Yeah I think he was... after he went to prison he basically had no choice but to sign to suge ...think about it ... once he started beefing with certain dudes he had no newyork muscle .... big stretch n them were no longer cool with pac n he had beef with badboy and then ov course jimmy henchman / Haitian jack ... he had no one to side with him so it made perfect sense why he signed to deathrow...
I thought it was because
1. His preexisting relationship and rapport with Suge and Snoop
2. Them being able to get him out of prison
3. Them also being interscope made the transition extremely easy on paper
4. Them getting all the push and being the hottest label around
There are other ways to get protection/muscle/soldiers than singing to a record label. Hell MANAGEMENT takes care of that more than the label.