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One of the most interesting and intense interviews, I've ever conducted was with Tupac Shakur.. He had just hit it big with the movie Juice and and everyone wondering was he just acting or putting forth his real life persona in the movie.. Although I had known him for a couple of years it was hard for mne to tell.. cause he had a loaded gun on him as we spoke...If I recall it was a 38....Pac explains in this interview his then recent encounter with the Oakland Police Department which resulted in him getting beat. Currently Pac is out on bail after serving part of a 3 year prison sentence in upstate NY. He's now with Death Row Records and has just released an lp entitled 'All Eyes On Me'. Needless to say this ;p has blown up. This early interview with 2Pac lends some incredible insight to how he was before all the trouble he's in now started happening.. Enjoy.... Excerpts of this Interview are taken from Davey D's Hip Hop Archives...Much of this originally appeared in the KMEL Beat Report Newsletter. Tupac Shakur considers himself the 'Rebel of the Underground' [Digital Underground] and for good reason. He stirs things up and does the unexpected. Such a person is bound to generate excitement because they have impact on both the people and situations around them. 2Pac in 1992 promises to have major impact in the world of hip hop. He's kicking things off with a sensational acting debut in the movie 'Juice' where he stars as the character Roland Bishop. His debut lp '2Pacalypse Now' is beginning to cause a bit of a stir on retail shelves around the country. And if that's not enough Tupac is branching out and signing new acts to his production company including his older brother Moecedes who raps in the Toni Tony Tone song 'Feels Good. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing this outspoken and very animated individual at his apartment where he told his tale. Davey D:Give a little bit of background on yourself. What got you into hip hop? 2Pac: I'm from the Bronx, NY. I moved to Baltimore where I spent some high school years and then I came to Oaktown. As for hip hop-all my travels through these cities seemed to be the common denominator. You lived In Marin City for a little while. How was your connection with hip hop able to be maintained while living there? Was there a thriving hip hop scene in Marin City? 2Pac: Not really..You were just given truth to the music. Being in Marin City was like a small town so it taught me to be more straight foward with my style. Instead of of being so metaphorical with the rhyme, I was encouraged to go straight at it and hit it dead on and not waste time trying to cover things...In Marin City it seemed like things were real country. Everything was straight forward. Poverty was straight forward. There was no way to say I'm poor, but to say 'I'm poor'... How did you hook up with Digital Underground? 2Pac: I caught the 'D-Flow Shuttle' while I was in Marin City. I'm referring to the album 'Sons Of The P' It was the way out of here. It was the way to escape out of the ghetto. It was the way to success. I haven't gotten off since... Basically I bumped into this kid named Greg Jacobs aka Shock G and he hooked me up with Digital Underground... What's the concept behind your album 2Pacalypse Now'? 2Pac: The concept is the young Black male. Everybody's been talkin' about it but now it's not important. It's like we just skipped over it.. It's no longer a fad to be down for the young Black male. Everybody wants to go past. Like the gangster stuff, it just got exploited. This was just like back in the days with the movies. Everybody did their little gunshots and their hand grenades and blew up stuff and moved on. Now everybody's doing rap songs with the singing in it.. I'm still down for the young Black male. I'm gonna stay until things get better. So it's all about addressing the problems that we face in everyday society. What are those problems? 2Pac: Police brutality, poverty, unemployment, insufficient education, disunity and violence, black on black crime, teenage pregnancy, crack addiction. Do you want me to go on? How do you address these problems? Are you pointing them out or are you offering solutions? 2Pac: I do both. In some situations I show us having the power and in some situations I show how it's more apt to happen with the police or power structure having the ultimate power. I show both ways. I show how it really happens and I show how I wish it would happen . You refer to yourself as the 'Rebel of the Underground' Why so? 2Pac: Cause, if Digital Underground wasn't diverse enough with enough crazy things in it, I'm even that crazier. I'm the rebel totally going against the grain...I always want to do the extreme. I want to get as many people looking as possible. For example I would've never done the song 'Kiss U Back' that way. |
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