( wind whistling ) ( bell tolls ) ( wind whistling ) ( "Staring At The World Through My Rearview" playing ) Staring at the world through my rearview Just looking back at the world, from another level Ya know what I mean? Starin' Multiple gunshots fill the block, the fun stops Niggas is callin' I wonder when the world stopped caring last night Two kids shot while the whole block staring I will never understand this society First they try to murder me, then they lie to me Product of a dying breed, all my homeys trying weed Now the little baby' Tell me, will my enemies flee when they see me, believe me Even thugs gotta learn to take it easy, listen Through intermissions, search your heart for a plan And we turnin' Now I was raised as a young black male In order to get paid, forced to make crack sales Caught a nigga so they send me to these overpacked jails In the cell, countin days in this livin' To the end, my friends I' While I' They got me starin' Go on baby, scream to God, he can' I can feel your heart beatin' ( sound of gunshots ) TUPAC: I got shot. I always felt like I' Somebody was trying to do me some harm because a lot of people don' But I didn' at that particular moment. ( police sirens wail ) I' I believe that, you know, this is all in God' And I'for everything I'( ) But also, about death, we look at death from the selfish side, like, you know, "That guy died. Oh, it' He'I mean, at the worst, he' At best, he' You know, what is so bad about that? Throughout my life, I just wanted to be like an angel for God, do something where I could be of some help. And I can do that. I mean, I' So it' All I have to do is tell a story and reach you and get some kind of feeling from you. And then try to get the moral across. So this is my story. A story about ambition, violence, redemption and love. ( ) ( wind whistling softly ) In my life, I was different things for different people. What'Don' Off the streets So fuck peace I let them niggas know it' So let the West Side ride tonight Bad Boy murdered on wax and killed Fuck with me you' Yeah, my niggas say... TUPAC: Some people say I was a thug and a gangsta. Other people remember me as a poet and a born leader. Now ya ' Nigga, I hit ' But I'through his whole life, from the beginning to the end. Get out the way yo, get out the way yo... ( drumbeat rhythm playing ) TUPAC: Everybody' It' Speak, drums, tell the real story My mother was a Black Panther, and she was really involved in the movement. CROWD: Power! MAN: Power! CROWD: Power! MAN: Power to the people! CROWD: Power to the people! You know, just black people bettering themselves and things like that. ( funkadelic music plays ) Black seeds keep on blowin' Black seeds keep on blowin' TUPAC: She had a high position in the Panther Party, which was, like, unheard of, because of course there was sexism, even in the Panthers. All of my roots to the struggle are real deep. I was named after this Inca chief from South America whose name was Tupac Amaru. And I think the tribal breakdown means, like, intelligent warrior, something like that. He' If I go to South America, they' I' My stepfather at the time, Mutulu Shakur, he was also, like, a well-known revolutionary. And then my godfather, Geronimo Pratt, had a top official rank position with the Panthers on the West Coast. You can jail a revolutionary, but you can' TUPAC: I think that my mother, like Fred Hampton, Mark Clark, Harriet Tubman, they felt like they were laying tracks for a generation to come. MAN: Come on in, little brothers, come on in, little sisters. Y' TUPAC: There was always white people around helping out. But still, you know, there' So when the Panthers hit, the government panicked. And they felt like the Panthers were detrimental to American society. Remember, this country had a man named J. Edgar Hoover, whose job it was to destroy the credibility of any black man coming up. And that' Power to the people. Hang ups Let downs Bad breaks Setbacks The government raided every Panther' especially the ones who they felt like could do the most damage as an orator. So they just burst in and put a gun to my mother' "Don' They treated her like less than human. My mother was pregnant with me while she was in prison. She was her own attorney, never been to law school. She was facing 300-and-something-odd years. One black woman, pregnant, beat the case. That just goes to show you the strength of a black woman and the strength of the oppressed. And a month after she got out of prison, she gave birth to me. So I was cultivated in prison. My embryo was in prison. When I was a little baby, I remember that one moment of calm peace, and three minutes after that, it was on. ( sound of baby gurgling ) A boy is born In hard-time Mississippi Surrounded by four walls that ain' His parents give him love and affection To keep him strong, moving in the right direction Living just enough Just enough for the city At first I rebelled against my mother because she was in the movement and we never spent time together because she was always speaking and going to colleges and everything. I always used to feel like she cared more about the people than her people. And then after that was over, it was more time spent with me, and we were both just, like, "You' And she was like, "You'So then she was really close with me and really strict, almost. My mother is totally brilliant, totally understanding and caring. And she' but we can talk about it. She taught me how to be community-oriented, and to analyze society. So me and my sister grew up good, and we have good minds and everything. But we just didn' From the cradle to the grave Life ain' Livin' Yeah, yeah Poverty is... It' If there was no money and everything depended on your moral standards and the way you treated people, we'But, since it' I can' Poverty, if I hated anything, it would be that. You and me were born and raised in Harlem. And every time you put it down, you' but Mama and Papa. ( ) TUPAC: My real father was a Black Panther, but when I was growing up, I never knew who my father was for sure. My stepfather was a gangster, a straight-up street hustler. My mom, she had a kid, he didn'He' But he was like a criminal too, out there doing his thing. So he only came, brought me money and then left. It'and celebrate your birthday with your friends, but I don' TUPAC: I hate saying this, because white people love hearing black people talk about this. I know for a fact that, had I had a father, I'Your mother cannot calm you down the way a man can. Your mother can' My mother couldn' You need a man to teach you how to be a man. When I was young, I was quiet, withdrawn. I read a lot. I wrote poetry. I kept a diary. I watched TV all the time. I stayed in front of the television. And I could see all these people out there in this pretend world. And I knew I could be part of it if I pretended too. The way Arnold used to look when he used to come out on Diff' I used to like the lifestyle, the way he used to live. So early on, I just watched and emulated. And I thought maybe if I can be an actor and I could act like those characters, I could have some of their joy. Oh, thank you, Mr. D!If I could act like I had a big family, I wouldn' ( sound of crowd clamoring ) My first acting job was at the Apollo Theater when Jesse Jackson was running for president in 1984. It was a fundraiser, and I was a little kid. Travis, from Raisin in the Sun. When the curtain went up, I just caught that bug that everybody talks about. When you' It was better than sex and anything, money, everything. It was just like, "Whoa, I want this." ( sound of applause ) We moved out of New York because my mother lost her job. We were, like, stranded. So we moved to Baltimore...... which was total ignorance town to me. I mean, Baltimore has the highest rate of blacks killing blacks in the country. Then I auditioned for the Baltimore School of Performing Arts. Then I started to have good-luck times. You know, parents are the same no matter time nor place They don' Are going to make some mistakes So to you, all the kids all across the land There'Parents just don' I spent three years in Baltimore, my high-school years. I made a lot of friends, like Jon Cole and Jada Pinkett. You should' I honked my horn just to get her attention She said, "Was that for me?" I said, "Yeah," she said, "Why?" I said, "Come on and take a ride With a hell of a guy" TUPAC: I loved my classes. We were exposed to everything. ( piano playing melody ) You know, theater, ballet...... listening to different types of music, songs that became a soundtrack to my life. It' I' But in my homeboys' They don' and they don' They didn' when I was like, "Yo, Shakespeare' They don' So then I started thinking, ' was mostly for white kids and rich minorities. So I started going, "Damn, man, "I would have been a totally different person had I not been exposed to these things." I need money, I used to be a stick-up kid So I think of all the devious things I did Hello, no, I was living in the ghetto. We didn' We was about to get evicted. We want home! We want heat! We want lights! We want something to do for our children! I thought, "We'I think that rich people should live like poor people, and poor people should live like rich people and they should change every week. Hunger only for a taste of justice Hunger only for the truth ' Is your soul The president stirred up a hornets' earlier this week when he suggested the problems of the hungry came about because they were uninformed about where to go for help. I mean, how could Reagan live in a White House, which has a lot of rooms, and there be homelessness? And he'I don' that is going hungry in America simply by reason of denial or lack of ability to feed them. It is by people not knowing where or how to get this help. TUPAC: Why can' and put them in his White House? Then he' to help him with his ideas. Not helpless! Homeless! Not helpless! TUPAC: They haven' They' But then the White House would be a little tainted ' Yeah TUPAC: Growing up in America, I loved my childhood, but I hated growing up poor. We live in hell. We live in the gutter. We are living in a war zone. We'By the time you get out your house, you' This is the ballad of the dead soldier A life of crime I will lead Close your eyes, hear the ballad of the dead soldier It' Close your eyes TUPAC: The same crime element that white people are scared of, black people are scared of. While they waiting for legislation to pass and everything, we next door to the killer. All them killers that they letting out, they right there in that building. Just 'we get along with the killers, or something? What is that? We need protection too. Niggas, you know It' The dead soldier, the dead soldier ( )TUPAC: Then I came to California to escape that violence. ExodusMovement of jah people TUPAC: Come to Marin City, and there' Open your eyes TUPAC: I was finally starting to see the one thing we do have in common as black people, is we share that poverty. Look within I made it to where I had knowledge that this wasn' It was my people that' That it wasn' Are you satisfied With the life you' Moving to Baltimore and Oakland and Marin and New York, and the poverty helped me to, like, relate to everybody' But don' I don' I still try to be positive. I know that good things are going to come for me. WOMAN: Where you go to school? MAN: Are you rolling? TUPAC: Okay. MAN 2: Yeah, rolling. MAN: Go ahead, that' You dressed right for it. WOMAN: He said he' so this is good for him. Somebody will enjoy the heat in here. Anytime. Okay. My name is Tupac Shakur, and I attend Tamalpais High School. And I' TUPAC: Oh, my God, I got the phattest deja vu. I chase girls and bought the car and loud music, but... I like to think of myself as really being socially aware. Kept my history a mystery, but now I see The American dream wasn' ' Promised me freedom, education, equality I think there should be a class on drugs. There should be a class on sex education, a real sex-education class.There should be a class on police brutality. There should be a class on apartheid. Panther power There should be a class on why people are hungry. But there are not. There are classes on gym. ( woman shouting indistinctly ) Physical education. Let'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 in my history Now I' But the government' When my people are down so they can screw us around Time to change the government now, no more WOMAN: How do you think you' I' Totally arrogant. You should see us when we get in our little attitude moods. We get in our tiffs and everything, but it' My moms is my homey, but we went through our stages, you know, where first we was mother and son, then it was like drill sergeant and cadet, you know. Then it was like dictator, little country. ( Tupac chuckles ) Then I moved out, and I was on my own. I was broke, nowhere to stay. I smoked weed. I hung out with the drug dealers, pimps and the criminals. They were the only people that cared about me at that point. And I needed a father. I needed a male influence in my life, and these were the males. Is it cool if a nigga just get fucked up for this one? You could see where I spent a lot of my time in the streets when you talk to me. The words I say are not words that come from a mother' It' or a hustler or drug dealer. To me, these were my role models. My mom, she was lost at that particular moment. She was addicted to crack. It was hard. It was hard because she was my hero. Not long ago in Oakland, California, I was asked by a group of children what to do if they were offered drugs. And I answered, "Just say no." I was broke. I didn' so I dropped out. I said, "I gotta get paid. I gotta find a way to make a living." I started selling drugs for maybe two weeks. The dude was like, "Oh, man give me my drugs back," because I didn' The dope dealers used to look out for me. They would give me money and be like, "Don' Get out there, do your dream." So they was like my sponsors. My dream was to make a living rapping. Just to make music that was coming from my heart. But when I first started rapping, I needed the money, and I had to work. Yeah, sexy baby Do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump Sexy baby Do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump Do the Humpty Hump, do the Humpty Hump ( audience applauds ) ( Tupac chuckles ) That was me. Uh, uh, do me, baby Uh, uh, do me, baby Uh, uh, do me, baby TUPAC: For me to get paid, I had to go out there in bikini briefs and hop on top of this doll. I was homeless at the time. That'You have to work from one point to go to another point. I admire the work ethic. Do the Humpty Hump, do the, do the Humpty Hump Uh, uh, do me, baby Do the Humpty Hump Just watch me do the Humpty Hump TUPAC: Shock was responsible for all my success. I'TUPAC: Shock G. This lady named Leila introduced me to Atron Gregory who was managing Digital Underground. He was like, "I' "They'If he like you, then I'Yeah, I just walked in and rapped for him. He was like, "Okay, good. You' Boom, boom, boom. "See you later." And I just left, walked out of there like, "Dang." All around the world, same song Shock was like, "Come on the road. "You can be my roadie. It ain'"but you' Got off the road, he said, "I' and let you do ' I did "Same Song." Ever since then, it' Tupac, go ahead and rock this Now I clown around when I hang around with the Underground Girls who used to frown say I' Gas me and when they pass me they used to diss me Harass me but now they ask me if they can kiss me Get some fame, people change, wanna live their life high Same song, can' Claiming fame must have changed, now that we became strong I remain, still the same, ' I look back with the greatest fondness. Those were some of the best times of my life. Watch this one. ( laughter ) I'DJ Mark, "The 45 King," this is your thing Check out how we swing, look at my ding-a-ling And know that I am the king, a lyrical lunatic I can rap slow or quick about fishing or politics It don' ( indistinct chattering ) RebelRebel TUPAC: Atron had been shopping my demo tape as a solo album. Then all of a sudden, Interscope got in touch with us, and I was told that Ted Field, this millionaire, multimillionaire, his daughter had heard my demo, and she liked it. So he was like, "That'And I was like, "Well, tell your daughter thanks." You know you gotta love the sound It' The rebel of the Underground So I went from being unknown to now having a platinum record. 2Pacalypse Now is a story of a young black male, from track one to track 13, whether it be about teenage pregnancy, police brutality or just straight-up poverty. Also, I tell my own personal problems. All my songs deal with the pain that I' That' Starry, starry night Paint your palette blue and gray Look out on a summer' With eyes that know the darkness in my soul My inspiration for writing music is, like, Don McLean when he did "Vincent," Lorraine Hansberry with Raisin in the Sun, Shakespeare when he does his things. Like deep stories, you know, like raw human needs. BrendaGot a Baby I just try to speak about things that affect me and about things that affect our community. Sometimes I' and sometimes I' And sometimes it' or fables that have a moral or underlying theme, like the ghetto lifestyle. Brenda' Any change in her figure, she'And she' Who'She thinks that he' And dreams of a world Where the two of them are together Whatever I seen all of that, I seen the crack babies, what we had to go through, losing everything and being poor and getting beat down. Being the person I am, I said, "No. No, I' I' It' And just because the reporters show us pictures at home of the Vietnam War, that' or the shit probably would have lasted longer. There'I can' If no one knew exactly what was going on, you know, we just thought they were just dying valiantly, in some beautiful way. But because we saw the horror, that' So I thought, "That' "as an artist, as a rapper. "I'in my community, and hopefully they' Hello, I' My guest today has experienced a truly horrendous life to just be 20 years old. His family portrait could well be a poster for America' His lyrics are controversial but also a reality of life as he has seen it. TUPAC: My ear is to the streets. I represent 20 years on this planet Earth and what I' It' They got me trapped Uh-uh, they can' They got me trapped No, they can' And in my album, the number one enemy is the police, the crooked police officer. They got me trapped, can barely walk the city streets Without a cop har-asking me Searching me then asking my identity And the ironic thing is that it never happened to me. I was speaking from the stories of my peers. Cuffed up, throw me on the concrete Coppers try to kill me I mean, I said all of these things, and then it happened to me. I had no record, all my life, no police record, until I made a record. As my video was debuting on MTV, I was behind bars, getting beat up by the police department. Good morning. My name is John Burris, and I am here today with my client, Tupac Amaru Shakur, as well as other members of the, uh, Digital Underground, uh, rap group and some members of the Digital, uh, Underground, uh, rap group, a combination of the various, um, groups. TUPAC: Basically, I walked across the street at 17th and Broadway. The police officers stopped me on the sidewalk and asked to see my ID. They sweated me about my name. The officers said, "You have to learn your place." They were charging me with jaywalking. So I was riffing, arguing about why would they charge me with such a petty crime. So I kept yelling, asked them to give me my citation and let me go about my business. Next thing I know, my face was being buried into the concrete, and I was laying facedown in the gutter, waking up from being unconscious in cuffs with blood on my face. And I'That' that I have to be stopped in the middle of the street and checked, like we in South Africa and asked for my ID. Officer Boyavich repeatedly slammed my face into the floor, while Rogers put the cuffs on me. That' I got a ten-million-dollar lawsuit. They said they would settle with me and everything, but nobody cared about that. That wasn' They did not see me on TV with my eye busted, my head busted. There are pictures of those. In Oakland, you' Yes, in Oakland. You don' You see pictures of Tupac coming out of jail in cuffs. You don' beating my brains in. You don' But I see that. That' Damn, I think I should blast a punk cop We have seen what they did to Rodney King. The whole world has seen what happened to Rodney King. Oh, hold up. Baby, let me show you what they did to Tupac Shakur. All that movie, that didn' I was still an N-I-G-G A, and they proved it. And if you can see this, Mr. Cameraman, all this is scars I'I can see it. These are "learn to be a nigger" scars. You' What else can I do? We'Rodney King' You know what I' One day I' Why did you lie to me? I couldn' They settled with me. TABITHA SOREN: They did? They gave me 42,000. I had to pay my lawyer a whole bunch and bought a car. I only settled because I was tired of going to court. I could have won more, but I was tired of going to court. And I felt like any dollar from any police department was good money. So you got $42,000 for jaywalking? That'After that case, people perceived me as a menace. I mean, I' the leader of the Black National Women' Everybody against me. Why? Why me? ( protesters chanting indistinctly ) I have not brought violence to you. I have not brought Thug Life to America. I didn' What' When I did Juice, my image got even more scary. Everything starts from now. We all go down unless we stay together. Ain' You' TUPAC: When I auditioned for Juice, that was another one of my good-luck times. It was my first big part, and I just took everything and internalized it. You' I am crazy. But you know what else? I don'Bishop is a psychopath, but more true to his character, Bishop is a lonely, misguided, young kid. His heroes are James Cagney and Scarface, those kind of guys. Made it, Ma. BISHOP: "Made it, Ma." Top of the world. "Top of the world." TUPAC: You know what I' go out in a blaze" type of gangsters. If you' That motherfucker took his destiny in his own hands. TUPAC: When I get a part, at first I just try to find out, you know, how does this character feel? Like, I make the person up in my mind. What does he looks like, try to put a face to him. Even though it' I' All you have to do is relate to your character. Even away from the set, I just let myself go. I just stopped caring and I stopped worrying about what people thought and started staring people down a lot more. I really just got into the part. Yo, Bishop, man, give me the piece. No. No?! What the hell you mean, no? Give me the gun. I mean I' I'Oh, really? TUPAC: Even when I' I' There' Oh, shit! TUPAC: I just took everything and internalized it. Tell us about your character in this movie, 'Yo, I play me, straight ruthless villain, straight killer, straight take, no sszzz-s. You know what I' Yo, Tupac will go ahead and rock this. Juice helped me because it gave me that trust. It let me trust my instincts. I was real confident about what I could do, what it would look like afterwards. My next guest has not only become one of today' but he' one of today' Please welcome Tupac Shakur. TUPAC: I know what I feel like when I'when I' So I was just trying to get that feeling. Why are you always so mad? The exciting performance in the film is the one of that young man, Tupac Shakur is his name. What do you want from me? Nothing.I think you' We could start with your phone number. This is a 22-year-old young actor, Tupac Shakur. He'and I hope I get to see him again real soon. TUPAC: When I was doing Poetic Justice, I had to tone myself down a lot to be Lucky. Lucky is doing it the opposite way that Bishop did. He' he' he' I'See, I get a feeling there are two Tupacs. See, I mean, you' yet you' I'had an incident with a limo driver during a taping of In Living Color. 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 shooting two off-duty police officers. The wounds were not serious. NEWSCASTER: The fight that led to the shooting in Marin City reportedly broke out in this field on Saturday night. Marin Festival USA was in full swing. Neighbors say Tupac should have known better than to let anyone bring a gun here. Since he got big, they claim he' That change has broken some hearts. Tupac was homeless. He came from here. We helped him out. TUPAC: Over my career, I got arrested, like, 12 times, some by mistake, some fate and some unwarranted. But for whatever reason, I got to see police more than I wanted to. In some of my cases, they dropped the charges. But because of trouble in all of these court cases, it was really hard at that point in my life for me to be trying to do a movie. I don'I think I was talented, but I didn' the concentration I should have had. And I was immature, and my ego was out of control. Harry Connick ain' Oh-oh-oh, stay with me I had to get humble again before I could do this. And there may be more hot water waiting for Tupac, based on what he tells the new issue of rap magazine The Source about costarring with Janet Jackson in her big-screen debut, Poetic Justice. Among other complaints, Tupac says Janet' before shooting a love scene with Janet. TUPAC: I don' but suddenly, out of the blue, they wanted me to take an AIDS test for this love scene. And I did not disagree if we were really going to make love. I said, "If I can make love with Janet Jackson, I' But if I' just like somebody else did, and they didn' Not only am I not taking a test, but get out of my trailer. You know, I was like... And they sent, like, four different people to ask me. First they sent the producer, then they sent the black dude, then they sent John, then they sent a girl. You know, it don' Just-- To me, it was just like an insult. We had a good experience on the set. You look like the type of guy to care. And what' TUPAC: I really thought I made a friend. I thought, "I know Janet Jackson for life." Soon as the movie was over, it was like, "Boop. This number has been changed." And it was like a movie. I mean, it was like the day after the movie wrapped. "I' "This number' But still, when I see her again, I' I love women. I' I love women with a passion. I do. I do. Sometimes now I just be wanting to call Prince and just be like, "Can we hang?" 'Hold on. I' Seeing somebody my age. How you doing? Fine, how you doing? Yourself? I have respect for women. Ultra respect for women. I like being around females, I' I don' when I'WOMAN: Don' You got me blushing. I'Oh, sorry. I' No, you enough. I'But on TV, they' Don'No need to ask, he' Smooth operator Smooth operator Smooth operator TUPAC: Madonna is real nice. She' She was real cool, like any one of my homeboys. Jasmine Guy, she helped me. She'Jada Pinkett. Jada' She will be my friend for my whole life. Well, I' in life, if you ain' We' Be like Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee. Pic, you always got a place in my heart. TUPAC: She can have my one heart, my liver, my lungs, my kidneys, my blood, marrow, all of that. Keep your head up Keep your head up Ooh, child, things are going to get easier Keep your head up Ooh, child, things will get brighter TUPAC: I think my mother taught me to understand women a lot more than my peers can. When I was young, I was surrounded by strong women. My sister' She' My mother was a matriarch. If you raised by a woman, you' You' Since we all came from a woman, got our name from a woman And our game from a woman I wonder why we take from our women Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it' Time to heal our women Be real to our women But I'To me, I' the hardest nigga out there, because I' But I' Oh, yeah I'because I' And that'has made me successful and famous. So sensitive. Don'Well, basically... Bugaloo. WOMAN: Bugaloo? Boogaloo? Marlon Wayans, I am playing the role of Bugaloo. What is Bugaloo? Where did that name come from? Some white guy' "What' "What are they calling each other these days?" Check it out I get around What you mean you don' Round and round and round we go I get around The Underground just don' TUPAC: When I got famous, I got famous friends. Mickey Rourke was a good friend, good person. He'My memory of him would be the night that he' He didn' and I was like, "Man, buy her some Cristal. "Even if you fighting, Cristal will make someone forgive you, trust me." They be like, "What was we fighting about?" He' I was like, "Mickey Rourke gotta be twice my age, and I' I get around Ain'' Ain' ' Ain'' TUPAC: I always gave Biggie a lot of props. The Notorious B.I.G. I thought at the time he was my friend. Mike Tyson, we used to kick it. He' The only difference in me and Mike is that he' But I got the same heart he got. You know what I' My brother, I' WOMAN: I really enjoyed your performance. I thought you were great. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. I like that people come to me and go, "You did a good job." I was loving that somebody came and said, "Tupac, you a great actor." I' TUPAC: Being famous gave me confidence. ED LOVER: Is Tupac a sexy motherfucker? TUPAC: The screams of the crowd gave me confidence. CROWD: Go Tupac, go Tupac, go. ED LOVER: Let me hear you say, "Go Thug Life, go Thug Life, go." CROWD: Go Thug Life, go Thug Life, go. That' Now, I' I got you now! I got you now! I put it down. I wanna get into the head seat. Excel at it. Do it one more time, clear as possible. Can we double it, and then we see what it sound like? I believe that I' If not, everybody lose their jobs. Everybody gonna lose their jobs! Back to servant. Playing the drums in the corner. But nobody could call me a sellout. I' I didn' I loved that, you know, even though I was with Janet Jackson in big movies, I' Damn, sweetheart, you got some thighs on you Now I can' Get you all alone in my bedroom People could not believe it. I used to thrive off that. Being up in the party, and somebody turn around and go, "Oh, my God, that' And everybody going crazy ' lights out, drinking, hella drunk. You know, drunk with everybody else. But that' that' My fans know that I' My fans go to jail just like me. They understand me. Half my fans are white. The white fans, they listen just as much as the black fans. The ones that have approached me have been genuine fans. These are the people that are going to have jobs in the future and are going to hire my family. Get down, man! ( children chattering ) But many of my fans don' Some have jobs, some don' Some are on welfare, you know? Some are not. Some are rich and some are poor, but they all share that hopeless feeling. I got the underdogs on my side. Body bags of adversaries that I had to bury TUPAC: I' than they are of me. CROWD: An outlaw, outlaw, outlaw TUPAC: Everybody just be screaming, and I get uncomfortable. It'to a deer being caught in the headlights. It' to say at the right time. I live Thug Life and let the money come to me ' I' I mean, it was cool because I got to speak to young black males all over the country about this new idea called "Thug Life," which is a new kind of Black Power. When I say, "Thug Life," I mean t t that shit, ' I don' if you a man, if you an African-American, if you whatever the fuck you think you are. We thugs and niggas to these motherfuckers! And until we own some shit, I' How you going to be a man and we starving? You can walk by five different houses,there ain' How we going to be a man? How we going to be African-Americans if we all need a gun? We thugs and we niggas until we set this shit right. Trust me when I tell you that shit. Young black males out there identify with Thug Life, but I couldn' I could handle it, but not right away. REPORTER: Mr. Shakur, can we get a comment? Hell, no. Thug Life. Pardon me? Thug Life. That' What' ( indistinct chattering ) What did happen? Thug Life. TUPAC: Imagine you have 14,000 people ready to do whatever you want. When you have, all over the country, people waiting to hear what you wanna do. All of a sudden, I got people in the penitentiary, bigtime OG criminals, calling me, telling me they want me to lead their movement. I mean, I' So they told me to watch my language. Oh, yeah, uh, uh Fuck that. Holler if you hear me I' I felt like, "I got every man in America "who wants to take orders from me, who wants to know what I wanna do." Holler if you hear me, pump, pump if you' Wants to know, "What' And that makes me scared. My homeys in the back streets, the black streets They fear me when they rolling in they phat jeeps This ain' Telling all my brothers, get they strap on And look for me in the struggle Hustling to the other brother' Holler if you hear me And I'I was having concerts, they were sold out, white boys, Mexicans, blacks, and they would do whatever I say. I could tell all those people to turn in a circle, and they would do it. I was having love, I mean, like, undeniable love, and I was scared. Holler if you hear me I was scared, but so was America, so was somebody else. I' And I' but we' our children live in today. TUPAC: But that makes me want to rise to the occasion. It makes me want to give my whole life to it. And I will give my whole life to this plan that I have for Thug Life. That' That' When I' I mean, not criminal, someone that beats you over the head. I mean, the underdog. The person that had nothing succeeds, he' because he overcame all obstacles. It doesn' To me, thug is my pride, not being someone that goes against the law, not being someone that takes, but being someone that has nothing, and even though I have nothing and there' My chest is out. I walk tall. I talk loud. I' I' I think they are un-American. TUPAC: I don' why America doesn' America is Thug Life. What makes me saying, "I don' different than Patrick Henry saying, "Give me liberty or give me death"? What makes my freedom less worth fighting for than Bosnians or whoever they wanna fight for this year? They should give money to the ghetto. I mean, I think even gangs can be positive. It just has to be organized. It has to steer away from being self-destructive to being self-productive. I organized the OGs on the East Coast and the West Coast in the penitentiaries to come up with codes of ethics for criminals. It' It' In Watts, Compton, Chicago, wherever. We got these people all over the country saying, "Yes. We go by this code. "We'"that are not involved with the street gang, "with the drug trade or the illegal business at all. "All that kidnapping and shooting drive-bys, we against that." Thug Life ain' We wanna patrol our streets. So all we saying is, if every motherfucker out here right now gave up one dollar and put it into this Thug Life fund, the money don' it go to somebody from y' They take the money, and we do this shit every month. I'I' I'For that shit to happen, we can' and everybody gotta be down for that shit. And we just going to start slowly but surely taking our communities back. Regulate our community. Organize. We need to start taking care of our own. We gotta start somewhere, and I don' What is the message, though? The message is that we coming, all the people you threw away, the dope dealers, criminals, they will be legit, sitting next to you in first class, thanks to your boy. You know those little things they have for mice, where they go through and there' Well, society is like that. They'but as soon as you start asking too many questions and you' ( crowd chanting indistinctly ) CROWD: ...is not all right. There is absolutely no reason for a record like this to be published by a responsible corporation. Never before has there been such a will to use music to advertise self-destructive violence. It glorifies violence. It'FEMALE REPORTER: Adding insult to injury, she says, is rapper Tupac Shakur being nominated for an NAACP Image Award. TUPAC: All of a sudden, I got the whole world fearing me, and I ain' I haven'and they' I challenge the view that those who revel in violence and depravity, on the screen or in the song, bear no responsibility when that spirit spreads into our culture. I don' I know he don' He' he' Oh! But he' TABITHA SOREN: Right. He' You don' COMMENTATOR: WPGC in Washington, D.C. dropped violent or demeaning lyrics. KACE in Los Angeles followed suit. They' in a community that is crowded with guns. TUPAC: I' We are a part of the black community. I' Yes, my raps are filled with rage. One of these days, we gotta bust back for the homeys You have to be logical. You know? If I know that in this hotel room they have food every day, and I' and they open the door, let me see the party, let me see them throwing salami all over, I mean, just, like, throwing food around, but they' Every day, I' We are hungry, please let us in We are hungry, please let us in After about a week that song is going to change to: We hungry, we need some food After two, three weeks, it' Give me the food or I' After a year, then you' I'Coming through the door blasting It' We asked ten years ago. We was asking with the Panthers. We was asking with them, you know, the Civil Rights Movement. We was asking. Those people that were asking, they'So now what do you think we' I put my gun away and grab my AK It' House full of alcoholics Now we' ( sound of gunshot ) There' because the kids see that and they mimic you. That' But the positive side is the kids who live in a household where the mother is a crackhead, or whatever, and he hears the rap. He' "So I don' To me, it' I live the Thug Life, baby, I' One person might hear that and just like the way it sounds. But I' and feels like it' So when I say, "Hopeless," and when I say it like that, it' And even if, when I reach him, it makes it look glorious to the guy that doesn' I can'He' But for the person I was trying to reach, he'I think I' Once you start worrying about what you' I get writer' Kind of like, "I can' That' Now I have to just block it out and trust my heart that I' Pretty spit-- I was spitting. Chill out. Chill out. That' That' That'Hey, have a good summer. ( spits, laughs ) Have a good summer, beyotch! But I'Like some of the things I said when I was fighting the Hughes brothers. I beat up the directors to Menace II Society. Let me tell the whole world. All right, tell them why you did... These chump, punk, schlump... Hey!You'No, they won' Check this out, they fired me but did it in a roundabout, punk, snitch way. So I caught them on the streets and beat they behinds. Okay, Tupac! I was a menace to the Hughes brothers. It ain' I still got more for you chumps! ' I' ( all clamoring ) TUPAC: My big mouth. Y' I do what I gotta do, you do what you gotta do. Long as I give you 12 tracks of that real shit, you give me my $12, and we even. I don' I don' ( Tupac chuckles ) My big mouth. I got a big mouth, can' I talk from my heart, I'We were talking about some other people in this business that you feel don' We was talking about Spike Lee, Arsenio Hall, Eddie Murphy and the rest of them. I thought I was charming, but I was immature. I did things without thinking. Michael Jackson, Randy Jackson, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul, all of them. She wants to not be black, but wants to sell to black folks. I don' going out of her way to say she' My actions came before thought. Things that I did, things I said. There' Eddie Murphy, with all that dough he' he hasn'He does a lot of charity. Well, charity doesn' Everybody knows that. I was young and dumb. You know, being mad at Spike Lee and all those people, all of that. The thing I said about Quincy Jones, that he shouldn' I said I was sorry personally for that. I wasn'I' and I'Come on, come on! And that turned into more legal problems. WOMAN: The People truly believe that Mr. Shakur has shown no remorse whatsoever for his action in this case. The people view Mr. Shakur' on Yo! MTV Raps as bragging. He was proud of what he did and does not feel sorry for what he did. I just want to say, judge, that, as far as the remorse, I have a great deal of remorse. As far as I want you to treat me different, I don' to make right from all the bad things that I got. I got a lot of things against me and people that look up to me. And I don' JUDGE: I guess it' I obviously find that the defendant is a talented individual. However, this court believes that jail time is always warranted when you have a battery with some injury involved. The defendant will serve 15 days in the county jail. I think the judge was fair. I still don' but he was as fair as he could be. Really, to my homeboys, I mean, a fight is a fight, battery is battery. A two and a half minute problem just cost me 15 days in jail, and that was lenient. But my most serious legal problems came from women. I get around How I was acting with women. The Underground just don' DIONNE WARWICK: I will no longer sit passively, allowing this degradation to be continued by our children. TUPAC: I think we live in a very sexist society, and everybody' It' Let them ho' I mean, with her permission, I might smack a girl on the butt in the video. I might be drinking champagne or something like that, but everything in moderation, and everything with class. Fingertips on the hips as I dip Gotta get a tight grip, don' Loose lips sink ships, it'I love the way she licks her lips, see me jocking Put a little twist in her hips, ' I don' where there' I don'I think all women are different. You wonder why they call you bitch You wonder why they call you bitch We African-American women, particularly, are tired of being called ho' bitches and sluts by our children. Dear Ms. DeLores Tucker, you keep stressing me Fucking with a motherfucking mind I figured you wanted to know why we call them ho' If I do something that has a bad woman, then people go, "Oh, he hates women." No, look, I don' But I think that there are definitely a type of female, label them a bitch, who, their main thing is to get what they can get, and they revel in breaking a nigga' and taking what he owns. Shut the fuck up! There' Women know there are bitches out there. I don'They know. They say it louder. They just think we' they' I give a holler to my sisters on welfare Tupac cares and don' That'with "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Get Around." I said, "I' "about women like my mom, or like my sister, "who I think represent a strong black woman." I did that. I' If I just did songs like "Keep Ya Head Up," it would make me seem more than I am, but I'America, America God shed his grace on thee Stop. MAN: I'TUPAC: Come on, Mr. Cameraman. This is some real private shit that' Bye. Anyway, I' Do you think there' in terms of men being promiscuous? Yeah, but we didn' I' I' How can we rap about a world that is not like that? It'But do you look down on your male friends if they'I don' Only people I look down on are people who don' If a girl sleeps with a lot of guys, she' You'but because you' So now you put a price on yourself. Or ' Guys, when they sleep around, they do it for free. At that particular time, a lot of girls, they' that that' They wanna be associated with that person. It' It' Because I' when they didn' and I can see it, nothing. And then as soon as somebody whisper who I was, it' You make yourself want that person. TABITHA SOREN: How do you feel about that? I don' can stand next to you one year, and next year, they cannot stand there. They'They just can' But last year I was in the same club, walking around, lonely like a motherfucker. Couldn' I was too skinny, too something, and now, "He' But I still enjoyed sex without the emotional connection. And it was always a fantasy for me to have sex with a lot of people in the room. But I didn' ( sound of police sirens wailing ) Rap singer Tupac Shakur was released on $50,000 bail today, accused of a sexual attack in a New York hotel. The singer was arrested Thursday night after a woman claimed that he and three other men overpowered her in a hotel suite. Are you disappointing your fans? Very disappointing, but they' REPORTER: Surrounded by bodyguards and attorneys, Tupac Shakur made his way into Manhattan Criminal Court. There, the 22-year old rapper and two friends were charged with sodomy in the first-degree. The allegations and charges stem from an incident last Thursday in which a woman claims she was held down by the rap star as he and two others allegedly sodomized her. The allegations by this young lady are without merit. REPORTER: Defense attorneys say the woman went to the room consensually, and tapes of an answering machine that reportedly indicate her interest in Shakur were erased by police. Okay, so you tell me when your lawyers have asked you to stop. Um, the girl who claims that, uh-- What does she claim? I can' But it' TUPAC: I wasn' My charge was sexual abuse, forcibly touching the buttocks. I have a female saying that-- I can' Okay. It just bothers me so much, you know what I' To go through my life and everything I did, coming out of a family and household with just women, to get to this point to have a woman say that I took something from her. It was hard. REPORTER: It was an emotional day for a 20-year-old female fan, who admitted that she had consensual sex with Shakur on Sunday night, four days before her alleged rape in the hotel room. During her cross-examination, defense attorney Michael Warren painted a picture of a starstruck, naive girl anxious to have sex with Shakur. Word on the street is that you had a relationship with this woman prior to all this friction. I guess, if you can say that' I bumped in a club. I seen her at a club. Okay, Let' There was oral copulation? Yeah, she performed oral sex on the dance floor. Now, a lot of guys could say what they wouldn' and what they would do, but when it happens, you know? Yeah. It just goes down. And it' She did some things there at the club, and we got together later that night. I saw her again another time with these guys that introduced me to her. Everybody was having a good time, not-- Didn' Me and her went in there, she gave me a massage, came out, went to sleep, woke up, she'And she' "This is not the last you' I' she' And the next thing I know, I' So in your opinion there was no truth to the sexual abuse charges? Not on my part at all. REPORTER: The defense pounded away at her, asking her why she didn' at the time of the alleged attack. The woman testified that Shakur'"Tupac needs his fans. Don' Millions of girls would love to be in your shoes right now." TABITHA SOREN: What about your cronies? That was a big misconception, that those people that was with me was my friends. It was not my friends. What were they doing in your room? I hang around with a lot of people. And that' about Led Zeppelin, all of them. They don' This guy got the weed? Okay, you can kick it. This guy got the money? Okay, you can kick it. This guy has connections to all the clubs? Okay, you can kick it. I don'But that was my fault, I had that kind of environment around me. I didn' I' Well, where are they at? Why me? Because I' No, I'I don' but I don' I just don' I just couldn' See the cameras. It wasn' like a normal citizen. REPORTER: Hi, Tupac. Can you tell me how you' Well, I just had to listen to the prosecution' and it was just so far from the truth that it has me drained at the end of the day. But I'I' in this trial. It'loud rap music, tattoo-having thugs. It' I can' They talking about there' even though you put that all over the paper. Print the facts so everybody can sort it out. My life is ruined because nobody has a chance to get the facts. REPORTER: And the fact is, there was no semen found. No semen found, no forcible entry, no entry into the anal, no nothing. None of that. I wanted to explain it. TABITHA SOREN: If you could go back to the night when the sexual abuse occurred, is there anything that you would do differently? Yeah. What?I would not have closed my eyes until she was out of the room, until everybody was out of the room. So when you left the room and left her with those people... I didn' I didn' She came over herself? Right. She came over, knew those people, knew everything. I just didn' But I' not being a goodhearted man, I guess, or whatever, or being more considerate. At any point, were you aware that she was involved in something she... WOMAN: Cut. That' MAN: Excuse me. None of these legal matters can be asked. Well, I can-- I have a list of the stuff you' All right. MAN: The gentleman is out on bail. TABITHA SOREN: I see. I couldn' This would never have happened to anybody else. It would never have gone this far. They have no evidence on me, and it'And now my life is over. You know, this is a year later. A year after everybody in the world' been thinking I' After this, the whole world going to owe me an apology. ' and didn' And I should, because this is some crazy, crazy, crazy madness. ( sound of gunshots ) MAN: Central, I got a black male shot at 48th and 7th. Put a rush on the... MAN: Last night, just after midnight, at 723 7th Avenue, that' rap star Tupac Shakur and three members of his group were robbed and shot. TUPAC: They shot me, straight up. I just kept thinking, "They really did shoot me." When I wasn' immediately I was like, "Oh, man." I was like, "No, this ain' I know how it' It'You ain' I'And I didn' I was like, "I got shot five times. I'REPORTER: When Shakur resisted, he was shot five times, twice in the head and twice in the groin area. And his most serious wound, a gunshot through the hand, hitting an artery in his thigh. He' Until it happened, I really did believe that no black person would ever shoot me. I believed that I didn' You know, I was like, "I represent them. "I'They would never do me wrong." I believe that this was a robbery. Anybody who was going to walk into that building was going to be robbed. TUPAC: The police don' As far as that Vibe interview, just read everything over and read my reply, read their reply, read what people say. Everybody that was there knows what happened. My recollection of the story was, I was shooting a video, the second half of "Warning," which is the B-side of "Big Poppa," and I was shooting around the block. And I heard my man was up at the studio doing a Junior M.A.F.I.A. session. So I got off at the reception area, and I saw Andre and Little Shawn. I said, "What' and he comes out shot. The Tupac article had me pissed off, you know what I' Because first of all, he dissed my man, saying my man turned his back on him, when I know for a fact that didn' you know what I' And, like, the rumors that'is on some tip like we set him up. And that' PUFFY COMBS: As soon as he comes out shot, me and my man try to sit him down. He called his mom. He asked my man if he could roll him a blunt. We asked if he was all right. He'We were just there trying to comfort him. Andre Harrell went an made sure he was calling the ambulance. And everybody that was there was very supportive of him. It was just the total opposite. As soon as he came out, everybody ran towards him. There was nothing but love and concern. They got different accounts of what happened, and I' BIGGIE SMALLS: I also understand that if you was to get shot five times, your mind is just completely spinning. You'So it' I was there for the whole thing. No one else was there for the whole thing. I don' of why the story was said in another way of context. It'I just said it. Now that I said it, it' You can believe me or not, I did what I had to. God knows the truth. There' I' After getting shot, I was like, "Shit, I don' REPORTER: In a bizarre twist of events, rap singer Tupac Shakur checked himself out of Bellevue Hospital Wednesday night. REPORTER 2: Just hours after surgery, Tupac checked himself out of Bellevue Hospital against doctor' TUPAC: It was just time to leave. I didn' The phone kept ringing. I kept getting these crazy phone calls. At that point, I' I couldn' I was like, "I' And I felt like I'I couldn' And, what, are the police going to come in and kill me? Or, you know, is there secret police? I was so deep into the weed at that point. And I was like, "I' I felt like just a prisoner to my own fame. That' I felt like, "If everybody' why ain'REPORTER: Mr. Shakur? BODYGUARD: Open up, please. Open up, please. BODYGUARD: Excuse me. BODYGUARD 2: Step back, please. Just keep it tight, that'REPORTER: Mr. Shakur, how are you this morning? REPORTER 2: The jury continued deliberations, then, after two days of incredible plot twists worthy of a Hollywood drama, Tupac Shakur has finally had one question answered. Tonight, the jury found him guilty of three counts of sexual abuse, but innocent on six other charges, including sodomy. MAN: Tupac! BODYGUARD: Back it up! No! Please, give me some space. Please, man. REPORTER: Why did you decide to leave the hospital? Please, y' Let me get through! Back it up. Why did you leave? REPORTER: And sentencing for this trial has yet to be scheduled. MAN: Take your time. BODYGUARD: Back the fuck up! TUPAC: Where I was sent was a maximum-security penitentiary. I know when I was young, I couldn' I mean, I was scared and everything, but I felt as though that' But now that I' I know everybody that go to jail come out and say, "This ain' You got somebody that tells you when you can get up, when you can shower, do this, do that. They can speak to you any way they want to, and you' You can die here, you know what I mean? Just yesterday, a dude was murdered. He wasn' This dude was in here on a drug beef. He' By another prisoner who had life. He had nothing to lose, you know what I mean? I came to jail. I' it' It' In the beginning, me and the guards had problems. I got smacked and treated bad. They just did everything they could do to break me because I used to talk a lot of shit, but... As soon as I got there, they went, "There he goes." He goes, "Who?" and he goes, "There' I was like, "Oh, shit, he said nigger!" And everybody' And I was like, "Oh, my God, this is where I' He just said "nigger"! You'Nig-gas. He'Nig-gers was the ones on the rope, hanging off the thing. Niggas is the ones with gold ropes, hanging out at clubs. I learned things there. In jail, it' I was talking to skinheads and everything. 'all right, that' Just like I want people to respect my opinion when I' But I want you to treat me with respect, and I'This guy, this skinhead, "hate black people" all over, he getting autographs for his little cousins. I felt like I accomplished something. I know, by him getting my autograph, that meant something to me, you know what I mean? He couldn' TABITHA SOREN: The food was terrible, I guess.TUPAC: Oh, my goodness. They' The liver surprise. They' They' trying to get it to throw into rotation. I was like, "We just had this yesterday. I liked it already, goddamn." TABITHA SOREN: No Tater Tots? No. Are you crazy? Tater Tots? I used to get baked potatoes with a huge finger imprint on it. All right. It was bad. No, you don' Jell-O with hair all in the mold. I'how are you going to mess up Jell-O?" Jell-O is so wholesome and family-like. It just ruins it for me. To have a hair in there, yeah. I mean, I' Put the hair in my Jell-O. And you can' I' "Can I see the cook, please?" The cook is a big dude named Bubba Joe. For the first eight months I spent in solitude 23 hours a day, reading. I wrote a script called Live 2 Tell. I got How to Write a Screenplay, that big famous book by Syd Field. I got that, and I remembered all of the scripts I ever read, and I wrote one. I read a lot of good books. I read a lot of Maya Angelou' The Art of War by Sun Tzu. But in terms of writing music and lyrics, I couldn' Everybody' He going to come out, he going to have the bomb album." But it' Prison kills your spirit, straight up. It kills your spirit. I couldn' because I was a caged animal. But when I was in jail, a lot of people supported me. Jasmine Guy, Jada Pinkett, Mickey Rourke, he just wrote me funny stories. But the name that sticks out in my head the most, I'To me, he is the bomb forever. I will be his number one fan forever, because when I got his letter, I was like, "Whoa!" I was screaming out to everybody, "Guess who wrote me!" One time, they had a story on the local news that Madonna was coming to visit me. Madonna has so much power that the guards let me take an extra shower because they thought she was coming to visit me. TABITHA SOREN: Wow. I had guards walking me downstairs, everything, trying to peep a look. And did she come? No. No, I' But you got the extra shower? Hey, I got the shower. Good-looking. Do it again. The person that supported me the most was my mother. When my mother got clean, we got real close again. And even as a crack fiend, Mama You always was a black queen, Mama I finally understand, for a woman It ain'I don' My moms is the bomb, you know. The world' You are appreciated Lady Don' Dear Mama "Dear Mama" is the song I wrote just for my mother. But it' I' "Dear Mama" was from Me Against the World, which was completed before I went to jail. It' Me against the world, baby When it got released, it was the number one record. Me Against the World was one of those... My career highs. It was a trip in jail. They used to say stuff like, "You' "Won' Ha, ha" I'"my album is number one in the country right now. It just beat Bruce Springsteen." And they used to be like, "Go back to your cell." Plus, I used to get Entertainment Weekly in the mail, and I used to see where my record was and just trip out and be like, "Damn. Number one in the whole country." To me, it will always be my favorite album, and jail made me wanna dig deeper. It took five bullets for me to see what was really going on. In jail, you get perspective, and you start looking at things differently, like everything is not so important. You know, you try not to take it personal. Because you' If they say something you don'you can' You gotta be like, "Okay, look man, would you mind not calling me...?" You know what I mean? Anger management like a mother. When I was in jail, I tried not to have negative feelings towards nobody. It' So I had people telling me, "You softened up." Ain' If anything, my mentality was like, "Trust nobody. Trust nobody." It' I could be killed as soon as I get out of here. I just thought, "I already took five bullets, and if I can help it, I don' Rapper, actor and sex abuse convict Tupac Shakur walked out of a New York jail last week, bailed out to the tune of $1.4 million by Suge Knight of Death Row Records, which has signed Shakur to a record deal. My closest friends did me in. My closest friends, my homeys. People who I done took care of their whole family, I done took care of everything for them, looked out for them, put them in the game, turned on me. So I just thought about, "How could I make them sorry they ever did this to me? "How can I come back, like, 50 times stronger and better?" Fear is stronger than love. Remember that. Fear is stronger than love. All the love I gave didn' No question, sign with Death Row. California All of a sudden, I was out on bail, pending my appeal. If I win my appeal, which, if God wills, I will, I would have done 11 months for nothing. California Knows how to party California Knows how to party You see that, judge? I didn' Probation people, I did not curse. Give me my props. Let me stay free. I was relieved, happy to be home. In the city of L.A. I wanted to drive up and down Sunset because I love L.A. with a passion. I love Sunset, I love everything about L.A. Can I get tatted up real quick? I want a crown right here. You know, the energy, that' Hello? I' we on Venice Beach. That' I' You'You got to let me get a look or something. It'that last week you were in this little cell, and then, next week, I' and filet mignon and lobster and shrimps. Everybody kept going, "Come on, let me take you out. You home? Oh, come on. Let me take you to this!" We was all up in Roscoe' I even celebrated at El Pollo Loco, because I was dreaming about El Pollo Loco the whole time. Then I went straight to the studio. And I did 24 tracks in less than two weeks. You can mix it later and have niggas that love being in the studio all night just add the drumbeat and shit. You can do that after the rappers leave and shit. That' Get that beat popping, throw them niggas on the track, do it, put it down. After we finish, everybody be here and listen to it, be like, "This is the hook." We' Plus, I had so much to say, I figured this would be the best way to vent, instead of paying some psychotherapist $50 million. I just went in the studio. It was cheaper. Here we go! California, get up! ( actors cheering ) Out on bail, fresh out of jail, California dreaming Soon as I step on the scene I'Fiending for money and alcohol The life of the West Side player Where cowards die and the strong ball Only in Cali, where we riot, not rally to live and die In L.A., we wear Chucks, not Ballies Dressed in Locs and khaki suits and ride is what we do Flossin' You gotta realize one thing: Tupac is Death Row. ( speaks indistinctly ) I feel I have more than just a business relationship with him. He the type can be like a brother, a friend. I really like everybody on the record company. I like Suge, Snoop and Dre. I hang out with them anyway, so now it' This is Tupac and Dr. Dre, and this is the Week in Rock! Week in Rock, baby! Week in Rock, baby! I came out, I was like, "Dre, I want some beats right now." He' You play ' I said, "Dre, you know you owe me this. "I'You ain' I love collaborating with creative people that'He got right in and wrote his lyrics while he was behind the mike and dropped it, and it' Say what you say, but give me that bomb beat from Dre Let me serenade the streets of L.A. Me coming to Death Row, for another reason was Snoop. ANNOUNCER: Please welcome America' Snoop Doggy Dogg and Tupac. TUPAC: The man got so much style. Ya'nine-six flavor, Death Row. But who knew it would last, this West Side staff? Yep, yep, yep. This is me and Snoop, "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted," the bomb track. It' It' This is going to shake the whole music scene, guaranteed. SNOOP: Up out of there DAZ: Ain' ( laughs ) TUPAC: Oh, shit, you done fucked up now You done put two of America'In the same motherfucking place at the same motherfucking time Ain' Y' Break out the champagne glasses Picture perfect, I paint a perfect picture Bomb the hoochies with precision My intention' With the S-N-double-O-P Dogg my fucking homey You'Sho''Now I' TUPAC: Me and Snoop represent the nucleus of the entire ghetto. Snoop represents the more calm, all legit, right by the book, no waves, let' You' And then you work so hard till your hair turn gray Let me tell you about life and about the way it is You see, we live by the gun so we die by the gun' Tell me not to roll with my Glock So now I gotta throw away Floating in a black Benz and trying to do a show a day TUPAC: I represent the hard-core, no-holds-barred, no-prisoners, relentless thug. They wonder how I live with five shots Niggas is hard to kill on my block Schemes for currency and dough-related Affiliated with the hustlers and so we made it TUPAC: We both represent, you know what I mean? Both sides of the game. The calm one and the... relentless one. My nigga, Dogg, with me eternally the most wanted Here' If you come to Death Row, you will see your art brought to a bigger plateau, and you will be paid one of these days. Death Row. Come on. Let' This is for my homeboys in jail. These are 100s. And they ain' Plus, there was the money, the struggle continues. I mean, I got money, but I have to pay everybody even more money. I owe money to Death Row. So it' He' People wanna sue you, and I have to settle for this and that when I know I didn'just because it' for another eight months." Makes you work harder. Next year, Death Row going to start printing our own money. ' It' Me, Suge and Damu going to be on the $100 bill like this. I felt I' This is the $100 bill on Death Row money, right here. But you have to come up, you start from the bottom and work up to the top. ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome acclaimed rap artist and Grammy nominee, Tupac. TUPAC: What people fail to realize is that this is not just play. I work. Run! Scatter, scatter! Drag K off the stage. Y'Do it for real, man. One, two, three. Whenever it' I'I can'Shit. I believe I' You don' You don' Y' Anymore Anymore TUPAC: When I was in jail, I couldn' But then I was away from it so long, I said, "I really like going to the studio. I really like creating." Living held down, my game plan, to be trained And military mind of a thug lord I like music, and I like acting. I like doing it. She' She' ( woman humming ) She takes the scene I can be me. I can be whoever because I' And the reason I sell six million records, the reason I can go to jail and come out without a scratch, Come on! the reason I am who I am today is because I can look directly into my face and find my soul. It' So lash out and get a glass Done finally got his own drink, call it the best Introducing a special brew made for a chosen few I' I thought, "I' "Let' Damu! My dog' WOMAN: Yeah. Yeah. He wanna kill. I love my artists. I mean... I don'I consider them family. So it' If they decided to turn in rapping or singing, they'If they need something, what' It' strictly for business, because they' ' You' Plus, you know, we' I' Yeah, tell me about that. Hold on. Damu! Damu, sit! But Death Row has a reputation for having sort of a thug-like mentality. Wouldn' Death Row has a bigger reputation for success than anything else. REPORTER: The reason for all of the fear involves the world of this man, the man getting out of the limousine. Six-foot-three, 335-pound Marion Knight, known by the nickname of "Suge," short for "Sugar." It'professional, business-oriented. I like that. REPORTER: At the age of only 30, and with a lengthy criminal record, including three felony convictions, Suge Knight has managed to become the head of a $100 million record company and one of the most powerful and feared men in the American music industry. The controversy over Death Row Records and its owner being sort of a gangster. TUPAC: Everybody' Suge ain' No? Nah, man, Suge a rider. I know what good morals are, but you' good morals when you' If you' You' and you' That' I' We riding with him. One other thing I' any artist out there that want to be an artist and want to stay a star and don' about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing, come to Death Row. TUPAC: When I got out of jail, the West Coast/East Coast shit was really starting. Wait, the East Coast don' ( audience cheering ) The East Coast ain' and Snoop Dogg and Death Row? TUPAC: West Coast was Death Row. The East Coast was Bad Boy. PUFFY COMBS: Check this out. I' that a comment was made about a little bit earlier. TUPAC: Everybody thought it' a war for record sales and attention and all that. But to me it was personal. I love the East Coast. I' But then I felt like Puffy and Biggie and all them, they wanted to dirty up everything I worked for. So it made me come back more relentless. I'Yo, Piggie, man, we got it going on, baby. It' TUPAC: So I directed videos. Hey, ' I mean, you safe? Man, I' Heh. Yeah? "Happy to see you." A lying piece of shit. ' It was Buff' No, man. I'Please don' I ain' Once we homeboys, we always homeboys, even if you is a fat phony. TUPAC: And I did a song with Faith, Biggie' Faith' I just want to send a shout-out to Faith. Hey, girl. Then I did "Hit ' That' Which is a classic battle record. First off, fuck your bitch and the clique you claim West Side, when we ride, come equipped with game You claim to be a player, but I fucked your wife We bust on Bad Boys, niggas fucked for life I' Thug living out of prison, pistols in the air Biggie, remember when I used to let you sleep on the couch And beg a bitch to let you sleep in the house Now it' Five shots couldn' Now I' With my AK, I' Motherfucker I' Grab your Glocks when you see Tupac Call the cops when you see Tupac Who shot me? But you punks didn' You' Nigga, I hit ' Everything happened so fast at that point. West Coast But looking at things later, the East Coast/West Coast thing, it just got out of control. Dudes was getting killed, and I felt responsible. But I couldn' We ain' just certain people. I got this new project coming out along with some other brothers called One Nation. It'to kill this whole new vibe. Everybody want to be on about it being a war between the East Coast and West Coast. Right.It' The East Coast/West Coast thing is something that journalists are making up to get paid off, so it can drag out and everybody can have albums. They'When it all go down, don'and be like, "Why is there a big East Coast/West Coast war?" When you'telling them about a war that they would never know exists. So that' We both need to exercise greater restraint. Damn, sometimes life gets messed up. When I was on Death Row, I was successful but not happy. TABITHA SOREN: Tupac, your life has been marred by considerable pain. Do you think you' where you can live a normal, happy life? No. But, I, uh... I'I have to make the life that I do live as happy as I can and try to do the best with what I have. Live the best life I can live, be as happy as I can be. Nothing is perfect for anybody, I don'I felt trapped. Know how they say, "You made your bed, now lay in it"? I tried to move. I can' I felt I can' This the life they gave me, this the life I made. I felt I can' not for the courts, not for the parole board, not for nobody. This is it. I also just felt like something was going to happen to me, ' And I put it in my videos. ( indistinct chattering ) That nigga ain' No, no, no, where he at? ( gunshots ) Yo, watch out! TUPAC: It was a prophecy. ( sound of bell tolling ) ( ) I had a prophecy about my death. That' and do three songs a day, get things ready. We don' to spend all of this time doing one song. We don' If I die or whatever, it can happen. If anything were to happen to me, that album' So it'I felt as though the only thing that can kill me is death, and even then my music will live forever. Something we all adore The one thing worth dying for Nothing but pain, stuck in this game Searching for fortune and fame Something we all adore The one thing we dying for Nothing but pain, stuck in this game Searching for fortune and fame ( "Staring At The World Through My Rearview" playing ) Staring at the world through my rearview Just looking back at the world, from another level Ya know what I mean? Starin' REPORTER: At approximately 9 p.m., security cameras at the MGM Grand captured Tupac, Suge Knight and members of the Death Row entourage beating an alleged South Side Crip, Orlando Anderson. REPORTER 2: Tupac, Suge and others jumped Anderson, punching and kicking him to the ground. Terrified bystanders scattered as the group streamed into the casino then out into the street. Starin' Go on baby, scream to God, he can' I can feel your heart beatin' Gettin' Starin' Scream to God, he can' Heart beatin' Watching time fly Starin' Scream to God, he can' Heart beatin' Watching time fly ( sound of gunshot ) TUPAC: Whoa. ( sound of bell tolling ) REPORTER: Just after the Mike Tyson- Bruce Seldon fight, Shakur, along with record company executive Marion "Suge" Knight, headed for a nightclub. But while stopping at this intersection, a car with four people pulled up and opened fire on Shakur and Knight. REPORTER 2: Tupac Shakur was shot several times in the chest. The driver, his record producer, was grazed in the head. REPORTER 3: He' after another surgery, still listed in critical condition. REPORTER 4: All week long, fans of Tupac have gathered here outside the hospital. REPORTER 5: He'He' He' Jesse Jackson' And despite reports that his wounds were not life-threatening, people at the hospital here continue to tell us that he is in very serious condition. REPORTER 6: At 4:03 this afternoon, Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead. TUPAC: Who shot me? Shit, I don' Sorry. My death, it' But I have no bad feelings. I have love for everybody. Please welcome the mothers of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, Afeni Shakur and Voletta Wallace. ( ) TUPAC: Coming to grips with my past, it was hard. I don' I feel like the way I was living and my mentality was a part of my progression to be a man. But we grow. We all grow. We' You either evolve, or you disappear. I don' I' But I still get love from my community. I got love for my brothers But we can never go nowhere Unless we share with each other We gotta start makin' Instead of two distant strangers TUPAC: I owe them everything. That' I got love there. I got love from thugs and the street dudes. And that kind of focuses me back on what I should be doing, lay out the real mat on the world and how it is. The message is, young black males could do anything if you just give us a shot, stop trying to beat us down. And to my homeboys, we need to be in control of ourselves. I'but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world. So keep your head up. Do what you' And then inside of you, I'( ) REPORTER' ( overlapping sound samples ) ...if I'Why am I trying to see When there ain' Why I am I trying to give, when no one gives me a try? Why am I dying to live, if I' Check it, I grew up a fuckin' Got introduced to the game Got an ounce and fuckin' Choppin' The nigga Biggie Smalls Tryin' We had to grow dreads to change our description Two cops is on the milk box missin' Show they toes, you know they got stepped on A fistful of bullets, a chest full of Teflon Run from the police, picture that, nigga I' I fuck around and catch a asthma attack That' When he drop, take his Glock, and I'Memories of high speeds, when the cops crashed As I laugh pushin the gas when my Glocks blast We was young and we was dumb, but we had heart In the dark when we survived through the bad parts Many dreams is what I had, and many wishes No hesitation in extermination of these snitches And these bitches, they still continue to pursue me A couple of movies, now the whole world tryin' Even the cops tried to sue me So, what can I do but stay true? Sippin 22' The media is tryin' Got the press askin' Misery is all I see, that' My history with the police is check the crime rate My main man had two strikes, slipped Got arrested and flipped He screamed, "Thug Life!" and emptied the clip Gots tired of runnin' You know, I wonder if they' When I am dead Yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah Ha, ha My game plan to be trained and military Mind of a thug lord, sittin' Caught, I' Ballin' Young black male, crack sales got me three strikes Livin'Wonder when we all pass, is anybody listenin' Got my hands on my semi shotty, everybody' Please, God, can you understand me, bless my family Guide us all, before we fall into insanity I make it a point, to make my peep bumpin' Drop some shit, to any stupid bitches don' Till Makaveli returns, it'On meAnd you can hate it or love it, but that' Gon'You shoulda listened, I told you not to fuck with me With me What do we have here, now? Now, can you take the pressure, that' G-G-G-G-Unit! Till Makaveli returns, it'On me What do we have here, now? And you can hate it or love it, but that' Gon'You shoulda listened, I told you not to fuck with me With me What do we have here, now? Now, can you take the pressure, that' Gon' Now since you' My success' Lo and behold, you sold your soul Nigga, there' Look in the mirror, ask yourself who are you? If you don' How could your dreams come true? Motherfucker, I sat back and watched You pretended to be ' But you' You can' I warned you not to push me You see me and chills run up your spine Hardly even in the same war, but your heart ain' Press, they look at me like I' I was playin' While your momma had your punk ass playin' I'Wake up, turn on your TV and see my ass again You cowardly hearted, you couldn' Fuck The Source, I' Till Makaveli returns, it'On me What do we have here, now? And you can hate it or love it, but that' Gon'You shoulda listened, I told you not to fuck with me With me What do we have here, now? Now, can you take the pressure, that' Gon' Till Makaveli returns, it'On me What do we have here, now? And you can hate it or love it, but that' Gon'You shoulda listened, I told you not to fuck with me With me What do we have here, now? Yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah Ha, ha Sometimes it' To wake up in the morning mind full of demons I don' Got me heartbroken, find so many babies screamin' ' So they start smokin weed, we'Until we learn to pray, keep our families in shape 'Before we learn to fly Somebody else' And we can all make it change, or so I' But I haven' If you prefer to breathe Communities in need of people that will lead Keep yo' Until the day I die, I promise to be wise With my heart open, greed brings only misery A way to tragedy, so I stay sucker free Only a few chosen rise, my ghetto queens rise Don' For the door to open, wise, my brothers, speak wise Stay focused on the prize, though everybody dies We can only learn to take, our anger and our hate Control our mental state, settle down and set it straight Maybe we can learn to take a second to pump the brakes Before we set it, regret it later and let it escalate ' There'And there' To the point that he just breaks, snaps And it' You think that we was learnin' But we ain' With every artist comes the image he portrays And the picture that he paints But in the mist of all this anger and this angst Never once did you heard me say I'And I ain' But I know that I will always continue to grow As long as I lead, and never follow no one else' There will never be another me, and that I can guarantee That' To this day, the game will never be the same No matter how much fame and success they attain There will never be another me And no matter what they do There will never be another you You can search, but you'You can try to rewind time, but in your hearts and your minds We will never die, we are forever alive And we continue growin' One day at a time Don'And caught in the hype Rappers are regular people minus money and life Seachin' All the jewelry, all the cars, whose crew' Now the hip-hop police, the villains is watchin' And the kids think beef is they only option Outlaws born filthy, guilty as charged My memories live to die, my Makaveli lives on You think the industry is fun, ain' And when your money is up, that' So if he died, and came back, would he try to save rap? We needing a change, the drama remains I spent my whole life fightin' That I can' And hey, now and then, I take rights and some lefts I'Yeah, that there is a fight in itself So I just pray and hope God take a like to myself No matter how much I try, stay alive, I' Still standin there in love with my pride One way at a time, keep the faith in your mind When we continue growin' One day at a time Damn ( Tupac chuckles )