- [Allen] All right, we good?
- [man 1] Yeah.
- [Allen] Let's start rolling?
- [man 1] Camera's set.
- [Gloria] We're ready.
- [man 1] Standing by...
- [man 1] Wait, hold on.
- [man 2] No, it's okay.
[man 3] We're rolling.
[man 4] Glo, day two, take one,
comma marker.
[Allen] This a random question,
Glo, the first one...
[man 3] All right, here we go.
[Allen]
Everyone talks about, um,
- how there were two Tupacs.
- Yeah.
There's like two different
extremes of, like, him,
getting back.
That he had multiple personality
disorder, essentially?
Bullshit. He did not have
multiple personality nothing.
It was a kid, a young man,
who was-- some days you saw him,
he was excited.
Some days you saw him,
he was angry.
And some days you saw him,
he was the sweetest thing
in the world.
And maybe because, astrologically,
being a Gemini,
I can see the duality
of the personality,
but not in terms of being
psycho nothing.
He wasn't bipolar.
He was full of anxiety.
- [Allen] Mm-hmm, why?
- He was--
Well, his life.
Look at his life.
Look what was happening to him.
You know, his life
wasn't running smooth.
He wanted to do music.
[Gloria]
He moved with the feeling.
[Donald] Feelings unite us.
Thoughts kind of separate us,
but no matter
what we may think,
we all feel the same things
the same way.
And it kind of is
what makes art work.
But showing emotion
for a boy is, you know,
we was conditioned
from childhood, you know,
big boys don't cry.
And I don't think Tupac
had any fear
of expressing his feelings.
For whatever reason,
that barrier just didn't
exist for him.
He had a pretty open channel.
♪ I hear Brenda's got a baby
♪ But Brenda's
Barely got a brain ♪
♪ A damn shame
♪ The girl can hardly
Spell her name ♪
♪ That's not our problem
That's up to Brenda's family ♪
♪ Well, let me show you how it
Affects our whole community ♪
♪ Now Brenda really never knew
Her moms ♪
♪ And her dad was a junkie
Puttin' death into his arms ♪
♪ It's sad 'cause I bet
Brenda doesn't even know ♪
♪ Just 'cause
You're in the ghetto ♪
♪ Doesn't mean you can't grow
♪ But oh, that's a thought
My own revelation ♪
♪ Do whatever it takes
To resist the temptation ♪
♪ Brenda got herself
A boyfriend ♪
♪ Her boyfriend was her cousin
Now let's watch the joy end ♪
♪ She tried
To hide her pregnancy ♪
♪ From her family
♪ Who really
Didn't care to see ♪
♪ Or give a damn if she
♪ Went out and had a church
Of kids ♪
♪ As long as
When the check came ♪
♪ They got first dibs
[Karen] Tupac was living
in the valley off of Coldwater.
And when Afeni
got out of rehab,
there was happiness,
a lot of emotion, and relief
because he knew his mother
was on the road to recovery.
And that made him really happy.
And he wanted her
to be a part...
of his success.
♪ Now Brenda's belly's
Getting bigger ♪
♪ But no one seems to notice
Any change in her figure ♪
♪ She's 12 years old
And she's having a baby ♪
♪ In love with the molester
Who's sexing her crazy ♪
[interviewer 2]
Let's talk a little bit about
the song that's hitting
real big right now.
"Brenda's Got a Baby."
Oh, God.
"Brenda's Got a Baby"
is based on a true story,
and it started out big...
[reporter] A bizarre story
of child abandonment,
incest, and attempted suicide.
A newborn was thrown into the
garbage of Brooklyn yesterday.
The mother was just
12 years old.
And today, the father,
her cousin,
was arrested
after he tried to k*ll himself.
♪ He left her and she had
The baby solo ♪
♪ She had it
On the bathroom floor ♪
♪ And didn't know so
♪ She didn't know what
To throw away ♪
♪ And what to keep
♪ She wrapped the baby up
♪ And threw him
In the trash heap ♪
Everything about
that song was new,
because at that time,
either you
were making a party song
or aggressive gangster music.
But Pac read the story
and he was so moved by it,
he wrote the song.
♪ I guess she thought
She'd get away ♪
♪ Wouldn't hear the cries
♪ She didn't realize
♪ How much the little baby
Had her eyes ♪
♪ Now the baby's
In the trash heap bawlin' ♪
♪ Mama can't help her
♪ But it hurts
To hear her calling ♪
[Phillips]
The infant boy was found
in the building's
trash compactor yesterday.
This maintenance worker
was just about
to turn the compactor on.
♪ Brenda wants to run away
♪ Mama say
"You making me lose pay ♪
♪ And social workers here
Every day" ♪
[reporter]
Hospital officials say
they will turn the infant over
to the Bureau of Child Welfare.
[Tupac] It was like
a week-long series.
The mother has been charged
with juvenile delinquency
[Tupac] And I was like,
"That's so wild,
the media was
pimping that little,
small, poor, helpless girl."
And no changes was made.
She was nothing more
than a story to them.
And it was getting
smaller and smaller.
♪ Now Brenda's gotta make
Her own way ♪
♪ Can't go to her family
They won't let her stay ♪
♪ No money, no babysitter
She couldn't keep a job ♪
♪ She tried to sell crack
But end up gettin' robbed ♪
So now, same story they
reported on, I'm reporting on.
♪ So she sees sex
As a way of leaving hell ♪
♪ It's paying the rent
So she really can't complain ♪
♪ prost*tute found, slain
♪ And Brenda's her name
She's got a baby ♪
[Berman] You don't know where
the journey's gonna take you
when you begin with an artist.
And I remember with Tupac,
with "Brenda's Got a Baby,"
it all changed.
[Tupac] My publicist sent
a g*ng of letters to my house.
People writing me,
"Keep your head up."
Or, "My mother smoke crack,
I just need a big brother."
Or, "My cousin
in that situation,
we don't know what to do,
should she get an ab*rtion?"
And a lot of it,
is you see a lot of evil things
and it's like, I wanna get
involved in everything
and my publicist and my
manager's like, "You can't..."
[Gloria]
Genius comes with a price.
I want to be everywhere.
I want to go everywhere.
I want to expand and blow up.
[Berman] The urgency
for things to move.
If it was hard for us,
I can only imagine
how hard it was for him.
What I'm trying to encourage
is for people to make a change.
- He had so much to say.
- [Tupac] 'Cause we can do that.
[Berman] So much to do.
We got brains.
We can reeducate.
- [woman] And he was hopped up.
- [Tupac] I mean, I think
that's what my moms
was talkin' about
what makes you a man, responsibility.
[woman]
The album was doing good.
"2Pacalypse Now"
Powerful, powerful stuff.
[woman] Juice is coming out.
He was hot.
[reporter] The new movie
comes out this Friday.
[Gloria] He knew
he nailed Juice.
...and I like that reaction
from the crowd.
[Gloria] And all of a sudden,
we got money.
[Tupac] Juice is respect, power.
How far will you go to get it?
[Karen]
People in the film business
saw his talent as an actor,
but he wasn't prepared...
- [g*nsh*t]
- [screaming]
...for the reaction
at the theaters.
[man] Freeze, m*therf*cker!
Turn around hit the wall!
[reporter] Juice opened
around the country
to the sound of g*nf*re
inside and outside a number
of theaters where it played.
[Karen] I got so many calls.
[woman] "What's he thinking
about the violence
in the theaters?"
[Karen] He doesn't have
anything to do
with the violence happening
in the theaters.
[reporter] Police say much
of the violence was random,
although most of it
involved moviegoers.
[Karen] He said,
"They want to talk to me."
No! You don't talk to everybody
who wants to talk to you.
But Pac didn't listen
all the time.
[Tupac] What we're doing
is using our brain
to get out of the ghetto,
any way we can.
So, we tell these stories.
And they tend to be violent,
because our world tends
to be filled with violence.
[Karen] He wanted to get
the attention he needed
for the goals
that he wants to reach.
So, if this is reality,
the next question becomes...
How do we change it?
[Karen] And he wanted attention
for that as*ault case.
[Tupac] ...these are
"learn to be a n*gga" scars.
[interviewer] Who did that?
[Tupac]
Oakland Police Department.
- You're suing them?
- Ten mil.
What else can I do?
'Cause you know how that go.
Rodney King
is still fighting for his,
and they got it on tape.
You know what I'm saying?
They got it on tape!
[Karen] The Rodney King thing
had a tremendous effect on him.
[man] That's f*cked up
how they doing a n*gga.
Look how they doing him.
[Snoop Dogg] n*gga, f*ck that!
Show me help, n*gga.
A Black man being done wrong
by police officers,
which happen to be White,
we don't just film sh*t
and let a n*gga get k*lled.
f*ck all that!
What's happening? What it do?
That's Tupac. That's the cloth
that he was cut from.
♪ They claim that I'm violent
♪ Just 'cause I refuse
To be silent ♪
♪ These hypocrites
Are havin' fits ♪
♪ 'Cause I'm not buyin' it
♪ Defyin' it
♪ Envious because I will
Rebel against any oppressor ♪
♪ And this is known
As self-defense ♪
[reporter] 2Pacalypse Now,
a rap album that has some songs
about Blacks who k*ll cops.
♪ I told 'em fight back
♪ Attack on society
♪ If this is violence
♪ Then violent's
What I gotta be ♪
You have a list of titles
First one, "I Don't Give a F."
"Crooked a*s n*gga."
♪ If you investigate
♪ You'll find out
Where it's coming from ♪
♪ Look through our history
America's the violent one ♪
[reporter] Many of the titles suggest
violence, sex, drug use.
- Let's pick... violent.
- [reporter] ...and profanity.
♪ In every jeep and every car
Brothers stomp this ♪
♪ I'm never ignorant
Getting goals accomplished ♪
[reporter 1] The album
was playing in a stolen car
when Texas Trooper
Bill Davidson stopped it.
[reporter 2]
He was a family man.
♪ He had the nerve
To say I had a curfew ♪
♪ Get out the car
Or I'll hurt you ♪
A cop from
the country was shot dead
by a teenager
from the inner city.
[reporter 3] Nineteen-year-old,
Ronald Howard...
♪ Before I knew it
♪ I was beatin' the cop
Senseless ♪
♪ The other cop dropped his g*n
He was defenseless ♪
[lawyer] He believes the music
he was listening to,
from Tupac,
probably did influence him
and caused him
to sh**t that trooper.
♪ Now I'm against this
Cop who was r*cist ♪
♪ Givin' him a taste of
Trading Places ♪
[reporter 1]
Did the music make him do it?
[reporter 2] It proved to be
the perfect campaign issue
for Dan Quayle yesterday.
♪ This is a lesson to the
Rednecks and crooked cops ♪
♪ You f*ck with real n*gg*s
Get 'ya f*ck' a*s dropped ♪
There is absolutely no reason
for a record like this
- to be published.
- It is sick.
♪ You wanna sweat me
Never get me to be silent ♪
♪ Givin' them a reason
♪ A reason to claim
That I'm violent ♪
[g*nshots]
♪ Just because we play
What the people want ♪
♪ f*ck a damn cop
♪ Just because we play
What the people... ♪
♪ Violence
[Tupac] f*ck a damn cop,
you understand?
Some of it is cuts.
We got a cut that goes,
F-F-f*ck a damn cop.
[g*nsh*t]
[Allen] When did you first come
to learn of Tupac, as an artist?
As an artist?
Uh, wow...
I don't even know if it was
"Brenda's Got a Baby," it was--
I think it was the first one.
My impression of him was
he was gangsta as
a m*therf*cker, first of all.
'Cause he would say sh*t
other rappers wasn't saying.
But he was known
for sh*t happening with him.
[Allen] What do you think
that was with Tupac,
where he would run
into fire like that?
What was he looking for?
Mainly, he was looking
for understanding.
[lawyer] You are here under
a court-ordered deposition
for the case of Linda Davidson
and the estate of Bill Davidson
who are suing Time Warner, you,
and other record companies.
Now, what knowledge do you have
about this lawsuit?
Uh, I know that
an officer was k*lled
in the line of duty,
by a-- a young male
who's on death row currently.
His defense to save himself
from the chair was that
my music somehow induced him
to commit this crime.
And the widow of the slain
officer and his children
are suing everybody involved.
[host]
"The music made me do it."
That's what Ronald Ray Howard claimed.
Now, the officer's widow
is suing Tupac
and his record company
for $100 million.
What do the people
claim, though?
'Cause there were some lyrics
in the song about cop-dusting
- or something like that, right?
- [Tupac] Well, actually,
the story that they were
talking about
is called "Soulja's Story."
And it wasn't about k*lling
cops at all.
That's just what the media took,
'cause they're gonna
take what they want.
It was about somebody who was
so scared of police brutality
that he panicked
when they pulled him over...
...and it shows how his life
fell apart.
At the end of the story,
he died.
♪ Caught a b*llet in my head
♪ The screams never left
My mind ♪
♪ My brother
Caught a b*llet too ♪
♪ But I think he gonna
Pull through ♪
♪ 'Cause he deserves to
♪ This fast life ain't
everything they told you ♪
♪ They never get much older
♪ Following the tracks
Of a soulja ♪
But they didn't say that.
They didn't talk about that.
They just took what they want.
[woman] The media generally
has portrayed Tupac
in basically a negative light.
Your song,
"I Don't Give an F--"
I start the song out sitting
in a paddy wagon,
and the cops are bragging about
beating up another brother.
[woman] What that shows
is what the media on any day
is able to show you
about anyone's life.
In reality, people live their
life on a day-to-day basis.
So, I feel like my job is to
tell the story, the whole story,
and I can't censor,
or whatever you say,
censor it or making it right.
It's still censoring it,
you know.
We all gotta have the knowledge
of what's going on,
and that's what
I'm trying to do.
Okay, so you don't advocate
cop k*lling?
Not at all. I don't advocate
violence in any way.
My music deals
with self-defense.
I'm curious whether the song
he was listening to
had anything to do with
cop k*lling, or...
- No. Not-- I'm--
- Not at all?
I just said I don't write songs
about cop k*lling.
[woman]
But it did have the lyrics--
[man] Don't six of the songs
- mention cop k*lling?
- [Tupac] No.
- [man] They don't?
- [woman] Oh, that's not true.
Nope. All my songs talk about
police brutality
and self-defense.
Now, that's something different.
[audience cheers]
[man] If we're gonna talk about
police, this man over here
is in a really rough area,
and he puts his life
on the line every day.
[Tupac] I got so much respect
for him for that,
but look, we have to live
in the same neighborhoods
without bulletproof vests,
without backup,
without walkie-talkies,
without g*ns,
without tear gas, without
pepper spray, without batons.
So, now we have to fix
the problem.
[man] Pac knew that
media is a machine
that you either work with it,
or against it.
So he worked with it.
These people don't see it
every day--
But what I would like to see
is for children in our country
to have a better future
than what you guys have.
And that's not gonna happen when
he's repressing his generation
and his people by saying
they have no hope.
What do you know
about my people?
- I know a lot about your people.
- What do you know about my--
[audience shouts and boos]
[Tupac]
Just because you give charity,
give money to wipe
the guilt away
does not mean you know
about the young Black males
and females in today's society.
What would you say
is the answer to that? Violence?
No, it's making music.
It's what I'm doing now.
It sparks dialogue,
and that's how laws get made.
That's how change get made.
♪ I see no changes
All I see is r*cist faces ♪
♪ Misplaced hate makes
Disgrace to races ♪
♪ We under, I wonder
What it takes to make this ♪
♪ One better place
Let's erase the wasted ♪
♪ Take the evil out the people
They'll be actin' right ♪
♪ 'Cause both Black and White
Are smokin' crack tonight ♪
♪ And the only time we chill
Is when we k*ll each other ♪
♪ It takes skill to be real
Time to heal each other ♪
Guys, get serious, all BS aside,
it all comes down to, we got
to survive here in this country,
'cause I'm not going back
to Africa.
I mean, if this is truly
a melting pot,
then we really need
to be like that.
White folks, Black folks,
Korean folks,
Mexican folks, Puerto Ricans,
we gotta understand each other.
[Snoop Dogg] He was teaching us
to understand each other
and to communicate,
making more of an impact
on the people coming behind us.
He got that from
the Panther Party.
[man] The person that
I'm gonna talk about next
is a second-generation
revolutionary.
[Snoop Dogg] He couldn't
bring gangbanger to hip-hop.
What he could bring
was a military mind
and being w*r-ready.
[man] His mother was one
of the New York Panther 21,
- Afeni Shakur.
- [Snoop Dogg] And to know
what you're talking about
when you're speaking.
I talked to you earlier
about Dr. Mutulu Shakur,
one of my young brothers
in congress.
A person who I've known all
his life, brother Tupac Shakur.
[Karen] Malcolm X
Grassroots Movement.
First, I want to say
peace to my mother.
That's where I saw
the Black Panther part of him
[Tupac] 'Cause I wouldn't
have been here
if it wasn't for my mother.
And I looked on the front
of this thing and it said,
"Start from within to rebuild
our original greatness," right?
Okay, well, that's what
my mother did.
During the time when women
were scared to speak up,
but a Black Panther, she spoke
at Harvard, Yale, everywhere,
and now, it ain't time to cool
out and banquets and all that.
It's still on, just like it was
on when you was young
and you wanna say,
"f*ck that."
Just like you said "f*ck that"
back then.
[Karen] Pac was speaking,
and a woman next to him
leaned over and said,
"Watch your language, please."
And Pac said...
I apologize, I apologize,
but check this out.
You can't be no more offended
by my cursing
than what's really going on.
[Karen] The room went silent,
because he was right.
The thing about Tupac is,
it didn't matter who it was,
you couldn't tell him anything.
How come now I'm 20 years old
and ready to start some sh*t up,
everybody telling me
to calm down?
When you tell him to calm down,
that was the trigger word.
Well, f*ck that!
[Leila] He was fighting
with the elders.
[Tupac] If we keep looking for
who got the most colors on
and who got the baddest dashiki,
we still gonna get--
excuse my language, f*cked!
Because we coming up
in a totally different world.
This is not the same world
that you had.
He didn't wanna be
another KRS-One and Chuck D,
and Martin Luther King
preaching to the converted.
In our strive to be enlightened,
we forgot about
all our brothers in the street.
About all our dope dealers,
our pushers, and our p*mps,
and that's who's teaching
the new generation.
- [woman] That's right.
- 'Cause y'all not doing it.
[Shock G] Pac knew most of
the desolate out there
don't even read.
The cats he was trying to reach
don't know nothing
about African-American history.
[Tupac] We didn't get
any of that history
from all of those
souljas that we lost.
We did not grow up
with our parents.
We grew up BC: Before Crack.
That should say it all.
So, I take all of this lightly.
What I want you
to take seriously,
is what we have to do
for the youth.
The young Black males
are the future of us,
and the young Black sisters
are the future of us.
It's gonna be
what you put into it.
If you don't put sh*t into it,
don't get mad when we blow up.
Changes. In '92,
it's time for us as a people
to start making some changes.
Let's change the way we eat,
let's change the way we live,
and let's change the way
we treat each other.
You see, the old way
wasn't working,
so it's on us to do
what we gotta do to survive.
[theme song playing]
We continue with Tupac Shakur.
And let's talk a little bit
about what do you think
your parents
were trying to accomplish
with the movement?
I think that my mother--
like a lot of people,
like a lot of 'em,
like Fred Hampton, Mark Clark,
uh, Harriet Tubman,
they felt like
they were laying tracks
for the generation to come.
What happened to her?
Why was she in jail?
Because, like-- you know,
there's racism.
So, when the Panthers hit,
the government panicked.
[Berman] 1968.
The Panthers had expanded from
that original office
in Oakland, California,
to about 30 different cities.
[Mike Wallace]
Panther headquarters
is in Berkeley, California.
The Panthers moved here
after their old headquarters
in Oakland
were shot up by two policemen
who had been drinking on duty.
[reporter] The Oakland Police,
well known for its brutality,
never misses the chance
to harass the Black Panthers
and even to sh**t them.
Attacks began early on
in the Black Panther Party.
First, Huey Newton gets into
what the Oakland Police says
was a shootout.
[reporter] The facts:
Nine shots, one dead policeman.
Another wounded,
and Newton shot.
[Jamal] And then, Bobby Hutton,
the first to join the Panthers
in Oakland,
was shot in the back
and k*lled at age 17.
[reporter]
He was running without arms,
having left the basement
where he and Eldridge Cleaver
had taken refuge
after a g*n battle
involving 50 policemen,
sh**ting a thousand rounds.
[Jamal] And then it became more
clear our lives were in danger.
[Marlon Brando] We just came
from Bobby Hutton's funeral...
and I'm gonna do
as much as I can
to inform White people
of what they don't know.
That I myself as a White man
have got a long way to go
and a lot to learn.
I haven't suffered
the way you've suffered.
And somehow,
that has to be translated
to the White community now.
Then, my godfather,
Geronimo Pratt...
[reporter] Geronimo Pratt.
...had a top-rank position
with the Panthers
on the West Coast.
[Watani]
Geronimo was a w*r hero.
[reporter] Silver Star,
Bronze Star. Purple Heart.
And he trained
the Black Panther Party
with his military skills,
not only in California,
but all over the country.
♪ Come with me
♪ Hail Mary
n*gga, run quick, see ♪
♪ What do we have here now?
♪ Do you wanna ride or die?
♪ La di-di-da
La, la, la, la ♪
[Jamal] 1969,
the Year of the Panther.
This is the year that we win.
[Shaba] I was really excited.
I said, "I'm gonna get
my g*n today, yay!"
[Jamal] More books to read...
because the greatest,
most lethal weapon
is a free and armed Black mind.
So, the FBI director,
J. Edgar Hoover,
the most powerful person
in Washington,
testifies before Congress.
[Harry Reasoner] "... of
the Black extremist groups,
the Black Panthers represent
the greatest internal
threat to the nation."
And with that,
he got the funding he needed
and the permission
to do anything he wanted to do
to destroy
the Black Panther Party.
- ♪ La di-di-da la la la la
- [Tupac] COINTELPRO.
♪ I ain't a k*ller
But don't push me ♪
♪ Revenge is like
The sweetest joy ♪
♪ Next to gettin' p*ssy
[Shaba]
COINTELPRO was an acronym
for the Counter Intelligence Program.
It was first used against
the Communist Party.
After Malcolm X
was assassinated,
Hoover needed to make sure
there would not be
a new Black messiah.
Martin Luther King
was a target.
Stokely Carmichael,
H. Rap Brown, Max Stanford.
The Black Panther Party
was a target.
♪ Picture paragraphs unloaded
♪ Wise words bein' quoted
♪ Peeped the weakness in
This rap game and sewed it ♪
[anchor] Three hundred
Los Angeles policemen
are involved in a raging g*n
battle for nearly five hours.
Special sn*per Squad borrowed
armored vehicles from the Army,
employing the modern weapons
of warfare used in Vietnam.
[Jamal] A lot of the shootouts
and raids
on the Panthers
were engineered by the FBI.
[anchor] They have a search
warrant for this apartment.
[Tupac] They raided
every Panther's house,
especially the ones
they felt like
could do the most damage
as an orator.
The most famous example of that
is the m*rder of Fred Hampton.
[man] Fred Hampton.
[woman] Fred Hampton
was a young man.
[Jamal] 21 years old.
[woman] The Defense Minister
for the Illinois
Black Panther Party.
- I just want to tell you...
- [Jamal] A man of peace.
...that when Bobby Seale
and Huey P. Newton
got together in 1966, they got
together as peacemakers,
- not as peace-breakers.
- [Jamal] But an FBI informer
drew the floor plans
to Hampton's apartment
and he gave that to the
Chicago Police Department.
[man] For 12 minutes,
there was g*n firing
in that apartment,
yet the federal grand jury concludes
that only one possible shot
could've come
from a Panther weapon.
[distant police sirens]
[reporter]
A 20-year-old chairman
of the Illinois
Black Panther Party,
Fred Hampton,
was shot and k*lled
in a pre-dawn shootout
in his West Side apartment.
[woman] Fred Hampton
was k*lled December 4th, 1969.
[reporter] Another party member,
22-year-old Mark Clark
of Peoria,
also died in the shootout.
[Jamal] The Year of the Panther.
Ironically, more Panthers
got k*lled
and went to prison that year
than any other year.
[anchor] While there is no
evidence to support the theory
of a government plot
to smash the party,
local police have responded,
in some cases
with intelligence provided
by the FBI's task force
on the Panthers
by raiding virtually
every local headquarter.
Files confiscated, even burned.
[Jamal] It was the year
of the L.A. shootout
that offices were bombed,
that they had brothers
on the streets naked
like they were runaway sl*ves.
Literally, 12 weeks after
that New Year's issue,
I was in prison
facing 360-plus years,
along with Afeni Shakur,
Lumumba Shakur.
[anchor] The grand jury
has returned an indictment
charging members
of the Black Panther Party
with a conspiracy to b*mb
New York department stores,
Macy's, Alexander's,
Korvettes...
[Afeni] April 2nd of '69...
[Tupac]
Like, 5:00 in the morning,
the police put a match
to my mother's door and said...
[Afeni speaking]
So, my mother opened
the door and they burst in,
put a shotgun to her belly,
a g*n to her head
and said, "Don't move..."
[Afeni speaking]
...you're under arrest.
[Afeni speaking]
In my case,
a tactical patrol unit
kicked in the door
of my grandmother's house,
20 cops rushed in.
So, my last words to Grandma
as they were taking me out
in handcuffs was,
"Call the Panther office."
[man] Information was received
that some 10 or 12 members
of the Black Panther Party
in New York have been arrested,
with pigs busting down doors
while they're sleeping.
[Shaba]
I recall driving in, FBI...
[imitating siren]
I can't think of anything
they didn't have.
Machine g*ns, shotguns,
...357 Magnums, and r*fles.
[reporter] I can't speak
too highly of the detectives,
200 of whom are rounding up
the defendants.
If we'd have run, they would
probably shot each other
because it was just simply
too much weaponry.
The element of danger was great
to the men involved.
[reporter] Did they encounter
any resistance?
[police chief]
No, they haven't.
[reporter] Chief, what types
of weapons were seized?
Arms, revolvers,
r*fles, masks, et cetera.
[reporter] Did they have
bow and arrows, and spears?
We were told that.
We had the report.
[Gloria] When I learned
about the arrests,
somebody called and said,
"Turn on the TV."
[Jamal] It was headline news
that 21 Panthers
were gonna unleash
simultaneous attacks
against New York City.
[man] The indictment
also charges
attempted m*rder, arson...
[Gloria] I was horrified,
but the charges were irrelevant
because I knew
they weren't true.
It was the $100,000 bail.
No way she was getting
out of jail.
[Tanya Hart] What does it do
to a young man
when all of your heroes
have been to jail?
- Are you bitter?
- Yeah. I am.
I am angry because--
I'm angry for my mother
because she gave up a lot
of her life for this.
I'm angry
for Fred Hampton's family
because they lost
a straight-up soulja.
[Afeni] Fred Hampton was k*lled
while I was in prison.
And what touched Tupac
about Fred Hampton
is his words:
"You can jail a revolutionary,
but you can't jail
the revolution."
"You can k*ll a revolutionary,
but you cannot k*ll
the revolution."
My mother knew that freedom
wouldn't come in her lifetime.
Just like I know,
that it won't come in mines.
But it's a matter of either
we stay like this,
or somebody sacrifices.
Somebody lay a track
so we don't stay
in a 360-degree, deadly circle.
So, that's how I gotta live,
and that's how I have to die.
And that's how my music
has to be,
and my acting, and my producing,
and my interviews.
Everything has to be
for the love of Black people.
God bless you.
You're a very special young man.
- [Tupac] I appreciate that.
- [Tanya Hart] Okay.
[Karen] Poetic Justice?
Yeah.
He enjoyed that film.
He liked working
with Janet Jackson.
Because he was like,
"Wow, look at her celebrity,"
and he just couldn't believe
she would even act
with somebody like him.
[Allen] "Somebody like him"?
[Karen] Not a big movie star.
You know, a rapper.
[interviewer]
I really enjoyed this picture.
Uh, you play a guy named Lucky.
Tell me about him.
Lucky is a responsible father
trying to deal with some pain
from the past,
and trying to get through
daily survival
in South Central Los Angeles.
[g*nsh*t]
[interviewer] Now, he grows up
in a tough neighborhood
with a lot of temptations to
move away from his ambitions.
You had the same kind
of experience.
So is this a role that you feel
very much at home with?
[Tupac]
Yes, anytime it's a role
for a young Black male
that deals with pain,
that's my role,
I'm made for that role.
Leave them crayons there,
I'll get 'em later.
[Tupac] What we don't see
a lot of in films
is a Black man
and a Black woman together.
You know,
that's the happy ending.
So, that's what is I think
is gonna be new
and hopeful about this film.
[Karen]
He enjoyed making that film,
and Afeni came out
to Los Angeles.
[man] So, Tupac's like, "I want
my mother to be my PR person."
And I'm like,
"What does she know about PR?"
"It doesn't matter,
I want her to be my PR person."
[Karen] Afeni was an extremely
intelligent woman.
I had a lot of respect for her
because I knew the history
of the fact
that she acted
as her own attorney,
and had all these charges
against her.
She had never
been to law school,
and she never, ever
got the credit
that she deserved
for that trial.
In New York today,
pretrial hearings opened
for 13 of 22 Black Panthers
indicted on charges
of conspiracy
to b*mb police stations,
department stores,
subway stations,
a commuter railway,
and a city botanical garden.
[Gloria] The Panther 21 trial
was the longest trial
in the state of New York,
and the most expensive trial.
[anchor] The tone
of the pretrial hearing
was established early
by the demonstrators outside
circling the criminal
court building
which houses the state's
Supreme Court chambers.
Ironically, the crowd...
[Jamal] So, the beginning months
of the trial
were pretrial hearings,
which started ten months
after the arrests.
We were all in prison,
and we were separated.
I was on Rikers Island,
Lumumba and the others
were in the Tombs.
Afeni and Joan were at
the Women's House of Detention.
[Afeni] I hate prison.
I hate going to prison.
I hate the sound of the first
door when it closes.
[Gloria] The first time
I went to see Afeni
was the first time
I had ever been in a jail.
She was defiant.
[Afeni] When all these bars
that intrude within my sight,
these shivering lines that test
my physical might.
She did not cry
because she was in jail.
She fought because
she was in jail.
[Afeni] Do they not know who
I am, or from where I came?
[Gloria] She didn't
consider herself a victim.
[Afeni] I'm not to be burdened
by such barbaric games.
[Gloria] Because she was in jail
because of her belief.
[Afeni] My soul is not mine.
I cannot give it away.
My ears will never wash away
what I will say.
[Gloria] Lumumba Shakur
was the lead defendant.
[Shaba] Yeah,
they were in love.
But Lumumba was the chief
architect of the 21,
according to an indictment,
so he had a lot of sh*t
on his plate.
And I'm not gonna say
she overwhelmed him,
but she kept his a*s
on his toes.
[Jamal] It was an expl*sive relationship.
Yeah.
Loving and tense,
all at the same time.
And during that time,
we come back and forth to court
so that we could
prepare for trial.
We knew that we were not going
to receive justice,
but we also understood
that we weren't special.
Because of that big loophole
in the 13th Amendment
that sl*very would be
abolished everywhere
except in prison.
Prisons make money.
So men and women
all across this country,
the Black community,
the Brown,
White, the Yellow,
q*eer community
were arrested
under false pretenses
with bails that were not
bails at all.
That they were ransoms.
So, whatever happened to us
was part of a bigger fight,
and we wanted to educate
the masses.
Now, Afeni, would
phrase things in a way
that you hadn't heard before.
So, she thought the best way
to do that for herself
was to speak for herself.
[Afeni speaking]
We were petrified,
because we knew
that she weren't a lawyer.
And it was Lumumba who said,
"I don't know
if that's a good idea,
because, Afeni,
you can get emotional."
[Shaba] So, it was a spirited
conversation to say the least.
[Jamal] And then,
Charles McKinney,
our most respected attorney,
said this might not be
a bad idea.
Because a defendant
didn't have the freedom
to address the jury directly.
But Afeni, representing herself,
could talk directly to the judge
and most importantly,
talk directly to the jury.
And we then
saw this trial as...
a political education class.
[Afeni] I have a revolutionary
story that I must tell,
and my hands refuse to be
beaten by this tormented cell.
And when she got up there, bro,
everybody was like, "Oh, sh*t."
[Afeni]
There's a force in here...
"I'm on Afeni's team."
[Afeni]
A whole new Black colony.
[Jamal] Whenever she spoke,
it was like poetry.
[Afeni] A motivated force,
ready to make liberation
a living reality.
[Jamal]
And then after 11 months,
we raised the first $100,000
and voted that Afeni should be
the first person out.
[Afeni] I can hear their voices
clamoring through
these forgotten wrongs.
[Jamal]
Afeni could dispel this myth
that we were just angry,
murderous Black men.
[Afeni] Freedom now, right here
on Earth.
To hell with laws.
[anchor] We've just heard a poem
written by Afeni Shakur
- after her release from jail.
- [Gloria] She was the star,
and everybody
trying to get to her.
Her son, same thing.
♪ Back to get wreck
♪ All respect to those
Who break their neck ♪
♪ To keep their hoes in check
♪ 'Cause, oh, they sweat
A brother majorly ♪
♪ And I don't know why
Your girl keeps paging me ♪
- ♪ I get around
- [Shock G] "I Get Around"
was Tupac's first solo,
bona fide hit record.
The funnest day of my life.
It was this mansion in Malibu
with a lot of women.
It was like we had a party,
and we shot the video
during our breaks.
♪ She tells me she needs me
Cries when she leaves me ♪
♪ And every time she sees me
She squeeze me ♪
♪ Lady, take it easy
♪ Hate to say I'm sleazy
But tease me ♪
♪ I don't want it
If it's that easy ♪
[Money-B] Pac had his own room,
so every time we had a break,
he had a different woman
going up with him.
♪ I get around
[Shock G] His natural magnetism
was beyond celebrity status.
Girls loved Pac from day one.
I'm talking about
even before he was famous.
Just carrying equipment,
Pac was pulling 'em.
So, now you got girls
throwing themselves at you.
Forget about it.
Come on, we're only human.
We're only human.
♪ Fingertips on their hips
As I dip ♪
♪ Gotta get a tight grip
♪ Don't slip, loose lips
sink ships, it's a trip ♪
[Gloria]
He wanted to be liked.
He would call me up,
"Guess who I did it to?" Who?
♪ Conversations on the phone
Till the break of dawn ♪
[Gloria] Afeni didn't want
to hear that.
You know?
It's her son.
Now he's not the son so much,
he's the man.
♪ But when you learn
You can't tie me down ♪
♪ Baby doll, check it out
I get around ♪
[Shock G] From my personal
point of view,
I saw Tupac
adapting to fame well.
But what none of us
paid attention to
was when someone gets success
like that,
there's a certain level
of jealousy.
[man] We had no concept
of understanding
the problems of success,
or what people perceive
as success.
[Leila]
Tupac had been gone touring.
We were having
Marin City Festival.
He was so excited.
"I'm coming home."
But there were people
in the crowd.
They were jealous.
A fight broke out.
A whole mob of people
started chasing Pac
and the people he came with.
[Watani] There was
a shot fired in the air,
and the kid
by the name of Qa'id
got k*lled across the street
from the park.
That changed Tupac.
[Leila] I don't know what
exactly happened.
I just know no one's ever
the same after that.
It severed relationships
in the community.
It was heartbreaking
for all of us.
We're all responsible.
[man]
I don't know who had the g*n,
but I know Tupac didn't.
But everyone was saying
because he was the name,
it was his fault this kid died.
[Leila]
It was really hard on Pac,
right when he was
just trying to get positioned.
[Tupac] Young Qa'id.
[Leila] That's one
of the hardest points
in Pac's journey
that never went away.
[Tupac] Remember that name.
[man] That changed
how he dealt with people.
[Tupac] 'Cause you m*therf*ckers
will go to your grave
with that name on your brain.
'Cause jealousy
and recklessness
is not...
something to die for.
[Watani] The '90s
was incredibly dangerous...
[Tupac] Too many families
affected by a wrongful death.
[Watani]
...especially for Black males,
[Tupac] This system
and this country has tore apart
my family and our families.
You can't have a Black family
and be together.
[Watani] It's not even that you
in a g*ng or not in a g*ng.
There was drug addiction,
alcoholism, violence.
[Tupac] How many more funerals
do we gotta go to?
And how many more scenes
of the crime
do we gotta watch them
chalk out
Black figures on the concrete
before we realize
the only way for us to ever
get out of this predicament
is to struggle to survive?
[Watani]
And a lot of our people died.
[Tupac] It' ain't nothing but
k*lling happening right now.
I think the Black-on-Black
violence,
when we k*ll each other,
it make us
not really give a
f*ck about Blackness, you know?
And also, the police violence
against us,
that's making us crazy.
That's what's making us
k*ll each other,
'cause we scared to sh**t
the m*therf*ckers
that's doing it to us.
Gangs ain't nothing
but tribes, you know?
And the police ain't nothing
but a g*ng.
The National Guard is a g*ng.
The Army is a g*ng.
We learned all this g*n sh*t
from the government, you know?
How are they gonna show us
that and think we can't pick up?
So, I'm picking up. Feel me?
[Jamal] The difference between
the Bay Area and L.A.
is night and day.
There's a huge criminal element
throughout L.A. County.
[Tupac] I was scared of L.A.
to whereas
I didn't know nothing about
the g*ng thing.
This ignorance,
not knowing where not to go.
But the ghetto is the ghetto,
you know?
[Snoop Dogg] He was solo.
Renegade. He made hit records.
And he was out there on his own.
[Tupac]
...Mutulu, Geronimo.
All the political prisoners.
His mentors were in jail.
My folks in penitentiaries
for screaming
"African liberation".
I'm talking about straight
m*therf*cking G's,
but they in jail now.
[reporter] A march to free
the Panther 21
and all political prisoners
will be held on Central Park
and have its speakers,
Afeni Shakur...
[Gloria]
When Afeni came out on bail,
she believed in freeing
her comrades,
but it wasn't like
she was jubilant.
[Mike Wallace] New York's Harlem
is the biggest Black ghetto
in the country,
but the Panther chapter here
is so weak
that it's an embarrassment
to the party.
The Panthers have been,
essentially, leaderless here.
There were day-to-day struggles
to keep a Panther office open.
[Mike Wallace] Their programs
are at a standstill.
No free medical program,
no free clothing program.
[Jamal]
And with very little sleep,
Afeni would do
all of those jobs.
♪ I wake up
Early in the morning ♪
♪ My state so military
Suckas fantasizing ♪
♪ Pictures of a young brother
Buried ♪
[reporter] Afeni Shakur is one
of the two Panther 21 members
now out on bail.
[Jamal] The next person out
was Cetewayo Tabor,
and then it was
Dhoruba Bin Wahad.
Both of them brilliant speakers
and organizers.
And then Joan Bird.
She was the other woman
in the Panther 21.
And I had been adjudicated
youthful offender
I was severed from the case,
and released.
We started traveling,
getting more support
for the case.
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
called it creating
a colossal event.
[Gloria] She drew a crowd.
It was the people doing
"Free the Panther 21"
and "f*ck the Pigs."
Oh, God, I like that.
[Jamal] Centre Street,
it would be shut down.
Black folks, White folks,
students, tourists,
'cause they knew sparks
were gonna fly.
[Chet Huntley]
The Panthers started shouting
and the judge called a recess.
[Jamal] Judge Murtagh
was all about decorum.
We booed, cheered,
jeered and screamed,
"You're a lying, r*cist,
fascist pig," every day.
This afternoon
there was more disorder
and another early recess.
Power to the people!
[Jamal] We weren't gonna
politely be lynched.
However, there was starting
to be tension between
national leadership
and local leadership.
[reporter]
Founder Huey Newton
is in a California prison
for manslaughter.
Chairman Bobby Seale
faces trial for m*rder.
Eldridge Cleaver
has fled into exile.
Basically, there was conflict
going back and forth
with the West Coast
and the East Coast about money.
[Afeni speaking]
[Afeni] And Huey was out
and insane.
[reporter] Newton's last trial
and manslaughter conviction
were overturned.
He is back on the street.
[Jamal] So, as the trial day
nears closer,
Afeni and I found ourselves
in the middle of that tension.
And the members of
the Panther 21
who were still inside,
led by Lumumba,
did not feel
we were doing enough
to get other people out.
What we didn't know was that
this was exactly
the strategy of the government.
In any w*r, the way you
weaken an opponent
is to make the enemy fight
a w*r in many different fronts.
And Pac and I used to have this
conversation about COINTELPRO
as a reminder for him,
because hip-hop was becoming
such a powerful economic
and political force.
[Tupac] But in Black communities especially,
we have, like, broken families,
with no father, no big brothers.
And so the music
becomes the father.
You-- you grow up
and you get the lesson
that you would've got
from your daddy,
and it's like you're paying $10
for a whole lifestyle of game.
That's why these White kids
can dress and act like n*gg*s,
'cause all they got to do
is go get ten tapes, Hood 101.
[reporter] Rap is essentially
a Black art form,
and surprisingly,
70% of rap music
is bought by
White young people.
[man] For the government,
there is nothing worse
than a revolutionary
having a voice like
cinema and records.
Can you imagine,
your mom is the DA
or the judge or whatever,
and they're sending cats
that look like Tupac
to jail all day.
And then their kid
has his poster on their wall?
"Like, take that down and put
Bruce Springsteen back up."
[Karen] I saw people had no clue
what "thug" meant
across his stomach.
It started with "50 niggaz."
[man] Fifty niggaz:
"Never Ignorant,
Getting Goals Accomplished."
Fifty thousand. Fifty million.
And it was a movement
that was gonna bring
everybody all over the ghettos, together.
[Tupac] We're gonna send
this one out to the old school.
All these m*therf*ckers
in the Bronx
and Brooklyn,
and Staten Island, Queens,
and all the m*therf*ckers
that laid it down.
[EDI] It was just about unity.
He just wanted to broaden
the horizon of all of hip-hop.
♪ I remember Mr. Magic
Flash, Grandmaster Caz ♪
♪ LL, Raising Hell
But that didn't last ♪
♪ Eric B Rakim was...
[EDI] At the time,
the East Coast
was established
as far as hip-hop.
They wrote the rules.
What you could say,
how you could say it.
That sh*t drove Pac crazy.
Like, "f*ck that!
This is real hip-hop, too,
on the West Coast."
That's why he was so on us in
the early stages of our career
of embracing other hip-hop
and other types of music.
So it started with "50 Niggaz,"
then it went on to "Thug Life."
And Mutulu was in prison,
but he would call, making sure
it had structure to it, a goal.
[Shaba]
Mutulu called all the time.
Mutulu is who put
Watani with us.
[Karen]
Watani was a gift from God.
In addition to being elder,
he was a security specialist.
He understood what was going on
beyond what any of us saw.
And he was a connection
to Mutulu.
[Watani] Mutulu was a person
Tupac knew as a father.
But the feds actually tried
to not allow that relationship.
When I say the feds,
I'm talking about
the Bureau of Prisons,
to try to stop communication
between Tupac and Mutulu.
You know,
'cause behind the walls
he's looked up on the way Tupac
was on the street: leaders.
Even inside of prison,
he stopped g*ng violence,
racial violence,
he was their peacemaker.
It was from that
that Mutulu began to organize
with other shot callers
and wrote the "Thug Life" code.
[Tupac] This Thug Life code,
we have a code put in order
to the violence on the streets.
The OG's in the East Coast
and the West Coast
and the penitentiaries.
Like, we're gonna be against
drive-bys, kidnappings,
attacks on people
that are not involved.
And people who perpetrate that,
they have to deal with
the consequences and go to jail,
'cause that's who's gonna
enforce this code
and the Thug Life
that's on the street.
It's like we cleaning up
the dirt.
I can't change what--
the dirt that's here,
but I can put all this dirt
in one corner.
And I will give my whole life
to this plan
I have for Thug Life.
[Watani] Tupac was our
spokesperson for the code,
but at times he would
struggle with that.
And so that was a balancing act
he was dealing with.
He feels like he has to perform
to be this image that everybody
want him to be.
[Tupac] You have all over the
country, big-time OG criminals
telling me they want me
to lead their movement.
I mean, I'm gonna have
a small identity crisis here.
[lawyer] Okay, so let's go back
to the questions.
Have you been
in any other jails or prisons,
other than the present?
[Tupac]
Yes. I'm not sure of the word,
but it was for a fist fight
with another individual.
[lawyer] Okay,
so as*ault and battery?
No.
[man] You were convicted
of civil as*ault
for engaging in a fight
with some entertainers:
the Hughes twins.
How did you not get hurt
more seriously?
I was wondering if you guys
were gonna interview you...
- [Allen] Yeah, here we go again.
- [Karen] Yup.
Oh, I'm not the first person
to ask that question?
[Allen] Don't you think
that's like breaking the line?
- [man 2] You broke the line.
- [Allen] Okay.
You're not uncomfortable
with me doing the story?
Why would I be?
[Allen] Just don't think
I don't hear this sh*t.
That n*gga Tupac beat up
is telling the story.
For the record,
Tupac didn't beat me up.
- Ten other m*therf*ckers--
- [laughs]
He had ten m*therf*ckers--
n*gga Allen, you as crazy
as a m*therf*cker!
That n*gga said,
"For the record,
that n*gga didn't beat me up.
He had ten other m*therf*ckers
beat me up."
That's when n*gg*s had posses.
[Allen] Go ahead. Let me take
the hot seat real quick.
[man 1]
Go ahead, watch it. Go ahead.
This is easy being
on this side.
[laughs]
[man 2] Allen Hughes, take one.
[producer]
So, what I wanna know is...
He's got a pen.
He's got the pen out already.
[producer] So, how does
all of that feel for you,
coming around,
knowing that 30 years ago,
you met all these people.
Now, here everyone is,
back again?
- How does that feel?
- That's pretty surreal.
It's surreal to go
and do a journey,
a narrative
that you were a part of,
and then to have it
be so personal, you know,
when I was deciding
to do this thing...
I didn't want to do it at first.
Uh, and-- 'Cause I think
I was fearful
of what we're doing right now.
[producer] So, tell me,
you did which videos?
We did-- The first video we did
was "Trapped."
Then we did
"Brenda's Got a Baby."
And there's this moment
in the video
where there's a long lens
camera, like this camera,
and it's swimming
over his features.
And I'm looking
through the lens,
and I saw that structure
and that energy.
And I go, "God, this dude's
a rock star."
I mean, it was right then.
And you can just
catch the aura,
and it's telling
multitudes of stories.
And the problem
I think we have is people go,
"Well, what's the theme
of this?"
Sometimes those sub-themes
are more important
than "the" theme.
Harry Connick ain't got
nothing on me. Check it.
♪ Oh, stay with me
- [Allen] We were close friends.
- ♪ How could I be sure?
[Allen] But me and my brother,
we didn't really want to sh**t
a third video,
"When my Homies Call."
[reporter] Gentlemen,
you're working with Tupac now,
- for the third time?
- Third time.
[Allen] At that point, we were
having some difficulties.
Heard that.
I gotta pay attention.
They told me,
like, four f*cking times.
Look this way. Look this way.
I don't pay attention
That's my problem now.
That's why my mother
threw me out when I was 13.
- [Albert] Okay, Tupac?
- Yeah?
[Allen] At that point,
he was becoming
more erratic for some reason.
- I couldn't figure it out.
- [Albert] Let's do it again.
[Tupac] Right now,
I'm doing these videos.
I'm doing these movies.
I'm making a g*ng of money.
I'm helping my people.
But everybody wants to know,
"Well, why do you got
an attitude?"
"What's wrong?"
"What's the matter?"
And it's like, if somebody
put their foot on your neck
for so many years--
for me, it's been 20 years.
I can't take the 400-year
struggle.
I can identify, but I can only
take up the 20 years.
That's how long
I've been here, struggling.
Twenty years.
And if somebody put their foot
on your neck for 20 years,
when you finally
do get from under that foot--
'cause they like-- they let--
they like-- Now, they like,
"Well, we gave you some money.
I mean, you did a movie.
Will you calm down?"
I still got the scars, you know?
I mean, I still feel it.
When I go to sleep,
I still feel them cops on me.
You know what I'm saying?
The cops who beat me,
I still feel that.
If I hear
helicopters and sirens,
I still panic, you know?
And that's not cool.
You know what I'm saying?
That's real.
[man] I understood that he was
going through things.
Everything that happened
changed him a little bit.
Starting with being inside
his mom's stomach in jail.
From all of that to the time
he f*cking got his a*s whipped
by the Oakland PD.
And he sued them.
It was always something.
Dan Quayle, in national TV,
the Vice President
of the United States,
saying "Your music doesn't
have a place in society."
Very little gaps of serenity
for that guy.
[Watani] At the same time,
I had people
looking out for him, you know.
We put Lil' Monster and Bone,
both representing
the Crips and Bloods,
on his security detail.
[Shock G] For those of us
who loved Pac
before he was a celebrity,
there was a lot of stress
that went with trying
to protect him,
'cause it was hard.
We didn't know what was going
on and what his plans were.
We see now, but at that time,
we're all trying to protect him.
Their relationship with that
n*gga was-- was complicated.
Ask me some deep sh*t.
[Snoop Dogg] If he loved you,
he loved you hard.
If he was mad at you,
he was mad at you
like a m*therf*cker.
Ask me about
the Hughes Brothers.
[Allen] What happened
was New Line Cinema said,
"You have to get
a platinum recording artist
in order for us
to green-light my movie."
Tupac's like, "I'll do
a supporting role, but..."
I was supposed to be
in Menace II Society, right?
I went and everything.
They got the deal
because of your boy.
You know, they was my n*gg*s.
They used to do all these
videos for me.
[Allen]
He was gonna play Sharif,
the Muslim character.
And he basically said,
"In order for me
to be a non-violent Muslim
at this point in my career,
we had to rewrite the role
and show how I got there."
I refuse to play parts
that don't exist.
I will be a young n*gga,
but I'll be a real young n*gga.
You know what I'm saying?
That's gonna make me
different than all of these
n*gg*s that's taken parts.
[Allen] In hindsight,
Tupac had a valid point.
But our relationship
was so decayed,
I was like,
"We're not doing that."
[Tupac] I said,
"You acting like a b*tch."
He said,
"You acting like a b*tch."
I said, "Well, g*dd*mn.
If I'm a b*tch, smack a b*tch."
[Allen] Long story short...
What's that say? "Heartless."
And I beat his punk a*s up.
Now I can't help it
if some n*gg*s on the scene
beat his a*s for running.
And I can't help it if they
were screaming
"Thug Life"
as they did it.
[Allen] If it was me and Tupac,
it would've been different.
It was a danger in ten guys...
[Snoop Dogg] That's the
Thug Life n*gg*s.
Them n*gg*s was real
Crip g*ng members.
But they spared y'all, though.
They didn't do the finish-off.
You talk about Raging Bull.
I looked like Jake LaMotta
by the end of that.
I remember the headlines.
And I remember him
talking trash about him.
When I catch
the Hughes Brothers,
I'm gonna bust you
in your mouth for good.
[Karen] But it bothered him.
[Allen] I was pissed
for a long time.
Even though out of all
the meaningful times
that we spent together,
that altercation
was probably like five minutes.
[reporter] How do you feel
coming to court today?
Don't block my way
and don't hit my lawyer.
[reporter] Tupac, do you think
this is a bum rap?
[Allen] And I feel
unlocking going on,
'cause I'm just starting
to recollect.
No, actually...
Damn.
I should've understood
what he was saying.
[Watani] But he wasn't really
listening to people.
So I decided to move him here
to Atlanta, Georgia.
[Watani] Atlanta, Georgia.
This became the hub.
This became our base.
So, Afeni moved here
then Glo moved here after that.
And Tupac took well to it.
It was a little slow for him,
but he embraced Atlanta.
[reporter] I caught up
with the popular rapper
in his friend's bookstore.
We started our conversation
by talking about
why he feels he can impact
today's youth with his work.
[Tupac] I have something
to offer the business
that hasn't been shown before.
You know, I have a whole energy
that represents not just
Black youth,
but White youth, Mexican youth. Youth.
[Afeni] After I started
working with my son,
that was the first relationship
we had since I was using.
Watching my mother just go
through changes and everything,
it's like, my mother's
my partner, she a soulja.
You know, she a soulja
like I'm a soulja.
You know, and I watched to peep
the game that she went through.
[Gloria] When he bought
that house for Afeni,
we thought it was a mansion.
Because that was the first time
anybody in me
and Afeni's family
had a home
and owned it outright.
And anytime Tupac sent 'Feni
shopping with a budget,
we were happy.
We didn't never have
that freedom to do that.
So, she bought everything.
We was rich.
We thought we were.
And he would say dumb stuff
to us like,
"Don't act like
you ain't never had nothing."
Well, we hadn't.
Tupac introduced us
to a lifestyle
that we would've never known.
[man] Afeni always wanted land.
And this was hers.
And she was real proud
about it.
She had a sh**ting range outside.
So, we used to
play with g*ns out here.
And she had a lot of g*ns.
Pac did, too.
♪ Early one Sunday morning
♪ Breakfast was on the table
[man] I'm a felon.
I don't have nothing to do
with no pistols.
But, mmm, the sound,
the numbness of the hand
when it sh**t right through
your arms
when you just lettin' it out.
♪ Filled with the
Long of glory ♪
♪ We learned the Holy story
[Afeni] Tupac had told me
in the beginning of my recovery
how much I hurt him,
and he had not talked about it anymore
because he still had
anger about it.
And he worked that anger
through his system.
She saw her son
sh**t up a Mercedes-Benz.
[man] Some people like sex,
some like shootin' pistols.
Some people like doing both
because we release
all the inside anger.
Tupac would go in the backyard
and sh**t the grass.
[man] Tupac Shakur!
Give him your hands,
brothers and sisters!
[Tupac] First of all,
y'all gonna think
something wrong with me
'cause I'm losing it.
If I curse, forgive me.
But we curse. So, they told me
to watch my language. f*ck that.
He did tell y'all about my mama
and the Panthers,
but let me tell you
where I ended up.
My mama was a crack addict.
I ended up in Baltimore welfare
with no lights on
in high school.
[woman] He started to talk about
his anger publicly.
[Tupac] I got disdain
for a lot of m*therf*ckers
'cause I'm gonna tell you,
when my mama started
cracking and I was by myself,
this brother right here,
Watani Stiner,
was the only person
in this movement
that took care of me.
[man] Gary, Indiana. Black Expo.
He was hyped.
So, it ain't no
m*therf*cking struggle
if you don't take care
of your babies.
Not just yours, but the other
souljas', you know?
What about these souljas in
jail? Where their kids at?
Don't none of you m*therf*ckers
give a f*ck about them!
Little Latasha got a b*llet
in her m*therf*cking back,
and ain't any one of y'all
do a m*therf*cking thing!
[Watani]
Indiana was where Mike Tyson
caught his r*pe case.
[Tyson]
Life beat me into submission.
[Watani] So, I took Pac
to go visit Mike.
[Tyson] And when he came
in that prison, everybody,
Black, White, gangster,
"Yo, what's up!"
[Tupac] And when I saw
"Thug Life," I mean that sh*t.
'Cause these White folks
see us as th*gs.
I don't care what y'all think.
And he stood on the table.
I said, "Get down."
Everybody just looking
at what's going on. He's--
Please, come down now.
I don't care if you think
you a lawyer,
if you a man,
if you a African-American.
We th*gs and n*gg*s
to these m*therf*ckers.
He was really special.
I walk around
with Latasha in me.
I walk around with Fred Hampton
and Bobby Hutton in me.
And when these m*therf*ckers
press my button
and I blow up, it ain't me.
He was too intelligent to act
the way he conducted himself.
How the f*ck can a n*gga
put on a police uniform in 1993?
f*ck that!
When the sh*t jump off,
if you still got that on,
your a*s is out!
'Cause n*gg*s is armed in 1993.
Did you see what happened
on April 29th, on the news?
'Cause they was f*cking sh*t up
in L.A.
[anchor] Four current and former
Los Angeles police officers
were acquitted today of all
but one criminal charge
in the beating of motorist
Rodney King.
[Tupac]
All my life, I never
thought it could happen,
but I've seen it for myself.
I was there.
n*gg*s had their m*therf*cking
dawgs up, and it was all good.
[anchor] Two thousand
National Guard troops
have been deployed
following violent outbursts
in parts of Los Angeles
following acquittals
for four...
[Tupac] We are marching
on the anniversaries
of when we marched
25 years ago.
What are you meant to do?
Now, I swear to God,
you gonna find me
strapped like a m*therf*cker
getting ready to sh**t.
[Billy] Pac always talked about
how he was gonna protect us
any way he could.
[Tupac] All that sh*t
that went on in the '60s
ain't gonna happen
in this m*therf*cker.
But if I go by myself and I die
and you m*therf*ckers bury me,
I swear before God,
I will haunt every single one
of you punk-a*s m*therf*ckers.
Do you feel me?
[Billy] But there was
this doubt in my head.
Are you gonna do something
if something happens?
- [Tupac] f*ck the police!
- Guys like us,
we turn our delusions
into reality.
[Billy]
So, Halloween night 1993...
Bang! Bang!
♪ Oh, Sadie...
[Billy] Three shots.
♪ Don't you know we love you
Sweet Sadie ♪
[Billy] ...just like
a marksman, trained.
♪ Place no one above you
Sweet Sadie ♪
[Billy]
The mythology is one thing,
but what I saw was the truth.
♪ Seems so funny
♪ No money will turn
Your life... ♪
Tupac...
shot some police in the a*s.
♪ Oh, it's what she wanted
From me ♪
[reporter] The rap star,
Tupac Shakur,
is free on bond tonight
after his arrest
this weekend in Atlanta.
The 22-year-old
singer and actor
was charged with sh**ting
two off-duty police officers.
The wounds were not serious.
[Blood speaking]
♪ Pour out some liquor
And I reminisce ♪
♪ 'Cause through the drama
♪ I can always depend
On my mama ♪
[Blood speaking]
♪ And when it seems
That I'm hopeless ♪
♪ You say the words
That can get me back in focus ♪
♪ When I was sick
As a little kid ♪
♪ To keep me happy
There's no limit ♪
♪ To the things you did
♪ And all my
Childhood memories ♪
♪ Are full of all
The sweet things ♪
♪ You did for me
♪ And even though I act crazy
♪ I gotta thank the Lord
That you made me ♪
Right?
I mean, g*dd*mn.
[Afeni] When Tupac first played
"Dear Mama" for me,
it made me cry
because I realized
that my son had forgiven me.
♪ Everything will be
All right if you hold on ♪
♪ It's a struggle every day
Gotta roll on ♪
[Afeni] It means a lot to me
that my son wrote a song to us.
♪ ...that I understand
You are appreciated ♪
[Afeni] 'Cause it's not
just to me.
And I cried because I realized
it was him saying to me,
"I got the whole thing."
[laughs]
♪ You are appreciated
♪ Ain't nobody tell us
It was fair ♪
♪ No love for my daddy
♪ Because the coward
Wasn't there ♪
♪ He passed away
And I didn't cry ♪
♪ 'Cause my anger wouldn't
Let me feel for a stranger ♪
♪ They say I'm wrong
And I'm heartless ♪
♪ But all along I was lookin'
For a father ♪
♪ He was gone
♪ I hung around
With the th*gs ♪
♪ And even though
They sold drugs ♪
♪ They showed
A young brother love ♪
♪ I moved out
And started really hangin' ♪
♪ I needed money on my own
So I started slangin' ♪
♪ I ain't guilty
♪ 'Cause even though
I sell rocks ♪
♪ It feels good
Puttin' money in your mailbox ♪
♪ And I love paying rent
When the rent's due ♪
♪ I hope 'ya got the diamond
Bracelets that I sent to you ♪
♪ 'Cause when I was low
You was there for me ♪
♪ You never left me alone
Because you cared for me ♪
♪ I could see you comin' home
After work late ♪
♪ You're in the kitchen
Tryin' to fix us a hot plate ♪
♪ Just workin' with the scraps
You was given ♪
♪ And Mama made miracles
Every Thanksgivin' ♪
♪ But the road got rough
You're alone ♪
♪ Tryin' to raise two bad kids
On your own ♪
♪ And there's no way
I can pay you back ♪
♪ But my plan is to show you
That I understand ♪
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01x02 - Changes
Watch/Buy Amazon
The docuseries explores the lives and legacies of Tupac Shakur and his mother, Black Panther Party activist Afeni Shakur.
The docuseries explores the lives and legacies of Tupac Shakur and his mother, Black Panther Party activist Afeni Shakur.