Item #: SCP-2137

Object Class: Euclid Keter Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures: When not being used, SCP-2137 is to be kept within a typical electronic 10-digit metal safe in the Safe Wing of Site 23. All digital and wireless broadcast media must be kept at least one hundred meters away from SCP-2137. Due to SCP-2137's anomalous effect having been determined to have no ranged limit, digital, wireless and broadcast media may be used but should be monitored closely for any appearance of SCP-2137-1 or -2.

Other than the testing and recording of Track 7, SCP-2137 should be considered an inanimate item without agency of its own, and any demands or threats made by SCP-2137-2 should be ignored.

Once a week, SCP-2137 is to be cleaned and all tracks are to be played in succession, with special attention paid to the instance of SCP-2137-1 that replaces track 7.

The names, situations and anecdotes presented in that instance of SCP-2137-1 must then be reported to 2137 Special Committee ("Pac Watch").

On the rare occasion that non-Foundation organizations cannot address the situation presented in an instance of SCP-2137-1, O5-9 has given authorization to activate MTF-339 ("The Suge Knights") to take any and all measures necessary to reach a resolution to the problem. Operational success will be indicated by a new instance of 2137-1.

Personnel who wish to examine or attempt to interact with SCP-2137 must ask Dr. Kivowitz for authorization beforehand, which will then pend O5 clearance.

Description: SCP-2137 is a single compact disc copy of "Me Against The World," a hip-hop album by the artist Tupac Shakur, released in 1995. Physical examination as well as laser testing indicates that the CD was one of the initial release, manufactured and distributed in 1995; conventional testing of the disk itself reveals identical results to a non-anomalous copy of the album. The case and liner notes have been determined to have no anomalous qualities, and the physical makeup and encoding of the disk appear completely normal.

However, upon playing track 7, normally "Heavy In The Game," the listener will encounter an instance of SCP-2137-1. The anomaly takes the form of spontaneously-generated, professionally-produced songs featuring Tupac Shakur in various styles within the hip hop genre. Though each instance of SCP-2137-1 generated is unique, they share certain commonalities in terms of subject matter. The central focus of the song invariably addresses a crime, almost always a murder or series of murders, and then gives necessary anecdotal evidence or information to correctly identify and prosecute the killer, even going so far as to specify prosecutors or recommend vigilante justice.

Though generation of SCP-2137-1 has been determined to have a definite causal nature, the manner in which SCP-2137-1 instances are copied onto SCP-2137 has yet to be ascertained.

SCP-2137-2

The primary voice on the songs, from herein identified as SCP-2137-2, matches cleanly through advanced audio analysis to that of the real Tupac Shakur, who died in 1996, over a year before the recovery of SCP-2137.

However, occasionally, on crimes of a particularly complicated or brutal nature, SCP-2137-2 will be joined by other "performers," either guest-rapping or singing the chorus or bridge. This has included many of Tupac's contemporaries, such as Snoop Doggy Dogg, Nas, No Doubt, Everclear, Weezer and Busta Rhymes, as well as artists from the 2000s including Chris Brown, Katy Perry, Lil Wayne, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, the Ying Yang Twins, Drake, Neon Trees, Jet, Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Eminem, usually at the height of their popularity.

On a few notable occasions involving long-unsolved crimes by still active criminals, there have been guests of a more blatantly anachronistic nature, stand-outs among whom include Phil Harris, the Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra, Buddy Holly, The Who, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, and The Beatles. Heavily anachronistic guests tend to take the role of primary artist, the song performed in their style, with SCP-2137-2 joining as a rap guest.

When contacted, none of these artists had any recollection of recording for, or information regarding, SCP-2137.

The crimes themselves share that they are unsolved, or, in some cases, have escaped detection entirely. The majority of instances of SCP-2137-1 address crimes of private citizens such as serial killers, spree-murders, or career criminals, though occasionally the songs will address larger groups, such as Hamas, ISIS, the IRA, and even in two separate instances the Chaos Insurgency and the Church of the Broken God.

A prototypical example of SCP-2137-1 is included here for reference.

+ Excerpt from SCP-2137-1-542

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Jeff Riegert out there and still stalkin the night,

Killed his brother and five strangers with the same damn knife,

Now it's not my place to tell you what to do,

But I know what I would do if I were you

He hid the blade in an old barn off the North 111

He already killed six don't make it seven

When the crimes have been addressed and the guilty parties brought to light, either by the legal system or otherwise, SCP-2137-1 is immediately replaced by a new instance. However, the track is easily recorded through conventional means, recorded versions are not subject to change or replacement, and the original can be replayed from the CD endlessly before the killer is found, with no little variation. There are currently nearly one thousand instances of SCP-2137-1 on record.

+ Initial Recovery Log

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SCP-2137 was recovered in the home of Avon Lincoln, arrested for the vigilante slaying of Michael Ferris, who was later revealed to have been the Ojai Strangler, responsible for six murders over the summer of 1996.

Avon's insistence that Tupac Shakur spoke to him from beyond the grave and told him he had to take justice into his own hands, because Ferris' position as District Attorney would prevent a fair trial, drew the attention of Foundation agents after the song in question was produced as evidence in court.

Amnestics were administered to all involved, and Lincoln was released back into the general population.

Addendum 1a: The XK Incident:

Initially, researchers experimented with anonymously tipping off local police departments through Foundation plants, which led to the resolution of over ███ cold cases, including the recovery of SCP-██, SCP-████, and SCP-617, though no direct link has been established other than the murders involved.

However, after █ years this use of the SCP was deemed impractical; repeatedly addressing the crimes discussed in 2137's "music" was, in practice, allowing the SCP to dictate the circumstances of its containment, and under the wrong circumstances, opened the Foundation to potential exposure through continuous interaction with law enforcement at all levels across multiple governments.

In response to this, O5-9 ceased addressing the crimes in late 20██.

After two months passed, SCP-2137's behavior radically changed, when, for the first time, an instance of SCP-2137-1 was produced that revealed SCP-2137-2 had an awareness of its containment.

+ Excerpt from SCP-2137-1-851

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You say you're about security but you ain't the good guys,

You redact and expunge man your silence is lies

You say you're here to protect yet you're letting killers run free

Don't make me show you how rough this south law can be

You couldn't stop the beat so don't you start this struggle

You better watch your tone unless you're looking for trouble

Maybe y'all should lay back and let me do my duty,

Locked in drawer feelin like y'all tryna screw me,

You're steppin all up on my destiny

You might not believe I'm the real Pac

But I'm not just a CD

The decision was made to halt testing entirely, rather than acquiesce.

After one week passed, an instance of SCP-2137-1 appeared spontaneously on the YouTube channel of Los Angeles-based hip hop station [DATA EXPUNGED], and in the lone hour before it was taken down accrued over █████ views.

"XK Scenario" Incident

The image displayed on the video was a still photograph, apparently authentic though by its nature highly anomalous. The photograph is of Shakur, estimated to be in his early forties,1 wearing the garb of Foundation D-Class Personnel, with his middle fingers raised. The accompanying song, titled "███ █████," focused on SCP-███, revealing its actual location and means by which it could be broken free of current containment procedures, and identified several members of the O5 Council by their first names as it described the function and nature of the Foundation.

In a massive sweeping operation involving the activation of multiple task forces across █ continents all trace of the video was erased, and all █████ viewers were administered Class-A Amnestics. Midway through this operation, an entire album titled "XK Scenario" was released to the iTunes account of Beyonce Knowles. Each song featured SCP-2137-2, as well as a variety of guest artists, and focused on a different Keter class SCP currently in captivity.

Though SCP tracking bots were able to bring "XK Scenario" down after only ███ downloads, complete digital eradication of the individual files has proven difficult. Though no loss of life or property was incurred, the sheer scale of the danger posed by this containment breach prompted a Foundation-wide state of high alert. This prompted an ongoing upgrade to all automatic SCP firewalls, and engendered the reclassification of SCP-2137 from Euclid to Keter.

The breach sparked heated debate as to how to proceed with the containment of (and conceptual understanding regarding) SCP-2137, which came to an end upon the appearance of a new instance of SCP-2137-1. This instance was produced spontaneously through the mouth of SCP-███, which appeared to fall into a trance state during the incident, with the lyrics, in totality, repeatedly written in what was identified as [DATA EXPUNGED] one hundred and seventeen thousand (117,000) times all over the interior of its containment chamber.

+ Excerpt from SCP-2137-1-564

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Help me find my killers, and I'll find yours

Tryin’ not to play the CD, you’re startin’ a war

You don’t really wanna see me in flesh

I wouldn’t hesitate to put you little nerds to rest

So feel my power

What if i told you that ████ ████ planned it all

What if the world knew that ███ ████ █ ███ bout to fall?

Don’t try to play me cuz you need me inside

It was the reason ██████ ████████ had died

██████ ████████ I would never let her

████████ █████ was set up

████████ self████ to keep his head up

█████ █████ 19, and █████ ███

Is not what it seems

I may be rare and i can’t be touched

And if you think about a plan imma fuck shit up

You try to hide but i see it all

And now i’m coming for your head like a tylenol

You don’t wanna fall

Dressed in black like you can’t be seen

I fight alone i don’t need no team

So do your job cus i’m giving you tips

And put that whole CD in the Mix, Biatch

The decision was made to resume the former method of testing, involving the embedded informants used to relay SCP-2137's evidence and information, while continuing to study the method by which SCP-2137 transmits its broadcasts, in an effort to truly contain it completely. SCP-2137-2 resumed its previous behavioral pattern, SCP-2137-1s focusing on crimes until their killers are located by conventional law enforcement, with the exception of one final track — at this time, its last recorded direct interaction with the Foundation.

+ Excerpt from SCP-2137-1-565

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I guess it took time for it to sink in

I’m just glad you understood what i was thinkin’

I just knew you’d come around so you see it now

Ain’t no need to get upset or even throw down

You know i got the crown

I see it’s hard to get some sleep at night

You got a head full of greys and your skin ain’t tight

So lets be real ain't no need to fight it

There’s a grander design i bet your gonna like it

It’s black and white so don’t get caught up in the deep thoughts

You got my music on the side with a greater force

Investigation into any kind of link or pattern between the crimes SCP-2137 solves is ongoing, as is interest to why it doesn't use its agency to pursue the criminals in question rather than working through proxies.

+ MEMORANDUM

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EMAIL FROM SITE-515 DIRECTOR DR. GWEN PRISTINE

TO: O5 Council

RE: Regarding Tupac

This will be the fifth time I have written to propose an update to SCP-2137.

When they enter our program here at Site-515, researchers, engineers, MTF Troops, and even D-Class all walk in the door having read the official documentation, and believe the Foundation has been essentially blackmailed into cooperation with a devious SCP. But everyone who actually works here knows this is no longer the case.

In the nearly 3 decades since its containment, the Foundation’s collaboration with SCP-2137 has led to recovery of dozens of SCPs. Our mobile task forces have deposed dictators and toppled tyrants, chased down rogue reality benders from Three Portlands to Lamplight, this of course, all adjacent to the arrest or end of nearly 30,000 murderers.

To add some perspective here: a serial killer hasn’t made it past their third victim, anywhere on Earth, in fourteen years.

SCP-2137 has produced over 40,000 individual and unique pieces of music … function at Site-515 has become effectively frictionless. First it was just the Suge Knights. But as we became more effective at addressing SCP-2137’s instruction, another MTF joined, then an Elite Division. Which brings us up to the present, where the five mobile task forces under my command are in constant action against forces all over planet Earth and beyond, all under the guidance of detailed strategy provided by the mysterious music from a compact disc that the Foundation has failed to adequately contain.

A silent, undocumented understanding has grown among us. The SCP does not simply “catch” murderers. It directly and aggressively searches out anything that maliciously takes a human life.

The amount of lives saved and untold disasters that have been prevented through the information 2137 supplies are at this point stupefying to contemplate, much less that it has been able to essentially bully us into a pattern of unilaterally heroic expenditures of Foundation resources.

It’s little wonder that we show the highest numbers globally in Foundation morale tests. It makes sense of course; here at Site-515, “The SCP Foundation” is a fast action team of gun-slinging heroes, smashing cults, blowing away terrorists, and catching murderers and monsters in our spare time as we blast rap music out of landing attack hovercraft, or working behind the scenes, turning local cops into super sleuths and vigilantes into heroes.

But this period, as productive as it’s been, has been intellectually stagnant. Throughout all of this, the motives and origin of 2137 remain a mystery, defying every search for a pattern, every algorithm-driven analysis. The research wing of the site has become a ghost town, as the MTF response barracks has grown to dominate everything, and perhaps rightfully so.

But a few young researchers have diligently continued a hunt for meaning, for greater truth behind SCP-2137-1. An unexpected advance in this area is behind the urgency in my message to you today. It had long been understood that the life of the actual Tupac Shakur held little information or relevance towards the mystery of SCP-2137’s existence.

This has potentially changed.

Researcher Marija Cozlvich recently came across an unreleased interview with Shakur from 1994, two years before his death and three before the discovery of SCP-2137. The interview was buried by his managers because there was anxiety about Shakur’s mental state in the footage, because he was speaking what they called “nonsense.”

I think you will agree that while Mr. Shakur may not be speaking clearly, what he actually says is very possibly of vital interest to the Foundation, and very definitely not nonsense.

I feel we may finally have, if not an answer, the beginnings of one. But I can say with certainty that in my entire time at the Foundation, I’ve never personally felt this excited.

So I start my proposal here: a Keter-class object actively interested in aiding the human race is not a Keter-class object at all.

I am officially re-submitting my proposal for SCP-2137 to at long last be redesignated Thaumiel-class object and for a quadrupling of our research team and site resource allocation. We must tug this thread and see where it leads us.

Perhaps after hearing the audio attached, you might finally agree.

DR. GWEN PRISTINE - Site director, Site 515

DOCUMENT - RECOVERED FOOTAGE 1L:

TUPAC SHAKUR, dressed casually, sits on a large red couch, smoking a marijuana cigarette, hunched forward and visibly heavily intoxicated, with drooping eyes and slightly slurred speech. He seems happy and jovial, and laughs often through the interview despite repeatedly becoming distracted by the presence of his entourage dancing and talking in the room.

His director and videographer Gobi Rahimi, sits nearby, and VH1 interviewer MILA VENDI, also visibly intoxicated, sits nearby.

The relevant portion begins 00:09:14 into the interview.

SHAKUR: People ask me where I get my inspiration from. They say how do you go so hard, put in that much work. But what they don’t understand is: This is me taking a break. This is me on vacation. I think some people would say that was irresponsible, to just sit back and be human for a while, be an artist, experience that. I can’t be chasing the king all the time. I feel like I’ve been doing that forever, to protect you, all of you. He’s not so big. And you’re not so small. But he’s gotta trick you like it doesn’t matter because that’s the only way he can keep it looking like he’s the man, like he’s some big bad evil…motherfucker. You don’t see that when I die, I’ll live on. My death is my destiny, and then I become something else…what I was before. The voice will still shout, and it’ll shout justice, in poetry, and art, and music! I got you. I got you, humanity. When I eventually go toe to toe and brawl with this fool, he’s gonna gather up his little red dress and go home crying like a bitch, and he knows it. Evil knows its days are numbered. So the king’s still running. The chase isn’t over. Prepare. Prepare.

“Prepare.”

Footnotes

1. At the time of his murder in 1996, Shakur was twenty-five years old.