Tupac Shakur talks about his violent arrest for jaywalking; his Black Panther family; Hollywood hypocrisy; and his program for poor urban kids. Plus, special guests discuss his contradictions (explicit)
Note:
A few listeners have pointed out an error in this episode about the events leading up to 2Pac's death. According to testimony at a 2023 court case in Las Vegas, 2Pac did not take a chain from anyone. Here's what happened: In 1996, there was a fight in an L.A. mall about a chain that belonged to someone who was affiliated with 2Pac. Later on, when 2Pac and his crowd were in Las Vegas for the Mike Tyson fight, they crossed paths with Orlando Anderson, someone they thought was involved with the chain incident. A fight followed. After that, Orlando and his uncle Duane Keefe Davis (who was arrested in 2023 for his role in 2Pac's murder) wanted to retaliate. They got into a car with two other people and went looking for 2Pac. When they found him, someone in that car shot 2Pac.
Show notes:
Here's how this interview happened... In 1991, I was way behind with the deadlines for my book about rap music, Break It Down: The Inside Story from the New Leaders of Rap. That's when I got a call from a publicist, telling me I'd regret it if I didn't include 2Pac -- who had just released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now. She sent me a promotional photo for the album, which I reprinted in my book and saved for 32 years.
Because our interview was last minute -- and there were no lyrics sheets with his just-released album -- I asked Tupac to share lyrics from his song "Trapped," which he wrote in 1990 about police brutality. The words predicted the future in an eerie way. Tupac told me about his own arrest for jaywalking in Oakland California a few months before we spoke. His experience precisely aligned with the lyrics of the song he wrote a year earlier.
I never expected that I'd be called on to cover 2Pac's death. But in 1996, when I was an editor at Wired Magazine's HotWired site, I posted a tribute to him. Though HotWired site was removed from the Internet years later, I saved a copy of that article. Here's the end of what I wrote:
"For me, the saddest thing about Tupac's death is that it shows just how little hope he had for the future. He had wealth and lots of talent but he didn't see where he could go in this world without the gangsta persona. He couldn't picture himself in a safe place. He couldn't imagine a world where he could find peace by taming his temper and creating his Underground Railroad. Instead, he died, and now everyone's asking about him."
And now, a little more about the two guests who shared insights about Tupac on this episode:
Dr. Dre - who was the co-host of the hugely influential TV show Yo! MTV Raps Today from 1989 to 1995 -- made a return visit to the podcast, after sharing his wisdom with us on a previous episode about N.W.A.'s Eazy-E.
Despite his challenges from severe diabetes that caused him to lose his sight in 2019 and then have a leg amputated, Dre is still energetically and optimistically dedicated to spreading the word about hip-hop and helping others. He's putting final touches on his memoir Yo! Bigga Stuff: The Dr. Dre Episodes -- which will include details about helping to launch the careers of major rappers, along with his insights about hip-hop culture. He is now fundraising for the Parawhirl Streaming Network, a collaboration with the American Basketball Association that will give easier access to streaming media for people who are blind, deaf, autistic, or have other challenges. (And yes, for those who don't know, there are two hip-hop stars with the name Dr. Dre. This Dr. Dre had his moniker before the other Dr. Dre -- the rap producer and Beats headphone magnate -- rose to fame.)
April Beezer, who first crossed paths with me as a student in my writing class at the alternative-to-prison program Avenues for Justice, is a recent graduate of New York City's Guttman Community College. While she's in training programs for her ultimate career, she has been recording rap songs at Believe Music Studios in the Bronx. The studio was founded by Kenny Cooper, who also graduated from my writing class. Part of the studio's mission is to help kids from inner city neighbors to express their creativity in a positive way.
My list of the best music, movies, TV, websites, podcasts and books about Tupac:
bit.ly/3NYINFS
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27 авг 2024
