@scarhead
Monster was a wild gangmember, not powerful player in the streets. There is a difference. Pac said himself, he never been around people like jimmy and his crew. Plus, a lot of rappers can talk to gangsters if they need to, they are famous rappers.
I'm no LA gang expert but I would say Monster had plenty of power in LA.
The people who you refer to as powerful players in the streets, I interpret that as grimy gangsters with no honor.
Having power in the streets does not mean you have to be a plotting ass grimy dude, although there are plenty of dudes who are like that.
This might sound naive but there still are some gangsters who live by the code and honor.
I'm Korean and was involved in a biz (liquor distribution) with some real OG Jopoks (Korean Yakuza or Triads) when I was living in Seoul.
Half the dudes who lived to see 40 and 50 were snakes, and the other half got there by being stand up guys and having respect.
The best seats at the Gran Hyatt Seoul's lobby are reserved for this 80 something year old OG that goes by the name of OTA (I can say this because I'm in the states now) and even the general manager, who's a white guy that's far removed from Korean underworld can't do anything about it because he just knows how respected that dude is.
Well of course things are different here and I'm not at all involved in any street stuffs here but I'd guess the principles are similar.
The reason Pac said that about Jimmy is because he found out how much of a snake he was.
And from listening to the convo, it wasn't just some friendly ass shallow stuff. Them dudes were discussing things like men.