According to actress Rosie Perez (Do The Right Thing, White Men Can't Jump), she is the one who arranged Shakur's very first date with Madonna, hooking them up after the pop icon approached her during the 1993 Soul Train Music Awards. The rapper took Perez to the event after her date stood her up, which apparently didn't go down well with many of the females in attendance that night. "There were two girls, who shall remain nameless, who wanted to beat me up," Perez revealed on The View (via The Hollywood Reporter). "And I was telling Tupac, 'Will you tell them I ain't sleeping with you? We're just friends!' And he goes, 'You can take 'em.'"

Madonna was not one of those women, however. Instead of being jealous of Perez for showing up on Shakur's arm, she instead politely asked if she would put in a good word for her. "Madonna comes over, she looks at me, she goes, 'Girl.' I go, 'I gotcha,”' Perez recalled. She happily let her date know that Madonna was interested in him, and she still takes pride in the fact that she convinced him to give it a shot. "He goes, 'Hook that up.' I hooked it up, and I was very happy about it."

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