( 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.