Dear Mama: Season 1, Episode 1 script (2024)

TANYA: Hello, I'm Tanya Hart,
and welcome to our show.

My guest today has experienced
truly horrendous life

to just be 20 years old.

His family portrait
could well be a poster

for America's Most Wanted.

Please welcome
a very streetwise young man

who wants to make a difference
for all Black people.

- What's up?
- Tupac Shakur.

Welcome to our show.

Thank you. I love it.

Boy, you know,
I gotta tell you,

I heard about
what happened to you

as a young man.

In retrospect, how would you say

that your life has been?

I would say it's been
like a test on my faith.

You know what I'm saying?
You know how,

I guess his name was Job
in the Bible,

who God just did all of this
crazy stuff to him

just to make sure
his faith was straight.

And that's how it was.
It made me--

If I didn't have
all of this stuff,

I don't think that my feet
would have been so firm.

- TANYA: Yeah.
- If God ain't finished
with me yet...

TUPAC:
...let Him check me.

MAN: Your socks are high, dude.

BILLY: Yeah, make sure
y'all get the socks, man.

PRODUCER: So, Billy, what is
your relation to Tupac?

BILLY:
I am Tupac's oldest cousin.

I'm eight years
older than him, so...

before he became
who everybody know him as,

he was like
this little dude

who used
to follow me everywhere.

And I'd be, like, "Man,
you can't go with me, man.

I'm getting ready
to go do crime.

You can't come with me
to do crime."

But I didn't really feel
responsible about his safety

until...
Halloween night, 1993.

[distant police sirens wail]

I had just got out of jail,

and I hadn't seen Pac
for several years.

My family had a ticket
for me to come to Atlanta.

That's where
he's performing a show.

- [crowd screaming]
- DANTE: Great night.

First thing I see,
panties flying.

But the night
was too good to be true.

BILLY: Tupac ends up
getting into a beef

with the security guards
about smoking this weed.

So we cut the show short...

- f*ck you, motherf*ckers!
- [all shouting angrily]

BILLY: ...and we left with six
or seven carloads
full of people.

DANTE: "Yo, we at such-and-such.
Follow us to the room."

BILLY: We're getting ready
to take a left into the hotel,

but we can't
'cause there's a Black man

arguing with two White men.

He pushed him. He'll push him.
It looked corny,
but Pac still got out.

[car door sensor dinging]

BILLY: At that very moment,

one of the White guys
hit the Black dude in the jaw.

And when Pac saw that,
he freaked out.

DANTE: The Black dude took off,
started running.

BILLY: One of the White guys
pulled his gun out on Pac

and told him to run.

And that's when Pac
pulled up his shirt:

"This is thug life.
I don't run nowhere."

The dude took the gun and bang!

BILLY:
Cracks the car window out.

And started running.

Right past me.

So Tupac goes...

"I want my gun. Give me my gun."

BILLY: No.

Nobody wanted to hand it to him.

He goes around
and get it hisself.

[car door sensor dinging]

No, no, no, no.

BILLY: They, like,
40 feet away and it's dark.

And Tupac
gets down on one knee.

- One knee.
- BILLY: He aims.

You're not going to hit the--

Bang, bang, bang!

BILLY: Three shots.

Just like a marksman. Trained.

DANTE: All I remember seeing
was fire coming from the gun.

BILLY: He takes his gun,
slams it on the ground,

and I picked it up and said,
"You missed. You missed.
I know you missed."

He said,
"Nah. I got him. I got him."

DANTE: So he's sitting there...

- [car door sensor dinging]
- [exhaling]

..."Let's go, cuz."

So I'm thinking
we about to skirt off.

- [car doors slam]
- But we makes the left

to go
in the hotel room.

BILLY: Now we at the hotel,
and I look outside

and I see police
all over the place.

And I could see they're comin'
upstairs to the room.

The room is full of people.

Everybody is excited.

They just saw
somebody get shot.

But Tupac, he's calm.

DANTE: Cloud of smoke.

[exhaling]

Weed.

BILLY: His face is blank.

DANTE:
Not talking about it.

BILLY: He's like
in a peaceful trance.

But I can hear the cops
outside the door.

Suddenly, he says,

"Yo, wait a minute.
I want everybody
to hear my new song."

DANTE: Song?
We're going to jail.
This is over.

The song he played
for the very first time...

TUPAC: It's a love song.

DANTE: ...with the police
at the door

was "Dear Mama."

- TUPAC: Dear Mama.
-"Dear Mama."

Into it. Vibing. Smoking.

- He's grooving now.
- Listen, listen.

He has no connection
to what he just did.

That was the first time
I realized...

- TUPAC: Dear Mama.
- ...that that motherf*cker
was for real.

That he's gonna protect
Black people. Period.

TUPAC: Dear Mama.

BILLY:
That was how he was raised.

["Dear Mama" by 2Pac playing]

♪ When I was young
Me and my mama had beef ♪

♪ 17 years old
Kicked out on the streets ♪

♪ Though back at the time

♪ I never thought
I'd see her face ♪

♪ Ain't a woman alive

♪ That could take
My mama's place ♪

♪ Suspended from school

♪ I'm scared to go home

♪ I was the fool
With the big boys ♪

♪ Breaking all the rules

♪ I shed tears
With my baby sister ♪

♪ Over the years we was poorer
Than the other little kids ♪

♪ And even though we had
Different daddies ♪

♪ The same drama

♪ When things went wrong
We blamed Mama ♪

♪ I reminisce
On the stress I caused ♪

♪ It was hell

♪ Hugging on my mama
From a jail cell ♪

♪ And who'd think
In elementary ♪

♪ Hey, I'd see
The penitentiary? ♪

♪ One day running
From the police ♪

♪ That's right

♪ Mama catch me
Put a whupping to my backside ♪

♪ And even as a crack fiend

♪ Mama, you always
Was a Black queen, Mama ♪

♪ I finally understand
For a woman it ain't easy ♪

♪ Trying to raise a man

♪ You always was committed

♪ A poor single mother
On welfare ♪

♪ Tell me how you did it

♪ There's no way
I can pay you back ♪

♪ But the plan is to show you
That I understand ♪

♪ You are appreciated

♪ Don't you know
We love you, sweet lady ♪

♪ Dear Mama

♪ Free you from your cage
Full of rage ♪

♪ 'Cause this is
What a good day is ♪

♪ And even though
You're lonely ♪

♪ You're more than the mother
You're my homey ♪

♪ There's no way
I could pay you back ♪

♪ But my plan is to show you
That I understand ♪

♪ Dear Mama

MAN: How does doing
this project feel for you,

I guess, 30 years later?

MAN 2: That's pretty surreal,

to do a narrative
that you were a part of.

And then to have it be
so personal, you know, uh,

I didn't want to do it at first,
and then I realized, sh*t,

I never processed the trauma.

But we have
to take ownership of all
of our collective journey,

and go, "This is part of us."

So how do we decant this?

Tupac's legacy?

Man, it's... it's really
difficult to sum that up.

MIKE: Man, listen.
Anywhere I go,

Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan...

"How was Tupac?
What was he like?"

Children soldiers from Uganda,

"What was Tupac like?"

Blows my mind.

Tupac was the first rapper to me
that could make you cry.

Like, he was just, like,
"Oh, my God, that's me."

I've had many people
come up to me and say,
"Tupac saved my life."

He was a great,
great storyteller,

and I think the story
that he told most effectively

was his own truth.

Tupac was a Zen master.

He lived in these moments
more than any of us,

and if there wasn't
something happening,

he was gonna
make something happen.

They're teaching
his poetry in college.

What are you talking about?

He was a legend
in his own time. [laughs]

And he would say that too.

Pac lived three nigg*s' lives
in about eight months.

That's why his life
seemed so long.

SNOOP: They say a man
ain't a man 'til he's 27.

He's still a baby at 25.

But he just was like
a special motherf*cker,

and with a spirit that was only
grown through his mother.

She was great
before he even got here.

The myth builder,
a fantasy rider.

Not mindin' his business,
he never did.

His mother certainly didn't.

'Cause where did Tupac get
the myth-building from, Afeni.

And Feni wanted the story told.

Correctly.
That means blemishes and all.

So people can understand
that whole thing

of what makes
a human being as he

and the human being as she.

So, here we go.

WOMAN:
This is the videotape examination

of Tupac Amaru Shakur,

held at the Clinton
Correctional Facility,

Dannemora, New York,

at the time indicated
on the video screen.

The notary public
will now swear the witness.

Sir, would you raise
your right hand, please?

- Yes.
- WOMAN: Do you swear or affirm

that the testimony you're about
to give will be the truth,

the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?

- I do.
- WOMAN: Thank you.

AFENI: Well, I think we start--

Let's start with his name.

MAN: Could you please state
your full name for the record?

Yes.
It's Tupac Amaru Shakur.

AFENI: Tupac Amaru
is an Inca name.

The first Tupac Amaru was
the last indigenous Inca chief

to be killed and martyred
by the Spanish conquistadores

who came to invade the area
of South America called Peru.

After that, another
Tupac Amaru laid out plans

for the modern state of Peru.

Also killed and martyred
by the Spanish people.

Tupac was conceived during
the worst part of my life.

I was on trial for my life,

and I chose his name
because I wanted my son

to understand
that African-Americans

are not the only people
that this has happened to.

I'm Afeni Shakur,

and I'm Tupac's mom.

MAN: The grand jury
has returned an indictment

charging members
of the Black Panther Party

with a conspiracy to destroy
elements of society,

which they regarded as part of,
and I'm quoting the indictment,

"The power structure."

AFENI: Before I became a parent,

I chose to be
in the Black Panther Party.

Tupac stayed in my womb
through hell.

And the Black Panther Party
helped me, number one,

to respect who my son was

simply because of his birth.

A Black male born in America

in the 1970s.

It was my responsibility
to teach Tupac

how to survive his reality.

[airplane whirring]

[upbeat song playing]

♪ Ah, can you feel it, baby?

♪ I can

[school bell ringing]

CHRISTINE:
My name is Christine Mendes,

and I'm a senior.

GRAHAM: I'm Graham Davis,

and I'm a junior
here at Tamalpais High School.

And I'm loving
every minute of it.

My name is Tupac Shakur,

and I attend
Tamalpais High School,

and I'm 17 years old.

GIRL 1: Tam is
the raddest school ever.

GIRL 2: The best thing
about going to Tam

is the Drama department.

GIRL 3: And here,
you can dress how you want.

You can be who you want to be.

What do I like the most
about this school?

- INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
- Um...

TUPAC: Well--Oh, I hope
I don't get in trouble

because Tam
is really integrated,

but I think there should be
a different curriculum

in each and every, like,
neighborhood, you know?

Because I'm learning
the basics,

but since I'm living
in a slum-ish area

and I'm Black,
they're not basic for me.

Like German.

When am I going
to Germany?

I can't afford to pay
my rent in America.

MAN:
I pledge allegiance...

ALL: ...to the flag of
the United States of America.

TUPAC:
We're not being taught to deal
with the world as it is.

We're being taught to deal
with this fairy land

which we're not even
living in anymore.

ALL: ...liberty
and justice for all.

TUPAC: That's why
my mother taught me

to analyze society
and not be quiet.

To... If there's something
on my mind, speak it.

Because-- Okay, I got to go
to the beginning.

My mother was a Black Panther.

MIKE WALLACE:
The Black Panther Party.

The Panthers believed
the system was against them.

They were willing
to pick up the gun

to protect themselves
from what they call

the Pig Power Structure.

WOMAN: They demanded land, housing,

food, clothing, jobs,
education, and justice.

But most urgently,

they demanded an end
to the police brutality

that they had witnessed
in the Black community.

REPORTER: The Panthers
were most admired

for their willingness to die
for what they believe in.

But second to that,
their Free Breakfast
for Children Program.

- [explosion]
- WALLACE: The Black Panthers

formally disbanded
by the early '80s,

killed both by internal
squabbling and by COINTELPRO,

the controversial FBI
Counter Intelligence Program

focused in part on infiltrating

and sabotaging
the Black Panther Party.

WOMAN: It is clear
that many Americans

still retain a fearful image
of the group,

but it may be too soon
to know what history

will write
of the Black Panther Party

or to know how their actions
have really affected the lives

of thousands of youngsters
just like these.

TUPAC: I loved my childhood,
but I hated growing up poor.

My mother's totally brilliant.

She could have chose
to go to college

and got a degree
and been well off.

But we're stone broke.

We're just poor because our
ideals always get in the way.

Yeah, let me tell you this
about Afeni.

So we correct,
nobody don't think

I'm blowing sunshine
up her ass.

She got on my nerve.

Do you understand
what I'm saying?

Walled me out,

because the thing
that I always had to do

all my life
is protect my sister.

AFENI: That's my sister.

Her name is Glo.

And everybody around me knows
who Glo is.

She's the oldest,
and we were always a unit.

♪ I won't harm you
With words from my mouth ♪

♪ I love you

♪ I need you to survive

I would never hurt my sister
with words from my mouth...

to her, you know.

I talk sh*t behind her back,
cuss her ass out.

You know what I mean? [laughs]

["Me and My Girlfriend" playing]

♪ Look for me,
Lost in the whirlwind ♪

♪ '96 Bonnie and Clyde

♪ Me and my girlfriend
Doing 85 when we ride ♪

♪ Trapped in this world
Of sin ♪

♪ Born as a ghetto child

♪ Raised in this whirlwind,
C'mon ♪

GLORIA: Awesome.

Awesome.

Let me tell you something. Awesome.

Coming to New York
was awesome.

Feni was maybe 11.

You know, we were both
little dark-skinned girls

from North Carolina.

What I remember is the smells.

I had never smelled garlic.

I had never tasted butter, salami.

We had never heard of salami.

New York was exciting.

The--The noise and the,
uh... uh...

The rhythm of it.

Both of us were very happy
to be in New York,

'cause Feni hated Lumberton.

Lumberton had no rhythm.

My father was a truck driver
and he was a drinker.

He had other women.

Stayed gone all the time.

My mother was tired
of the arguing.

Went to New York,
got a job, and sent for us.

So my memory of my father
is a person who was not there.

My mother had a room
and an apartment

with an old White lady
in The Bronx.

I remember the kids saying,

[sing-songy]
"Bald-headed,
ain't got no hair."

I never knew that in the South,

but in New York,
that's what we heard.

And, "You're dark-skinned"
and all of that.

Feni could not be a cheerleader

'cause she didn't
have long hair.

And we went to Black schools,
segregated schools.

So these were Black people

choosing how the girls should look,

and it wasn't us.

So going to high school,

Feni concentrated on being
the smartest at everything.

And she auditioned
and she got accepted

into the High School
of Performing Arts.

She had a curiosity
in her spirit

about what she wanted to be,

but she wasn't comfortable

knowing that she didn't have
what the other kids had,

because they
were rich White kids
from the suburbs somewhere.

So, yeah, it was anger,
because my mother
can't do this,

my mother can't do that.

And I was comfortable
in whatever it was.

You know, I'd be all right.
Feni was never that.

She felt things differently
and deeper,

because she always wanted
to be beyond

what her circ*mstances were.

Feni was really both
a wanderer and a wonderer,

and I don't mean aimlessly.

- SEALE: I am...
- CROWD: I am...

- SEALE: ...a revolutionary.
- CROWD: ...a revolutionary.

GLORIA: So, yeah,
she stepped right into
the Black Panther Party.

That was Bobby Seale
she saw on 125th Street.

- I am...
- CROWD: I am...

...a revolutionary.

GLORIA: And I was scared.

REPORTER 1: Thirty-two-year-old
ex-con named Bobby Seale

proclaims his hope
for revolution.

GLORIA: All I knew was
what I saw on television.

REPORTER 2: The extremists,
the revolutionaries,

say the Black people have been
left with no alternative

but to gain by violence
what they've been denied

by peaceful means.

So the same thing
that I admired and loved

for the Black people
standing on there with the guns,

now my sister's down with it.
Well, that's a different story.

But that's what she was doing,

then that's what
I was down with.

REPORTER 2:
They offer self-respect,

pride in being Black,

beauty in being Black,
and Black people are listening.

AFENI: I was liberated
and empowered

by the Black Panther Party,

because young women
at that time

wanted to be different,

and young men
were perfectly willing

to see women as individuals
that they could respect.

That was something
that I yearned for.

GLORIA: She brought
an array of characters

that I had never thought existed.

Panthers, hustlers,

gay women, gay men.

So if she opened up my world,

imagine her son around
this array of characters,

what that was for him.

In the beginning,
it's beautiful.

TUPAC: I can't stand racism

in any form, shape, or color.

I feel like
if you can't respect yourself,

then you can't respect
your race,

then you can't respect
another's race.

It just has to do with respect,
like my mother taught me.

So, what we want--

What we're doing is starting
the Black Panthers again.

And I'm talking to a lot of
the ex-members of the Panthers.

And they did a lot
of good things in the past.

It's just that...

you know those things
they had for the mice

where they go through
around the circle

and it has little blocks for it
and everything?

Well, society is like that.

They'll let you go
as far as you want,

but as soon as you start asking
too many questions

and you're ready to change,

boom, their blocker come.

And, for me, minds would come
through being a statistic.

MAN: Have you had
your deposition taken before?

TUPAC: On one other occasion,
I have, yes.

MAN: Do you understand, then,
the deposition process

in that I'm gonna ask you some
questions and you, under oath,

are gonna answer my questions,
and we'll have it on video?

- Yes, I do.
- MAN: Okay.

How'd you get interested
in music?

I started off with poetry.

It is my opinion
that I was rapping

while I was writing poetry.

But while I was
in Marin County,

poets, I saw,

were looked on as, like, wimps.

So I did that personally,

but then I started to change
the method of my poetry.

- MAN: Okay, how old were you?
- TUPAC: 17.

Seventeen's such a weird age.

Like today, when I had to sign
the release form,

I felt so bad 'cause I couldn't
sign it myself.

I had to go and get my mother's
and all that, but...

18 is... it's just society's way
of saying that you're ready.

But 17, like,
I think I'm ready now,

as ready as I'm gonna be
in this world, but...

So, it's okay,
I guess 17 is alright.

RYAN: When Tupac
first came out here,

he was totally different
than everybody else.

I remember when I first met him,
he had on a--

He would wear this jean outfit
with, like, ripped jeans
and stuff.

Nobody wore ripped clothes
in the late '80s.

If that is the East Coast
style, I don't know.

It was different to us.

So he stood out
like a sore thumb.

But at the same time,
he was so charismatic.

Everybody liked Tupac.

INTERVIEWER:
What-- Give me a--

You-- Like last year,
you were in New York?

- Yeah.
- INTERVIEWER: Where?

No, last year,
I was in Baltimore.

Year before that, I was in--

I spent three years in
Baltimore, my high school years,

going to the School
of Performing Arts.

[upbeat music playing]

Then before that,
I was in New York.

That's where I grew up.

We moved out of New York
because of my mother's choices.

And I came to California
to escape that violence

that I escaped New York for,
escaped Baltimore for.

Come to Marin City,
and there's skinheads violence.

KENDRICK: This is Marin County.

Probably like the fifth-richest
county in the United States.

A lot of old money.

Beautiful place.

Nothing but scenery

next to the Golden Gate Bridge.

SINGER: ♪ You make me feel
So good ♪

KENDRICK:
Marin City is a little hole...

TUPAC: f*ck the police.

KENDRICK:
...right at the bottom
of the hill...

TUPAC: f*ck the police.

KENDRICK:
...where they put
all the Black people.

SINGER: ♪ Oh, my gosh

We used to say,
"One way in, one way out."

SINGER: ♪ Thinking
Of a master plan ♪

♪ 'Cause ain't nothing
But sweat inside my hand ♪

♪ So I dig into my pocket
All my money spent ♪

♪ So I dig deeper
But still coming up with lint ♪

RYAN: We lived
in the Tall Buildings,

the original project buildings
in Marin City.

From my back patio,

I could look out
to the Tiburon Bay

and see mansions and yachts.

And I go out my front door,

and I see dope fiends
and kids with no shoes,

and they ain't ate all day.

So I was outspoken
on political things,

but Tupac was me times ten.

TUPAC: In Marin City,
I've seen already death.

I mean, aren't they wondering
why death rates are going up,

and suicide, drug abuse?

Aren't they wondering?
I mean...

RAY: Pac is beyond conscious.

His hairstyle is conscious,
profound, distinct.

And I'm looking at this dude
like there's no way

that he's a good rapper
dressed like that.

But never judge a book
by its cover.

♪ As real as it seems
The American dream ♪

♪ Ain't nothing but another
Calculated scheme ♪

♪ To get us locked up
Shot up and back in chains ♪

♪ To deny us of the future
Rob our names ♪

RYAN: Rakim was out at the time.
I would tell everybody,

"My buddy is doper than Rakim
right now. He's 17 years old."

♪ You kept my history
A mystery ♪

♪ But now I see

♪ The American dream
Wasn't meant for me ♪

♪ 'Cause Lady Liberty's
A hypocrite ♪

♪ She lied to me

♪ Promised me freedom
Education, and equality ♪

♪ She never gave me
Nothing but slavery ♪

♪ So now look at how dangerous
You made me ♪

He's rappin' about stuff
that I'm not even beginning
to think about.

And I'm blown away.

♪ Calling me a madman

♪ Because I'm strong and bold

♪ With this gun
Full of knowledge ♪

♪ Of the lies you told

♪ Promise me emancipation
In this new nation ♪

♪ All you ever gave my people
Was starvation ♪

♪ Fathers of this country
Never cared for me ♪

♪ They kept my ancestors
Shackled up in slavery ♪

♪ And Uncle Sam never did
A damn thing for me ♪

♪ Except lie about the facts
Of my history ♪

RYAN: It's amazing to me
because I would look
in his rap book.

He'd have pages of poems
in between raps.

You know,
he'd write a hard rap,

then have a poem about a girl
he fell in love with,

with hearts and flowers
and eyeballs all on top of it.

I always thought that was weird.

Romantic.
I mean, people didn't know

he was a ballet dancer,
he was an actor.

Whatever you're talking about,
he knew about it.

But he was saying stuff
that we wanted to hear,

and we didn't want to hear about
women, about us, about his mom.

♪ My mother never let me
Forget my history ♪

♪ Hoping I was set free
Chains never put on me ♪

♪ Wanted to be
More than just free ♪

♪ Had to know the true facts
About my history ♪

And he'd be over here,
yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm, like...

TUPAC: Like yesterday
he was cursing,

and I was like,
"Don't curse."

And he got mad at me
because I told him not to curse.

Mind y'all, I wasn't really
trying to hear it.

They call girls the B-word.

- KENDRICK: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- TUPAC: They are getting girls.

And I'm going, "Peace," and,
"I think you're beautiful."

And they're going, "Well, I like
him because he's masculine."

I'm masculine. I mean...

But then, I was liking this girl
in Tam. And I'm extra nice.

You know, extra gentleman.

I'm extra just, like,
"Oh, you're beautiful,

and you deserve the best,"

and she told me I was too nice.

I couldn't believe it.

It wouldn't work
'cause I was too nice.

That was the ultimate stab
in the back.

So I went through a week
of just going,

"Forget it.
I'm just gonna be like them."

KENDRICK: He was hurt.

It wasn't so much
he changed, you know,

I always say,
he made progressions.

He just jumped in the car
and started doing

what me and my friends
were doing,

which was romanticizing
all over the county.

And from then on,
he became a player.

But he did something
I did not do.

He went into the girls' minds,

and he became what they wanted.

RYAN: That was his gift.

He related to them.
He got into character.

And he was real about it.

He showed a part of them
that they'd never seen.

And when I say "player,"
I don't mean somebody
who lies to women

or someone who knows the game
and fits in appropriately.

It's an addition
to the situation,

and he was a great player.

He stole the show.

No matter what crowd
we took him around,

I don't care if it was the most
gangster dudes in East Oakland,

rich men, or some square cats
in Santa Rosa,

Tupac would instantly use
the same words they'd use

that fit right in.

And everybody would be drawn
to him immediately,

White, Black,
no matter who it was,

but being around
that environment,
he ended up doing things

that he really
didn't have to do.

He was struggling financially,

and so he was trying
to sell drugs.

I mean,
crack was full blown.

But Tupac
was such a nice person,

he probably was fronting
all his dope out.

RAY: We sucked at selling crack.

We was the worst crack dealers
in the history of crack dealers.

He sold crack for, like,
I think five days.

I think I sold crack
for seven, mostly,

because I couldn't sell
my crack, which is weird,

like, I just...
don't nobody want it,

like, I don't even know
how to, like, who to take it to.

But we knew very quickly

that that was not gonna be
our way out.

Because capitalism requires
that your empathy level
is relatively low,

and his empathy level
was a little higher
than most people.

He did not believe
in hurting, maiming,

or killing Black people.

So if a person's smoking crack

with their daughter
or their son,

he's not gonna recover
from that.

But one day,
comin' out of school,

Leila's standing outside

looking for kids that
wanna perform and did that.

LEILA: I'd like to just introduce

everyone who participated.

This is my daughter Shaquan...

- TUPAC: Leila Steinberg.
- ...Shiqua...

TUPAC: She was older
and she was White,

and she's the one that I used

- to let look at my poetry.
- ...Raymond...

She understood a lot of things

that I was doing that other
people couldn't understand.

And she's the one that, um...

stayed on me about working hard
to do my music.

RAY: Leila is an anomaly,

but at her most pure,
she's a educator.

One of our main goals is
to educate while we entertain.

RAY: Pac and I knew very early

that this business is brutal.

Like the most criminal-minded,
shady people

feasting off theater kids.

Whereas Leila's very conscious

and laid back.

So we was, "Listen, we need you
to be a real White lady

in this business for us."

Okay.

WOMAN: Okay.

LEILA: I didn't know anything
about the business

when we started.

I never wanted to manage.

Tupac was just convinced

that I could
get through any door.

But a part of management
is parenting.

And he met me

when his mom
was deep in her struggle.

And, I mean,
we could talk for hours

about the challenges
of being a Panther

and being let down,

but what I knew is that Afeni

was his hero.

TUPAC: Well, I never knew
who my father was.

He was a hustler,
a street hustler.

I met him, but he died,
and that was horrible,

but got over that.
My mother is really

my father and mother.

And really strict, almost.

But now,
I can see how it paid off.

Because I can talk to my mother
about anything,

like, I could say,
"Ma, I'm really curious
about this drug."

And she will go, "I did it,
and this is what happened,

and I don't think you should."

So she's my guide through life.

And she's human,
I mean, she has mistakes,

and we get in our tiffs
and everything.

But it's good.

LEILA: He was like me.

You know,
we hide behind a smile

and fake like we're all right.

[laughs]

He couldn't really expose

how broken he was.

It was me, I admit it.

LEILA:
But everything he ever wrote

was a road map
to understand a condition.

AFENI: I right now
have deep pain

about those years.

At that point,
I think the effects
of everything,

the trials, the police, whatever.

I don't want to cry about it.

But it was having
a bad effect on me.

[Blood speaking]

AFENI: This is when
I was smoking crack cocaine.

Yeah.

RAY: I didn't see
the fingerprints

of her addiction at that time.

It was an entire generation
of us that were latchkey kids.

So our parents
were hardworking addicts.

Never completely present.

And we didn't think
we were getting

anything out of school.

It's just a place you go
during the day,

to keep you busy
while they're at work.

RAY: So we learned
to raise each other.

While they're at work,
that's exactly what it is.

RAY: But when he hustled,
the whole point was

to take care of his mother
and sister Sekyiwa.

Yeah, I'm... I'm actually
been working already, you know,

like, I've been going to school
during the day

then I work eight hours
at the pizza place,
then go home.

And if I'm... Isn't it like,
40-hour week, that's what
adults work, right?

And that's what I'm working,
40 hours a week. I'm still poor.

My family's still poor,
I'm still living
in a poor neighborhood.

RAY: ♪ You know
They got me trapped ♪

♪ In this prison of seclusion

♪ Happiness, living
On the streets is a delusion ♪

♪ Even a smooth criminal
One day must get caught ♪

I wrote the opening line

to a song about how I felt
in this environment,

but I was never
really comfortable

with being as intimate
and open as Pac was.

Mind you, we're living
in a world pre-Tupac.

There is no
Brenda's Got a Baby.

There is no Keep Ya Head Up.

There is no Dear Mama.

That doesn't exist
in hip-hop yet.

So I crumpled it up and I
threw it in the garbage can.

And he was, like,
"What are you doing with this?
Why are you throwing it away?"

I'm like,
"Man, I don't want that.

I don't want that on my record.

I don't want
to be that personal."

LEILA: Tupac never
would've performed

anybody else's song or lyrics,

but they were so close
and so connected

that when Tupac got the lyrics
out of the trash can,

he was, like, "I feel like
I wrote this. This is me."

RAY: He was, like, "Let me
do something with this."

TUPAC: ♪ Shot up or shot down
With the bullet
That he bought ♪

♪ Nine-millimeter kicking

♪ Thinking about
What the streets do to me ♪

♪ 'Cause they never talk peace
In the Black community ♪

RAY: That was the beginning
of what ultimately became
2Pacalypse Now.

♪ All we know is violence

♪ Do the job in silence

♪ Walk the city streets
Like a rat pack of tyrants ♪

♪ Too many brothers
Daily headed for the big pen ♪

♪ nigg*s coming out worse off
Than when they went in ♪

♪ Over the years I've done
A lot of growing up ♪

♪ Get drunk, throwing up,
Cuffed up ♪

♪ Then I said,
"I had enough" ♪

♪ There must be another route
Way out to money and fame ♪

♪ I changed my name
Played a different game ♪

♪ Tired of being trapped
In this vicious cycle ♪

♪ If one more cop harasses me
I just might go psycho ♪

♪ And when I get 'em

♪ I hit 'em
With a bum rush ♪

♪ Only a lunatic would like
To see a skull crush ♪

♪ Yo, if you're smart
You'll really let me go, G ♪

♪ But keep me cooped up in this
Ghetto and catch the Uzi ♪

♪ They got me trapped

AFENI: The situation
that I had my children in...

TUPAC: ♪ Trapped

AFENI: ...the way that
we were living at that point...

TUPAC: ♪ Trapped

AFENI: ...it affected
my children very deeply.

TUPAC: ♪ They got me trapped

AFENI: But because the drugs
devastate so completely...

TUPAC: ♪ Trapped

AFENI:
...I had to look at myself.

TUPAC: ♪ Trapped

AFENI: And make changes
in my own self.

ATRON: One day, Tupac
came up to me and said,

"Can you give my mom
a ride to the bus station?

She's about to go to rehab."

And he was just quiet.

Afeni was in the back seat,
and she was not herself.

She was feeling terrible,
and it was just a sad ride.

AFENI:
It's just a hectic turmoil.

On the other hand, personally,

this is not
from Tupac's perspective,

from my perspective,

there is no way

that I could've crawled back up

had I not been broken
by those drugs first.

That meant that the last
five years of my son's life,

he had the benefit of a mother
who was completely present.

That was worth
everything to me.

JAMAL: When Tupac was a child,
he was the life of the party...

always the one creating a game

or a talent show.

And you knew whatever it was,

that he was the center
of that energy.

So I recognized that there was
something kind of special.

Then they left New York.

And around that same time,

I went back to prison.

And this is the longest time
I was gone.

I was gone
for close to six years.

And when I came back,

I had this little Honda
that had a cassette player.

And I remember someone,
who also knew the Shakur family,

got me a cassette.

And I played this tape.

["Never Be Beat" playing]

And so I stopped and I said,
"This is Tupac.

This is my godson Tupac."

And he says, "Yeah."

He said, "You know,
he's gonna be the next one."

[gun co*cks and fires]

We feel that the problem
of the Black man in America

is beyond America's
ability to solve.

It's a human problem,
not an American problem

or a Negro problem.

And as a human problem
or a world problem,

we feel that it should be taken
out of the jurisdiction

of the United States government

and taken
into the United Nations,

because not only
are we denied the right

to be a citizen
in the United States,

we're denied the right
to be a human being.

JAMAL: When I joined
the Panther Party,

the thing that attracted me
the most was not ideology.

I didn't realize what
Black Panther ideology
really was.

I came 'cause I was mad,

because they had killed Malcolm X.

MAN: We saw a guy.

He was shooting like a cowboy.

♪ Shot across the room

♪ And now the man
No longer lives... ♪

JAMAL: They'd killed
Martin Luther King.

We are not giving in.

[gunshots]

[woman screams]

MAN: Martin Luther King
dedicated his life

- to love and to justice.
- [gunshot]

JAMAL: They had killed
the Kennedys.

MAN: Get that gun!
Get the gun!

MALCOLM X:
The Negro revolution.

JAMAL: They radicalized
a whole generation,

and sparks were flying.

MALCOLM X:
Revolution is hostile.

Revolution knows no compromise.

JAMAL: And on TV is a story
about the Panthers

storming the state capital
of Sacramento with guns.

And Bobby Seale
reads this manifesto.

Take careful note of the racist
California legislature

which is now
considering legislation

aimed at keeping
the Black people disarmed

and powerless
at the very same time

racist police agencies
throughout the country

are intensifying the terror,
brutality, murder,

- and repression of Black people.
- LEILA: This is a country

where some people
have the right

to bear arms
and some people don't.

We were in the part
of the population

that wasn't allowed
to bear arms.

So seeing these people

on the steps of the Capitol
legally with these guns

was a huge moment.

My two friends
and I find the address

to the secret headquarters
of the Black Panther Party.

The Harlem Office,
2022 7th Avenue.

If you remember
those old-school stores

that had a little indentation.

And I saw this beautiful
dark-skinned Black woman

that was different...

Afeni Shakur.

Brown-skinned woman, short afro,
the essence of African beauty.

I looked at that sister, like,
"Yo, if everybody is like this,

I'm joining this."

And that's straight up, bro.

REPORTER: The most radical

Black civil rights organization
in this country's history.

[music player stops]

SHABA:
Afeni... well, energetic,

smart, quick wit,

tolerated
very little chauvinism.

She was a very strong

independent Black woman.

And it was
downright frightening to me,

but intriguing at the same time.

TUPAC: My mother
had a high position
in the Black Panther Party,

which was like unheard of,

because of course,
there was sexism

even in the Panthers.

SHABA: When I got in the office,

it was a feeling
of exhilaration.

Mesmerized by Afeni Shakur,
to be quite honest with you.

She was explaining what
the Black Panther Party was,

you know,
the Ten-Point Program.

MIKE WALLACE:
The Ten-Point Program

of the Panther Party
forms the basis

for almost everything
they teach and do.

I'm sitting in the back,
and Afeni and Lumumba Shakur

were running
a political education class.

We are disciples and students
of Malcolm X.

SHABA: Lumumba Shakur was
a very interesting individual.

He was doing what I wanted
to do in the streets.

He had two wives.

LUMUMBA: Right on, brothers.
Power to the people.

Lumumba Shakur,
Black Panther Party.

SHABA: He was a king.

- He was entitled to do that.
- That's right.

GLORIA: Yeah, Lumumba Shakur.

I met Lumumba Shakur
when Afeni said,

"That's my husband."

And then she said,

"I'm gonna be his second wife."

And then I was, like, "What?"

But she had already
taken the name Shakur

because of the father.

JAMAL: Lumumba's father
was a prominent imam,

head of one of the largest
mosques in Philadelphia.

BLOOD: Saladin.
He was a merchant.

He had a lot of land in Ghana.

Very mild-mannered guy.
And he educated his son.

LUMUMBA: Genocide is being
inflicted on our people.

That's why I'm about
to be extinct,

and be like the American-Indian
in a couple more years.

JAMAL: Lumumba Shakur
was a gang leader,

but Lumumba
and his brother Zayd Shakur

became revolutionary nationalists,

and they brought with them
a lot of revolutionary nationalists,

and they became Panthers.

Lumumba had a beard
and a goatee, permanent shades.

He looked like a-- Okay.

He looked like, to me,

a shorter guy than I would have
thought she would have.

But he was the most
commanding person in the room.

- He had a stutter.
- Even the stuttering was fly.

He wasn't cute.

My role model,

my image
of what a man should be.

And there were people in the
movement who weren't related,

who changed their last name
to Shakur.

That's how powerful
the name was.

Assata Shakur was one of those
people, and Mutulu Shakur.

TUPAC: My stepfather,
Mutulu Shakur,

was also like
a well-known revolutionary.

SHABA: He's a natural healer,
to the extent that

he learned the art
of acupuncture

to help communities detox.

Colonial warfare,
mental disorder.

As colonized subjects,
it's normal to have
issues from oppression.

JAMAL: People were
fighting depression,

homelessness, drug addiction.

When I came out of Vietnam,

my choice of drug was heroin.

I snort that sh*t.
I loved that sh*t.

It's like PTSD, man.

JAMAL: Hard drugs were forbidden

in the Black Panther Party.

In fact,
they would go into dope spots,

guns drawn, disarm the dealers,

destroy the drugs,
flush it down the sewer.

So it was all that
wrapped up in one

when the Shakurs were there
in that Panther office.

Afeni was already
a section leader,

which is a lieutenant
in the Black Panther Party

on the frontline
with rent strikes

and with school takeovers.

So watching the two of them
run a meeting,

one of my friends leans over,
he says,

"Panthers is
like the Mafia, man.

Once you join,
there's no getting out."

And my other friend
leans over and he goes,

"You know, you got to kill
a White dude to be a Panther."

And I'm, like, "Kill somebody?
I'm in the choir."

But I can't be a punk.
I was like, "I don't care."

And big afro, skinny Jamal
jumps up and goes,

"Choose me, brother.
I'll kill a White dude
right now."

The whole office gets quiet.

Lumumba calls me up,
looks me up and down,

and reaches into
the bottom drawer of the desk.

My heart's pounding.
I was, like,

"He's gonna give me
a big-ass gun.
What I'ma do?"

And he hands me
a stack of books.

And I said,
"Excuse me, brother,

I thought you were
gonna arm me."

And he says,
"Excuse me, young brother,

I just did."

And Afeni Shakur
comes up to me,

and she says,
"I've got my eye on you."

Malcolm X.

AFENI:
I worship the written word.

JAMAL: Mao Tse-tung.

AFENI: Anything written.

- JAMAL: Frantz Fanon.
- AFENI: It's a way for us,

on our own, to get information.

JAMAL: Fidel Castro,
History Will Absolve Me.

AFENI: Information.

JAMAL: I never even heard
of political power

comes out a barrel of a gun.

That was a quotation
from The Little Red Book

by Chairman Mao.

The gun aspect
wasn't new to me.

What was new was understanding
what that was for.

It was treated as a tool
for liberation, not to disrupt,

not to rob, not to maim.

MIKE WALLACE: Whatever else
the Panthers may teach,

they do not teach racism.

They do not teach
Black supremacy.

They talk about the problems
of all the poor.

SEALE: We don't hate nobody
because of their color.

We hate oppression.

We hate murder of Black people
in our communities.

We hate the gross unemployment
that exists in our community.

We hate Black man being taken
off into the military service,

to be fighting for racist,
decadent Americans

promising us freedom.

In the Civil War,
186,000 Black men

fought in the military service,

and we were promised freedom,
and we didn't get it.

In the World War,
350,000 Black men fought,

and we were promised freedom,
and we didn't get it.

In World War II,
850,000 Black men fought,

and we were promised freedom,
and we didn't get it.

In the Korean Conflict,

we fought there,
and we didn't get it.

Now here we go
with the damn Vietnam War,

and we still
ain't getting nothing

but racist police brutality,
et cetera.

JAMAL: Panthers will say racism
is a byproduct of capitalism,

recognizing that there are more
White people on welfare

than Black folks.
And if you can organize,

then you are dealing
with true change

and a true rainbow alliance.

We're talking
about class warfare.

♪ I couldn't settle
For being a statistic ♪

♪ Couldn't survive in this
Capitalistic government ♪

♪ Because it was meant
To hold us back ♪

♪ Using ignorance,
Drugs to sneak attack ♪

♪ In my community,
They killed the unity ♪

♪ But when I charged them
Tried to claim immunity ♪

♪ I strike America
Like a case of heart disease ♪

♪ Panther power is running
Through my arteries ♪

♪ Panther power...

LEILA: And in 1989,

Tupac was getting
really popular,

and everyone loved Tupac.

♪ Panther power...

LEILA:
We were throwing parties.

There'd be 500 people,
2,000 people.

♪ Panther power...

LEILA: Then I had an event
Atron was actually at.

And he was, like,

-"Hmm, here's my card."
- ATRON: Energy.

The intensity
of his eyes and the vibe.

I saw energy.

♪ Try to stop me
Oh, boy you'll be clawed
to death ♪

♪ 'Cause I'll be fighting
for my freedom
With my dying breath ♪

♪ Do you remember?
That's what I'm asking you ♪

♪ You think you living free?
Don't make me laugh at you ♪

♪ Open your eyes, realize
You've been locked in chains ♪

♪ Said you wasn't civilized
And stole your name ♪

♪ Some time has passed
Seems you all forget ♪

♪ There ain't no liberty
For you and me ♪

♪ We ain't free yet
Panther power ♪

ATRON: You know, looking back,

he has one of the most
unique voices in hip-hop.

But I went out and shopped

Tupac to every company I knew,

and every company I could,
and everyone turned us down.

♪ Panther power

He said,
"Look, if I don't get a deal,

then I'm gonna go
be the chairman
of the New Afrikan Panthers."

And I'm, like,
"The New Afrikan Panthers?
What's this?"

ATRON:
Tupac understood his audience.

He was reading
music business books

prior to getting a deal,
just trying to understand

where things were
with the business.

And with Tupac, there was
kind of two sides.

A lot of people like to say
he was a Gemini.

He was this, but he also

came from a family of Panthers.

So there was a constant
tug and pull

of just wanting to be an artist

and having to be this person

who I think

would've ended up
being a politician or activist.

But at that time, I didn't have
a real relationship

with Tupac as related
to his history

of his mother being
in the Panthers

and how most
of his mentors were in jail.

He never mentioned
his mother to me.

His family was leaded.

LEILA: Tupac was born

into a family that required him

to be a leader,

and there was a real plan
for Tupac.

He was gonna be, you know,

the chairman of
the New Afrikan Panther Party,

which was a continuation

of the Black Panthers.

MAN: Now, how long have you been

national chairman
of the New Afrikan Panthers?

TUPAC: I was...[chuckling]
matter of fact,

- about, what, a week.
- MAN: A week?

TUPAC: We had a central
committee meeting.

We had representatives

from Los Angeles and Atlanta

and, uh, Mississippi

and New York,
and we just had a vote.

WATANI: Pac was
always an artist.

Particularly,
he was a wordsmith,

one of the best I knew at that.

And so that was part of Tupac's

and young people's job

was to be griots,
or use their art form

to talk about our movement.

TUPAC: It is my duty to be one

of many spokesmen, spokespersons.

And because right now,
it is almost impossible

for you not to see how strong
rap has gotten,

'cause our youth
and some of our adults,

their ear is pinned
to rap music right now.

And if you really want
to get our message out,

we really need
to start using our method,

you know what I'm saying?
Even in our history,

poets went
from village to village,

and that's how stories
of lessons were taught.

But, uh,
history repeats itself,
and it's time to realize

that everything is not okay
in America, you know,
to get angry, you know,

and not angry
and pick up their gun

but to start opening our minds,
you know what I'm saying,

and stop sleeping.

JAMAL: Two of the most
valuable lessons I learned
in the Black Panther Party

came from Afeni Shakur.

She says, "Freedom
is an abstract idea to folk.

To someone who is hungry,
it's the meal.

To someone who doesn't have
a place to stay,

it's a warm,
safe place to sleep.

For the sick,
it's medical care

from someone who cares."

One of my first days
in the party,

a young mother comes in
carrying her little girl,

who was crying and trembling.

She explains that her daughter
has sickle cell anemia

and that she had taken her
to Harlem Hospital,

and that they said
that all she had was a cold,

that it was psychosomatic.

So Lumumba and Afeni
marched to Harlem Hospital,

holding this girl.

And Afeni said, "You treat
this young sister right now,

or there's gonna be
a psychosomatic riot
in your emergency room."

But Afeni didn't
leave it alone at that.

She formed a relationship

with a couple of the doctors
and nurses,

and we would rally together
outside the hospital,

demanding that they treat
the needs of the people,

whether they had
insurance or not.

And then especially
Lincoln Hospital

became the place where Panthers
and the Young Lords

started doing these takeovers.

"Come get tested,
come get treated."

And they wrote the first
Patient Bill of Rights,

the foundational document
for what we see

in every hospital room now,

where a patient has
a right to be treated,

a right to medical care
whether they have money or not.

That was the work
of Afeni Shakur,

Doc Dawkins, Cleo Silvers,

the Panthers, and the Lords.

GLORIA: I am in awe
of my sister.

She either started the sh*t
or got in the sh*t

that was already started.

WATANI: If she agreed
to do something,

it was done, thoroughly.

So, what that made you do
being in her company,

either step up or step off.

Her son, same thing.

It's the same type of spirit
that they had.

WATANI: Both charismatic,
both took charge of a room,

both intelligent, articulate, argumentative,

you know, so there was
a lot of Afeni there in Pac.

LEILA: Tupac
has the biggest heart

of anyone that I've known.

He was different than anybody.

I mean, he was
the Marvin Gaye of rap.

And I thought I was not
managing an artist

but a campaign,

because to me, Tupac was always
running for office.

It was always
about critical mass.

So he was gonna go chair
the New Afrikan Panther Party

unless he got
a deal immediately

because that would be
a faster path

to access what he needed.

And Atron was managing
a group in the Bay Area.

TUPAC: Who's that?

LEILA: So he set up a meeting
for us to see them.

TUPAC: He's in the bathroom.
Let's go see who it is.

Oh, sh*t. My nigg*
Shocka laka, laka, laka, laka.

Simply trying to get
the fade together here,

- I mean... [indistinct]
- [Tupac laughing]

Y'all wanna see me
take a sh*t, too?

- Come on, take a sh*t.
- TUPAC: Uh-oh. This is

Shocka laka, laka, laka, laka...

- taking a sh*t.
- SHOCK G: Taking a sh*t.

[Tupac laughing]

MAN: Have you ever performed

what, uh, people call
"gangsta rap"?

- TUPAC: No.
- MAN: Oh.

MAN: Have you heard the term?

- A lot.
- MAN: Okay.

- A lot.
- MAN: Well,
what do you understand

the term to mean?

I understand it to be...

a category that mostly

what I've seen the media

and people outside
the rap world classify

as any music
other than party music.

- MAN: Okay.
Now, Digital Underground...
- [funky music plays, stops]

- ...what kind of music
did they perform?
- [funky music plays, stops]

- They...
- MAN: Digital Underground.

Party music.
Strictly party music.

ANNOUNCER:
Digital Underground!

♪ All right, stop whatcha doin'
'Cause I'm about to ruin ♪

♪ The image and the style
That you're used to... ♪

[laughing]

Strictly party music.

MONEY B: Digital Underground

consisted of Shock G,

Chopmaster J, DJ Fuze,

- Money B, and of course...
- SCHMOOV: What's up, y'all?

"Schmoov" Eddie Humphrey
in the house.

♪ The Humpty Dance

♪ Is your chance
To do the hump... ♪

Hold up, though, hold up.

ATRON:
Shock G was the mastermind

behind Digital Underground.

Fly, my nigg* there.
Look at that nigg*.

ATRON: He came up
with the concept,
produced the music, and...

♪ I once got busy

♪ In a Burger King bathroom

...literally a musical genius.

And the only hip-hop producer
ever on a Prince record.

- MAN: Which record was it?
- I don't remember. [laughs]

♪ Come here, are ya ticklish?

♪ Yeah, I called ya fat
Look at me, I'm skinny ♪

Shock, how was that?

I like the first one
a little bit better.

MONEY B: This is right
when we were finishing
"The Humpty Dance."

SHOCK G:
I'm at the mixing board.

All the sudden,
H and, uh, Leila
send this kid to the studio.

"Shock G, what's up? I'm Tupac.
Do you want me to rhyme now?"

I was, like,
"Damn, this guy's intense."

You know?
He didn't wanna chill.

["Static Mix 2" playing]

ATRON: Digital was getting ready
to go out on the road,

and I said, "If we don't do
something with Pac,

he's gonna leave."
Shock said...

SHOCK G: "Damn, well,
we don't really need
any more rappers.

You know, we could always
use a roadie.

We can always use a dancer."

Pac was, like, "Anything.

I just wanna get out of here
before I go crazy."

MONEY B: He was stressed.
His mom was on crack,

he got a little sister,

and he didn't know where
his next meal was coming from.

But he knew he was a star
from day one.

This all had happened
the same time
the earthquake happened.

[rumbling]

And so everyone
was going crazy,

and "The Humpty Dance"
just came about that way.

[baby wailing]

[" The Humpty Dance"
by Digital Underground playing]

♪ Shaking and twitching
Kinda like I was smoking ♪

♪ Crazy, whack, funky,
People say ♪

♪ "You look like M.C. Hammer
On crack, Humpty" ♪

SHOCK G: " The Humpty Dance"
threw us around the world immediately.

So being that we were so large,

you can only expect people
to play into it.

But it was beyond that
with Tupac.

The very first day

of his very first tour,
the soundman was f*cking up

our music,
and Tupac swings on him.

Luckily, Atron was there
to catch him.

But damn, he was, like,
"I'm gonna show these guys.

I'm gonna knock this
motherf*cker out for y'all."

♪ Gather round

♪ I'm the new fool in town

♪ And my sound's laid down
By the Underground... ♪

SHOCK G: He was very loyal.
He wanted to please.

He rolled in,
he'd load the bus,
he carried the equipment.

And it was never
no flak with him.

CHOPMASTER J:
Tupac knew the magic words,

because he understood
making himself of service.

"Chop, what can I do to help
so that I can be put on?"

♪ Oh, do me, baby

SHOCK G: He moved up
through the ranks

of Digital Underground quickly.

Earned our respect.

That's why Pac wound up
on "Same Song."

♪ Now I clown around
When I hang around ♪

♪ With my Underground

♪ Girls use to frown,
Say I'm down
When I come round ♪

♪ Gas me, and when they pass me
They use to diss me ♪

♪ Harass me, but now they
Ask me if they can kiss me ♪

♪ Get some fame, people change
Wanna live they life high ♪

♪ Same song can't go wrong
If I play the nice guy ♪

♪ Claiming fame,
Must have changed,
Now that we became strong ♪

- ♪ I remain still the same
- ♪ Why Tu?

♪ 'Cause it's the same song

TUPAC: Shock G made sure
people saw me

as a member of the group
and not the posse,
and because he did that,

it gave me a courage
and a confidence to really
just do what I want.

That's the best thing
one human being could do
for another one.

SHOCK G: The hardest-working
man in hip-hop, hands down.

At the time in '91,
we were on tour constantly.

Most of our visual memories
of Tupac is with a pen and pad.

His hotel room looked
like a bomb went off.

Blunt scrapings
on every counter.

He just wasn't thinking
about that mundane sh*t.

Always writing.

ATRON: He wanted to be
the best he could be,

he wanted to be number one.

Sometimes in the morning,

Tupac would've read
two papers, a book,

listened to two records,

watched a movie by 8:00,
9:00 in the morning,

and probably smoked
a half-ounce of weed.

How else do you
become number one than studying
people at the top?

MONEY B: Hip-hop was
changing with N.W.A.

The aggressive, hardcore
mentality was more glorified.

But every morning,

Tupac would always be
in the back of the tour bus...

in his feelings,
like a ritual...

blasting some Mariah Carey.

"Visions of Love."

And he's trying
to explain what it means.

And he's, like,
"You don't understand,
This is Mariah Carey."

ATRON: He listened
to all types of music

that were on the charts, and
say, "What are they doing?"

What are their lyrics?
What is their sound?"

And I know that him and Leila
worked on a plan.

Tupac wanted
to seduce the children

of White America.

TUPAC: I had a whole energy

that represents
not just Black youth,

but White youth,
Mexican youth-- youth.

LEILA: He felt strongly
that in order to make shifts,

we had to do it together.

It was soft,
but let me give him credit.

He had his vulnerable side,
or whatever you wanna call it,

and he wasn't afraid
to show it.

And we were actually
in New York

when a script was given to me

to audition for this movie, Juice.

This is, like, the making-of.

Hey, the making-of.

Now, little do y'all know,
it's all a bluff.

I don't know how the script
was given to me,
'cause I'm not an actor.

Like, I didn't know
how to cry or anything.

I'm shaking,
I'm nervous as f*ck.

But as I'm reading the script,
this character, Bishop,

reminds me of Tupac.

And I was, like,
"You should read for this."

So Tupac goes in the room.

And now Tupac is killing it.
You can hear claps and sh*t.

We run from Radames.
We run from security guards.

We run from old man Quiles
in this f*cking bullsh*t store

when he come
with that bullsh*t gun!

All we do is f*cking run!

I feel like
I'm on a goddamn track team.

ATRON:
He was probably
at his happiest place.

MAN:
That was the time of his life.

And then I get a call
that there's a hot

new artist-friendly label
named Interscope

that want to make a deal
with us.

He was over-the-moon excited.

But I made him open
a bank account.

The police saw him
walking across the street

to go get some money
out of the bank.

REPORTER:
Shakur admitted jaywalking

in downtown Oakland,
October 17th,

and also arguing
with the officers,
even using profanity.

But he said his treatment
didn't fit the crime.

I think they used a little bit
too much force, because, I mean,

he was already handcuffed,
and they were still hitting him.

ATRON: Another change.

This is a point when he became
a television activist.

MAN: Could you spell your name
for the record

so we know that it's T-U-P-A-C?

TUPAC: Yes. Tupac.

MAN: Family name?

Shakur. S-H-A-K-U-R.

Shakur.

KAREN: Tupac always knew

that his name
would draw attention,

but this was the first time

I think
he had been physically...

abused that way.

He was irate.

Afeni was in rehab
in Connecticut.

He said, "I need
for her to get better,
'cause I need her."

I remember him saying
specifically that,

"I need for her to get better,
'cause I need her."

RYAN: Yeah, the police
messed him up.

He had knots on his head.
He got messed up.

That's why he had
to cut his hair off.

KAREN: He got alopecia.

And that's when he started
shaving his head,

because the hair wasn't
coming back in.

So that showed us that
there was something
going on internally

that he just wasn't
talking about.

And Afeni called me,

concerned how was her past
gonna affect his future?

AFENI: He came here
the son of a radical.

This country does not
look kindly on those people.

REPORTER: In Oakland today,

a Black musician
filed a $10 million claim

against
two White police officers,

saying they assaulted him
physically and verbally

after arresting him
for jaywalking.

Tupac Shakur is a member
of the popular rap group

Digital Underground.

TUPAC:
I was walking to Union Bank.

I was going to withdraw money.

I had my bank cards in my hand,
my beeper was going off.

I'm running across the street.

The police officer
stopped me on the sidewalk

and asked to see my ID.

He sweated me
about my name, like,

"I can't believe
your mother named you that."

And they were charging me
with jaywalking.

So I was riffing
and arguing about...

why would they charge me
with such a petty crime?

The officers said,
"You are not above the law,

and just because
you're in a rap group
don't make you different.

You have to learn your place."

And they said,
"You have to learn

how to treat the police officers
of Oakland."

So I kept yelling,
"Just give me the citation.

Let me go about my business."

That was a problem.

But after I said that,
I was in a choke hold,

which is known as the sleeper.

Officer Boyovich repeatedly
slammed my face into the floor

while Rodgers
put the cuffs on me.

They was happy
after I was unconscious
in cuffs on the floor.

AFENI: For every young
Black male child,

at some point in his life,

there is 90% possibility

that some person is going
to look at that child

and denote to that child

what his station in life
will be in this country.

The police beat my son
in the streets of Oakland

because his name
was Tupac Amaru Shakur

and not Joe Blow.

TUPAC: My spirit was broke,

because after
I made consciousness again,

they kept joking about...
[coughs] "I can't breathe.
I can't breathe."

'Cause I couldn't breathe.
The breath was taken from me.

AFENI: What I wanted for my son

is when they did that,

I wanted him to have a place
where he found beauty,

integrity and strength
within himself.

He could fight back at that.

And I thought that was
the most important thing

I could give to my son.

TUPAC: On every single track
on my album,

I talk about the injustices
of the young Black males.

And in my album, the number one
enemy is the police,

the crooked police officer.

And the ironic thing is that
it never happened to me.

I was speaking
from stories of my peers.

[indistinct chattering]

I missed my video debuting
on MTV.

First-time world premiere.

I spent seven hours in jail
for getting beat on by police.

And I'm in jail while
my video is being premiered.

♪ Hands up, throw me up
Against the wall ♪

♪ Didn't do a thing at all

♪ Telling you one day
These suckers got to fall ♪

♪ Cuffed up, throw me
On the concrete ♪

♪ Coppers try to kill me
But they didn't know ♪

♪ This was the wrong street,
Bang, bang ♪

♪ Count another casualty

♪ But it's a cop
Who's shot for his brutality ♪

♪ Who do you blame?

♪ It's a shame
Because the man's slain ♪

♪ He got caught in the chains
Of his own game ♪

♪ How can I feel guilty
After all the things
They did to me? ♪

♪ Sweated me, hunted me
Trapped in my own community ♪

♪ One day I'm gonna bust
Blow up on this society ♪

♪ Why did you lie to me?

♪ I couldn't find
A trace of equality ♪

♪ Work me like a slave
While they laid back ♪

♪ Homey don't play that

♪ It's time I let them
Suffer the payback ♪

♪ I'm trying
To avoid physical contact ♪

♪ I can't hold back,
It's time to attack ♪

♪ Jack, they got me trapped

AFENI:
Today, no matter what,

I thank God
that I gave him.

I remember the last time
I tried to spank my son.

And he was too old for me
to spank then.

He was about 13 years old.

And I raised my hand
to hit him.

And he didn't try
to hit me back,

but he blocked the blows.

And from here he looked at me
and he said,

"I'm never going to let
anybody beat me down."

And you know what?

[chuckles]

Stopped me in my tracks.

TUPAC: ♪ Nightmare
That's what I am ♪

♪ America's nightmare

♪ I am what you made me

♪ The hate and the evil
That you gave me ♪

♪ I shine as a reminder of what
You've done to my people ♪

♪ For 400-plus years

♪ You should be scared

♪ You should be running

♪ You should be
Trying to silence me ♪

♪ Ha, but you cannot
Escape fate ♪

♪ For it is my turn to come

♪ 2pacalypse

♪ America's nightmare

♪ Come on, come on

♪ I see no changes

♪ Wake up in the morning
And I ask myself ♪

♪ "Is life worth living?
Should I blast myself?" ♪

♪ I'm tired of being poor
Even worse, I'm Black ♪

♪ My stomach hurts
So I'm looking for a purse
To snatch ♪

♪ Cops give a damn
About a Negro ♪

♪ Pull the trigger
Kill a nigg*, he's a hero ♪

♪ Give the crack to the kids
Who the hell cares? ♪

♪ One less hungry mouth
On the welfare ♪

♪ First ship them dope
And let them deal to brothers ♪

♪ Give them guns, step back
Watch them kill each other ♪

♪ "It's time to fight back,"
That's what Huey said ♪

♪ Two shots in the dark,
Now Huey's dead ♪

♪ I got love for my brother
But we can never go nowhere ♪

♪ Unless we share
With each other ♪

♪ We got to start
Making changes ♪

♪ Learn to see me
As a brother ♪

♪ Instead of two
Distant strangers ♪

♪ And that's how
It's supposed to be... ♪