to all the major 2Pac events that took place on the site, in the scene, and in the news/world for the past year.
2012: A Year in Review
On 1 January 2013, in keeping with the yearly tradition, we made several announcements for the year 2013 including:
The future of the Reference Section
Upcoming Interviews
DJ releases
Member Interviews
Competitions
Member of the Year for 2012
A big Gobi Announcement
2013 Announcements
On 5 June 2013 we celebrated the 5th birthday of the site. A special titled "The Making of All Eyez On Me: Book 1" was released, along with a trailer for an upcoming interview with Nanci Fletcher. It is the first time ever she has been interviewed.
We also announced the release of the Timeline & Flash Timeline phase of the Reference Section, to be released on 2Pac's 42nd birthday.
2Pac Forum's 5th Birthday Bash
On 16 June 2013 we released the Timeline Reference part of the Reference Section and announced that work was beginning on Phase 7 & 8.
Reference Timeline
On 06 September 2013 we had the 40th Friday Update in a row, which included the announcement of the Phase 6 of the Reference Section, the Handwritten Track Listings, Poems, Notes, & Lyrics section. We also announced that the already super massive Reference Section has been expanded to 10 total phases.
06 September 2013 Friday Update
On 13 September 2013 we released the Handwritten Track Listings, Poems, Notes, & Lyrics section of the Reference. It includes every piece of handwritten work by 2Pac, organized, and put into the Reference Section style and format.
13-September-2013 - RIP 2Pac 17 Years
On 8 October 2013 we started the first of 3 competitions, in which the winners received a copy of the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's, provided by RJ Bond for the site. The first competition was an Activity competition.
Competition 1: Activity
On 23 October 2013 we started the 2nd competition for the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's. The second comeptition was a "Best Thread" competition.
Competition 2: Thread
On 15 November 2013 we started teh 3rd and final competition for the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's. This competition had many more prizes as well. The first place winner received the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's, an XXL Magazine provided by the member 122, and the Murder Rap book provided by Greg Kading. The 2nd place winner received the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's and the XXL Magzine. The 3rd place winner received the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's.
Competition 3: Remix
On 29 November 2013 we had the 52nd Friday Update in a row. This means we brought new updates and releases every single Friday for a full year.
One Year of Friday Updates!
On 13 December 2013 we announced that on 11 December 2013, our sites total posts surpassed that of another site which was the highest post count in scene history. Our site, for the previous year or two, had already been the most active, and we had the most number of total threads and members, but we did not have the most total posts. As of 11 December 2013, that is no longer true. Not only did we pass the other site, but we did it in 2 years less time. The other site started in 2006, and us in 2008. This means we became the largest site in scenes history, 2 years faster than any other site, ever.
Largest 2Pac Site in Scenes History
On 25 December 2013 we released volume 2 of the "Original Death Row Sessions" special, by L-Booma.
Original Death Row Sessions Volume 2
On 31 December 2013 we continued the tradition started the previous year of summing up the entire year into one thread. This thread links to all the major 2Pac events that took place on the site, in the scene, and in the news/world for the past year.
2013: A Year in Review
Below is a list of every member who has been staff since the site started, and the dates they were in each position. I will give a brief description of some of the ones who had a large impact on this site.
Administrator
007 = June 2008 - Present
Designers/Chief Engineers
P.N.C. = October 2008 - March 2011
Bushi = May 2009 - March 2011
Princess K = September 2009 - August 2010
Draven = December 2010 - June 2012
Nikola = December 2010 - February 2012
FNF = June 2012 - June 2013
Frasser = May 2013 - June 2014, February 2016 - Present
Larsverb = June 2013 - September 2018
Adoutlaw = October 2018 - Present
Global Moderators
P.N.C. = June 2008 - October 2008
James = January 2009 - February 2009
Troy = February 2009 - November 2009, August 2010 - January 2011
Chuck = June 2009 - August 2010, August 2010 - January 2011
MarkyMark = January 2011 - March 2012
Fatal = February 2011 - March 2012
Papaveli = March 2012 - June 2014, February 2016 - September 2018
Big G.O.V. = March 2012 - June 2013
Larsverb = June 2013 - July 2013
Exodus = July 2013 - Present
Frasser = June 2014 - February 2016
BigR = October 2018 - Present
Super Moderators
Troy = June 2008 - February 2009
Princess K = June 2008 - September 2009
SuWu = June 2008 - September 2008
Chantal = March 2009 - April 2009
Chuck = April 2009 - June 2009
OneAlien = May 2009 - July 2010
Bobby = May 2009 - July 2010
NaziSpic = June 2009 - November 2009
FNF = November 2009 - February 2011
Mark = July 2010 - January 2011
Gov = July 2010 - September 2010, December 2010 - March 2012, July 2013 - July 2014, October 2018 - Present
Bob (Papaveli) = September 2010 - March 2012
Schreibs21 = Janurary 2011 - July 2011
Exodus = February 2011 - June 2011, May 2013 - July 2013
2Lek = July 2011 - January 2013
MrMaroosh = March 2012 - May 2013
Larsverb = March 2012 - June 2013
Djukak = January 2013 - April 2014, October 2018 - Present
Adoutlaw = June 2013 - October 2018
MCNewYork71 = April 2014 - September 2018
BigR = March 2017 - October 2018
Moderators
Chantal = June 2008 - March 2009
Chuck = June 2008 - January 2009, March 2009 - April 2009
VC = June 2008 - November 2009
Kace = June 2008 - August 2008
SuWu = September 2008 - February 2009
James = December 2008 - January 2009
NaziSpic = March 2009 - June 2009, November 2009 - February 2010
Uel = April 2009 - November 2009, December 2010 - July 2011
Franco = May 2009 - July 2009, December 2010 - March 2011
Thugz = May 2009 - June 2009
Max = May 2009 - August 2009
BuCa = June 2009 - July 2009
Mark = June 2009 - July 2010, March 2012 - March 2012
Burns = July 2009 - August 2009
Monroe = August 2009 - October 2009
FNF = September 2009 - November 2009, March 2012 - March 2012, April 2012 - June 2012
Mexican-Man = November 2009 - July 2010, December 2010 - July 2011, September 2018 - Present
Scorpion (Papaveli) = November 2009 - September 2010
Jarek = November 2009 - March 2011
Gov = December 2009 - July 2010, September 2010 - December 2010, March 2017 - October 2018
Exodus = February 2010 - February 2011, June 2012 - May 2013
2Lek = February 2010 - July 2011, January 2013 - June 2013
OneAlien = July 2010 - July 2010
Bobby = July 2010 - March 2011
Shmosh = January 2011 - July 2011
Frasser = March 2011 - March 2012
Adoutlaw = April 2011 - June 2013
LarsVerb = June 2011 - March 2012
Djukak = July 2011 - January 2013, April 2014 - October 2018
MjjPac = March 2012 - May 2013
MCNewYork71 = May 2013 - April 2014, October 2018 - Present
Omar = May 2013 - June 2014
GreenL420 = June 2013 - February 2016
Kevin = June 2013 - November 2016
BigR = July 2014 - March 2017
HC = March 2017 - October 2017
Blacpain = October 2018 - Present
Steez = November 2021 - Present
PNC ([MENTION=5]Kalogerus) was the original designer who created all the original styles on the site. He stopped being active around 2010 when he went to school.
[MENTION=14]Native Pride was my boy since my days on MB. He helped start the site as an early staff member and worked hard on things like the unreleased master list from back in the day before all the leaks started. Troy is still around on the site but spends alot more time with his family now.
[MENTION=11]Princess K was someone I knew on MB, who was good friends with PNC. PNC recommended her to me, and she quickly became one of the most contributing members of the site. She stopped being active when she started focusing on her new job.
[MENTION=20]Chantal, [MENTION=3698]LC7 has been a long time member of the scene, and someone I asked to help out from MB. She was one of the most knowledgeable people on Pac. She stopped being active on the scene when she started to focus on work and school. She still pop in from time to time.
[MENTION=8]Chuck Dirty was someone I didn't know to well from MB, but I brought him over as a mod. Over the years he became my right hand man and rose to be the 2nd in command of this site. He helped maintain control on the site throughout alot of the leaks. We were a good team because I have a tendancy to be too nice to members who fuck up, and he can be too harsh, and we kept eachother in check and made the right decisions for the site. Unfortunately me and him had a falling out at which point he left the site.
[MENTION=6]Vance Cuddlesworth (VC) was an original staff member who helped mod the site in the early days. He left the scene to focus on school a couple years ago.
[MENTION=7]SuWu was another original staff member who I was buddies with over on MB. He still pops in from time to time, but has mostly left the scene.
[MENTION=12]kace was from MB and someone I brought over to help mod the site. She eventually decided she would rather be at MB than here and left the site.
[MENTION=13]Plato is my boy from MB and one of my best buddies in the scene for years. He is the one who came up with the idea to change to notorious makaveli. He isnt as active on the site anymore, as he doesnt really do the forum thing anymore, but I still talk to him all the time off site.
[MENTION=624]Bushi is a web designer who was on MB. He came over to this site after MB got reset back to 2007. He was recommended by Chuck to be a web designer on the site. He helped build styles and graphics for the site, and along with Chuck, recommended two other designers, Draven & Nikola.
[MENTION=369]Nikola is another one who was recommended by Bushi. Nikola came on as web designer and helped with the original VB4 styles. He created the "Nikola Style" which is the 2nd most popular style on the site.
[MENTION=691]MarkyMark is someone who's been member since almost the beginning of the site. He quickly became a mod and stayed that way for a long time. He rose from moderator to super moderator to global moderator. He is no longer staff due to work taking up a large portion of his time, causing him to not be as active, he but is still around and an OG member of the site.
[MENTION=1169]Big Tony (Schreibs21) is someone I brought on to help with the Death Row part of the site. The Death Row section quickly became one of the most active parts on the sites due to Schreibs help. He worked with a few other members to start the Death Row Reference section. Schreibs is still around but is not active on the scene anymore due to work and other responsibilities.
I wanted to build a site to fix all of this and do things right. My idea was a site that would ALWAYS be 100% free. No donations or advertisements, ever. An admin who knew what he was doing, since he works in the IT Industry as an administrator. I wanted the site to be organized, clean, and to look good, as well as being as fast as possible. I wanted to have a smart promotions system with actual incentives to post and get to higher usergroup levels. I wanted to provide all the 2Pac content possible, while not having to worry about dying links, wait times, slow download speeds etc. I wanted a site that would be mobile friendly, with access to all the sites contents and features from phones and tablets, as well as computers. I wanted a site where people could chat, publicly or privately, and share information and ideas, and where the staff would be friendly, helpful, and fair.
I started building this site on 1 June 2008. I quickly realized that I could do just about everything on the site, except design, as I had no web design/photoshop skills. On 2 June 2008 I went to my buddy PNC, and asked if he was interested in helping. He was, and immediately got to work designing the sites first style.
On 5 June 2008, we were ready to open. The original site name was www.makaveli-forum.net, and we also had www.makaveli-forum.com as an alias domain. The original staff members were:
007 - Administrator
PNC - Global Moderator/Web Designer
Native Pride - Super Moderator
Princess K - Super Moderator
Chantal - Moderator
Chuck Dirty - Moderator
V.C. - Moderator
Suwu - Moderator
Kace - Moderator
Makaveli Forum Grand Opening
Later on, we picked up Plato as a moderator as well.
As time went on, I realized new possibilities of ideas that could be incorporated into this site. This thread will outline the major things that were added to the site, or major changes that took place.
Later on in 2008, we switched the primary domain to being www.makaveli-forum.com, with www.makaveli-forum.net being the alias.
In February 2009, after receiving months of criticism for being too similar to MB, we decided to change the name, and incorporate Biggie into the site. I registered www.notorious-makaveli.com and www.notorious-makaveli.net, and made the .com the primary, with .net, and the makaveli-forum domains as alias'.
Notorious-Makaveli.com
In April of 2009, I had a series of discussions with the staff at MB, and we squashed all beef's and vowed to work together as partners to take no the 2Pac scene and keep 2Pac's legacy alive.
In May of 2009, the admin at MB decided he no longer wanted to run the site. He let the site expire, and stopped paying the hosting. This caused the web host to delete the site. A little bit later, one of the other staff members who had an old backup of the site restored it to that point, and MB continued on. The restore was from 2007, so over 2 years of posts were completely gone. Because of this, alot of the members, especially those who started after 2007 joined our site and have stayed here since.
Makaveli-Board.net
In December of 2009 we moved from GoDaddy web hosting to HostGator web hosting, due to problems with GoDaddy being too slow and down alot.
New Web Host
In March of 2010, we released NM Radio. It was running on an old computer in my basement and streamed commercial free 2Pac, Biggie, and Death Row 24/7.
NM Radio
In October 2010, I bought a new computer to run as Radio/FTP Server. It replaced the old one running the radio, and provided much more uptime and better bandwidth. Around this time I also got Verizon FIOS to add a dedicated internet line for just the server computer for the best possible speeds.
Radio/FTP Server
On 25 November 2010, we released the mobile site. This included a style that would automatically be selected when using a mobile device. The style is heavily optimized for mobile devices. We also added the tapatalk plugin to the site, allowing the app to be used to access the site via mobile devices or tablets.
Mobile Site
From 25 December 2010 - 31 December 2010 we celebrated the 007 days of Christmas, where we brought 7 days of
leaks over the holidays.
007 Days of Christmas
On 1 January 2011 we announced our plans for 2011 to include:
Upgrading the site from vBulletin 3 to vBulletin 4
The Reference Section
Homepage
NM Video
Interviews
And a surprise on the 15th Anniversary of Pac's death (13 September 2011)
2011 Announcements
On 17 January 2011 we upgraded to vBulletin 4
vBulletin 4
On 20 January 2011 we added the "Home" page.
Forum Home
On 2 February 2011 we released NM Video, which is just like NM Radio, except it streams video content 24/7, without commercials. We normally stream videos that you can't find elsewhere. We streamed the Ohio concert footage along with the release of NM Video, which was the first time ever the public got to see the footage.
NM Video
On 17 February 2011, we released the "NM All in One Gadget" which is a Windows Sidebar app that can be used to quickly access areas of the site, get RSS updates about the site, Listen to NM Radio, and play games.
NM All In One Gadget
On 5 June 2011 for the 3rd sites birthday, we released the mobile radio. This is a new feature added to the NM Radio that allows it to be played via app's on mobile devices. This means you can stream the radio from my basement server, straight to your phone, anywhere, anytime.
Mobile Radio
On 4 July 2011 we changed the sites URL to www.2pac-forum.com, as we felt that the Biggie section just couldn't keep up with the 2Pac section, and the entire staff admittedly was much more interested in Pac than Biggie. All the old domains and a new one, www.2pac-forum.net stuck around as an alias.
www.2pac-forum.com
On 13 July 2011 our site had grown to the point where shared hosting at HostGator was not enough power. Because of this, I upgraded us to our own Dedicated Virtual Server with HostGator. With this server came MUCH more power and alot more control for me over what I could do on the site. Our speed issues were resolved damn near overnight, making the site much faster.
New Server
On 13 September 2011 we released the reference section, which I truly believe is the single greatest undertaking in the history of the 2Pac scene. We also announced that there were at least 5 more phases to the reference section that would be released over the coming years.
REFERENCE SECTION - 13 SEPTEMBER 2011 - RIP 2PAC - 15 YEARS
On 30 December 2011 we released the video archive part of the reference section, which almost doubled the size of the already massive reference section.
Video Archive
On 1 January 2012 we announced that work was well underway on 4 more phases of the reference section and that some would be releasing in 2012. We also had a few other announcements on things that would be happening on the site throughout the year.
Announcements - 1 Jan 2012
By late 2011/early 2012 the site had grown in size yet again, and even our new server was starting to have some issues with speed. I upgraded us again to a higher level server, and over the weekend of 10-11 March 2012, I spent about 48 hours straight rewriting and recoding all of the templates on the site, and adding features such as CDN & CSS Spriting to really increase our speeds. I also upgraded us to the latest PHP version. and vBulletin version. All this resulted in much faster speeds yet again.
Site Upgrades/Performance Increases
Also in March 2012, I got rid of the shoutbox from our main site, and added it to the server in my basement, that was currently hosting the FTP/NM Radio/NM Video. I then used some streaming code to "stream" the shoutbox from my server to our HostGator server, and have it display just like it did before. Of all the modifications on this site, the shoutbox is BY FAR the most resource intensive. By doing this, it put the strain of the shoutbox on my server at home, which isnt affected by the strain from the rest of the site, and took the shoutbox strain off of the main site here. The result was speeds that I never thought possible on a VB4 forum site. I am very happy with the speed of the site since then.
Shoutbox Upgrades Part 1, 2, 3, & 4
On 1 April 2012 we reached 10,000 registered members. With the release we added another mobile app, called Forum Runner to the site for use on mobile devices/tablets. We also started purchasing the tapatalk or forumrunner app for any member with 50 posts or more who was interested in it.
10000 Members
On the 4th site birthday (5 June 2012) we released the Mixtape Archive, which includes the best tapes in the scenes history, in similar style and format to the Reference Section, with no worries about dead or broken links.
We also announced the release of the Versions phase of the Reference Section, that would be released on 2Pac's 41'st birthday.
Versions Reference Announcement
On 16 June 2012, we released Reference Versions. The Versions contains every version of every non-retail 2Pac song ever made. It is laid out in the same style and format as the rest of the Reference Section.
We also announced that work was well under way for part 5 of the Reference Section, the Gallery.
Versions Reference
On 7 September 2012, we announced the Gallery Reference. The gallery is a picture gallery of just about every 2Pac picture ever released. It is all organized by date and era, in the best quality possible.
Reference Gallery Announcement
On 13 September 2012, we released the Gallery Reference and announced that work was beginning on yet another phase of the Reference section.
Reference Gallery
On 13 September 2012 after the release of Gallery Reference, we entered what I call the "Era of Interviews" on the site, where we conducted a huge number of interviews with people who knew Pac and began releasing them almost every single week.
2F Interviews
On 13 July 2012 we released the homepage, which has news and updates, and showcases some of the best and most popular features of the site. It will be updated frequently whenever new features/projects/sections are released, or when any exclusive content or news is brought to the site.
Homepage
On 02 November 2012 we released the Dark Wisdom and Dark Wisdom 2 themes. The themes are professionally made and became very popular on the site.
Dark Wisdom Themes
In November 2012 we started having Friday updates every once in a while to bring new releases and updates to the forum. On December 7th, we had a Friday update, and then from that date on, continued to have Friday updates for over a year straight.
07 December 2012 Friday Update
On 25 December 2012 we started the "007 Days of Christmas" again, taking us through the end of 2012
2012 007 Days of Christmas
On 31 December 2012 we started the tradition of making a "Year in Review" thread, which links to all the major 2Pac events that took place on the site, in the scene, and in the news/world for the past year.
2012: A Year in Review
On 1 January 2013, in keeping with the yearly tradition, we made several announcements for the year 2013 including:
The future of the Reference Section
Upcoming Interviews
DJ releases
Member Interviews
Competitions
Member of the Year for 2012
A big Gobi Announcement
2013 Announcements
On 5 June 2013 we celebrated the 5th birthday of the site. A special titled "The Making of All Eyez On Me: Book 1" was released, along with a trailer for an upcoming interview with Nanci Fletcher. It is the first time ever she has been interviewed.
We also announced the release of the Timeline & Flash Timeline phase of the Reference Section, to be released on 2Pac's 42nd birthday.
2Pac Forum's 5th Birthday Bash
On 16 June 2013 we released the Timeline Reference part of the Reference Section and announced that work was beginning on Phase 7 & 8.
Reference Timeline
On 06 September 2013 we had the 40th Friday Update in a row, which included the announcement of the Phase 6 of the Reference Section, the Handwritten Track Listings, Poems, Notes, & Lyrics section. We also announced that the already super massive Reference Section has been expanded to 10 total phases.
06 September 2013 Friday Update
On 13 September 2013 we released the Handwritten Track Listings, Poems, Notes, & Lyrics section of the Reference. It includes every piece of handwritten work by 2Pac, organized, and put into the Reference Section style and format.
13-September-2013 - RIP 2Pac 17 Years
On 8 October 2013 we started the first of 3 competitions, in which the winners received a copy of the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's, provided by RJ Bond for the site. The first competition was an Activity competition.
Competition 1: Activity
On 23 October 2013 we started the 2nd competition for the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's. The second comeptition was a "Best Thread" competition.
Competition 2: Thread
On 15 November 2013 we started teh 3rd and final competition for the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's. This competition had many more prizes as well. The first place winner received the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's, an XXL Magazine provided by the member 122, and the Murder Rap book provided by Greg Kading. The 2nd place winner received the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's and the XXL Magzine. The 3rd place winner received the Tupac: Conspiracy and Tupac: Aftermath DVD's.
Competition 3: Remix
On 29 November 2013 we had the 52nd Friday Update in a row. This means we brought new updates and releases every single Friday for a full year.
One Year of Friday Updates!
On 13 December 2013 we announced that on 11 December 2013, our sites total posts surpassed that of another site which was the highest post count in scene history. Our site, for the previous year or two, had already been the most active, and we had the most number of total threads and members, but we did not have the most total posts. As of 11 December 2013, that is no longer true. Not only did we pass the other site, but we did it in 2 years less time. The other site started in 2006, and us in 2008. This means we became the largest site in scenes history, 2 years faster than any other site, ever.
Largest 2Pac Site in Scenes History
On 25 December 2013 we released volume 2 of the "Original Death Row Sessions" special, by L-Booma.
Original Death Row Sessions Volume 2
On 31 December 2013 we continued the tradition started the previous year of summing up the entire year into one thread. This thread links to all the major 2Pac events that took place on the site, in the scene, and in the news/world for the past year.
2013: A Year in Review
Below is a list of every member who has been staff since the site started, and the dates they were in each position. I will give a brief description of some of the ones who had a large impact on this site.
Administrator
007 = June 2008 - Present
Designers/Chief Engineers
P.N.C. = October 2008 - March 2011
Bushi = May 2009 - March 2011
Princess K = September 2009 - August 2010
Draven = December 2010 - June 2012
Nikola = December 2010 - February 2012
FNF = June 2012 - June 2013
Frasser = May 2013 - June 2014, February 2016 - Present
Larsverb = June 2013 - September 2018
Adoutlaw = October 2018 - Present
Global Moderators
P.N.C. = June 2008 - October 2008
James = January 2009 - February 2009
Troy = February 2009 - November 2009, August 2010 - January 2011
Chuck = June 2009 - August 2010, August 2010 - January 2011
MarkyMark = January 2011 - March 2012
Fatal = February 2011 - March 2012
Papaveli = March 2012 - June 2014, February 2016 - September 2018
Big G.O.V. = March 2012 - June 2013
Larsverb = June 2013 - July 2013
Exodus = July 2013 - Present
Frasser = June 2014 - February 2016
BigR = October 2018 - Present
Super Moderators
Troy = June 2008 - February 2009
Princess K = June 2008 - September 2009
SuWu = June 2008 - September 2008
Chantal = March 2009 - April 2009
Chuck = April 2009 - June 2009
OneAlien = May 2009 - July 2010
Bobby = May 2009 - July 2010
NaziSpic = June 2009 - November 2009
FNF = November 2009 - February 2011
Mark = July 2010 - January 2011
Gov = July 2010 - September 2010, December 2010 - March 2012, July 2013 - July 2014, October 2018 - Present
Bob (Papaveli) = September 2010 - March 2012
Schreibs21 = Janurary 2011 - July 2011
Exodus = February 2011 - June 2011, May 2013 - July 2013
2Lek = July 2011 - January 2013
MrMaroosh = March 2012 - May 2013
Larsverb = March 2012 - June 2013
Djukak = January 2013 - April 2014, October 2018 - Present
Adoutlaw = June 2013 - October 2018
MCNewYork71 = April 2014 - September 2018
BigR = March 2017 - October 2018
Moderators
Chantal = June 2008 - March 2009
Chuck = June 2008 - January 2009, March 2009 - April 2009
VC = June 2008 - November 2009
Kace = June 2008 - August 2008
SuWu = September 2008 - February 2009
James = December 2008 - January 2009
NaziSpic = March 2009 - June 2009, November 2009 - February 2010
Uel = April 2009 - November 2009, December 2010 - July 2011
Franco = May 2009 - July 2009, December 2010 - March 2011
Thugz = May 2009 - June 2009
Max = May 2009 - August 2009
BuCa = June 2009 - July 2009
Mark = June 2009 - July 2010, March 2012 - March 2012
Burns = July 2009 - August 2009
Monroe = August 2009 - October 2009
FNF = September 2009 - November 2009, March 2012 - March 2012, April 2012 - June 2012
Mexican-Man = November 2009 - July 2010, December 2010 - July 2011, September 2018 - Present
Scorpion (Papaveli) = November 2009 - September 2010
Jarek = November 2009 - March 2011
Gov = December 2009 - July 2010, September 2010 - December 2010, March 2017 - October 2018
Exodus = February 2010 - February 2011, June 2012 - May 2013
2Lek = February 2010 - July 2011, January 2013 - June 2013
OneAlien = July 2010 - July 2010
Bobby = July 2010 - March 2011
Shmosh = January 2011 - July 2011
Frasser = March 2011 - March 2012
Adoutlaw = April 2011 - June 2013
LarsVerb = June 2011 - March 2012
Djukak = July 2011 - January 2013, April 2014 - October 2018
MjjPac = March 2012 - May 2013
MCNewYork71 = May 2013 - April 2014, October 2018 - Present
Omar = May 2013 - June 2014
GreenL420 = June 2013 - February 2016
Kevin = June 2013 - November 2016
BigR = July 2014 - March 2017
HC = March 2017 - October 2017
Blacpain = October 2018 - Present
Steez = November 2021 - Present
PNC ([MENTION=5]Kalogerus) was the original designer who created all the original styles on the site. He stopped being active around 2010 when he went to school.
[MENTION=14]Native Pride was my boy since my days on MB. He helped start the site as an early staff member and worked hard on things like the unreleased master list from back in the day before all the leaks started. Troy is still around on the site but spends alot more time with his family now.
[MENTION=11]Princess K was someone I knew on MB, who was good friends with PNC. PNC recommended her to me, and she quickly became one of the most contributing members of the site. She stopped being active when she started focusing on her new job.
[MENTION=20]Chantal, [MENTION=3698]LC7 has been a long time member of the scene, and someone I asked to help out from MB. She was one of the most knowledgeable people on Pac. She stopped being active on the scene when she started to focus on work and school. She still pop in from time to time.
[MENTION=8]Chuck Dirty was someone I didn't know to well from MB, but I brought him over as a mod. Over the years he became my right hand man and rose to be the 2nd in command of this site. He helped maintain control on the site throughout alot of the leaks. We were a good team because I have a tendancy to be too nice to members who fuck up, and he can be too harsh, and we kept eachother in check and made the right decisions for the site. Unfortunately me and him had a falling out at which point he left the site.
[MENTION=6]Vance Cuddlesworth (VC) was an original staff member who helped mod the site in the early days. He left the scene to focus on school a couple years ago.
[MENTION=7]SuWu was another original staff member who I was buddies with over on MB. He still pops in from time to time, but has mostly left the scene.
[MENTION=12]kace was from MB and someone I brought over to help mod the site. She eventually decided she would rather be at MB than here and left the site.
[MENTION=13]Plato is my boy from MB and one of my best buddies in the scene for years. He is the one who came up with the idea to change to notorious makaveli. He isnt as active on the site anymore, as he doesnt really do the forum thing anymore, but I still talk to him all the time off site.
[MENTION=624]Bushi is a web designer who was on MB. He came over to this site after MB got reset back to 2007. He was recommended by Chuck to be a web designer on the site. He helped build styles and graphics for the site, and along with Chuck, recommended two other designers, Draven & Nikola.
[MENTION=369]Nikola is another one who was recommended by Bushi. Nikola came on as web designer and helped with the original VB4 styles. He created the "Nikola Style" which is the 2nd most popular style on the site.
[MENTION=691]MarkyMark is someone who's been member since almost the beginning of the site. He quickly became a mod and stayed that way for a long time. He rose from moderator to super moderator to global moderator. He is no longer staff due to work taking up a large portion of his time, causing him to not be as active, he but is still around and an OG member of the site.
[MENTION=1169]Big Tony (Schreibs21) is someone I brought on to help with the Death Row part of the site. The Death Row section quickly became one of the most active parts on the sites due to Schreibs help. He worked with a few other members to start the Death Row Reference section. Schreibs is still around but is not active on the scene anymore due to work and other responsibilities.