Tupac Amaru Shakur
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The site is devoted to the Tupac Amaru Shakur
Interview with Street Heat in November of 1995
Interview with Street Heat in November of 1995: Street Heat representatives met up with Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas during November 1995. Pac and tha Dogg Pound performed after the Holyfield-Bowe fight at Club 662. Everybody was there...including Iron Mike Tyson, Rappin' 4-Tay, Tha Alkaholiks, Pepa, and the posse down with Pac and tha Dogg Pound. On the day of the show we caught up with Pac and kicked it for awhile. We were in the back of the club in owner Suge Knight's office. Suge, you may know, is the owner of Death Row Records. Suge and Death Row now handle Pac's career and Pac spent the month of November in the studio runnin' through the final touches of his double album. So, Pac, a lot of people want to know, since Death Row Records put up your bail money, is that why you left Interscope?
"It didn't have nothing to do with the money," said Pac. "It had nothing to do with the bail. I was already, um, I hollered at Suge before the bail situation when I was still an inmate in the correctional facility and I was looking at like serving three years, I called Suge and said, 'yo, I want to be with the Row. I want you to manage me because I'm in jail--and no one is handling my bizniz while I'm in jail, nobody's putting it down like I want to put it down.' I knew he's a man that would put things down. I trust him, his word, you know, um. I really couldn't trust nobody in bizniz no more, so I chose him, you know?"
Wasn't it during the time that Interscope was rumored to be leaving Warners and all that? "Yeah, that was another factor," replied Tupac. "Because I was like, 'Dang, they don't care about us.' I mean, it's not Interscope's fault, but they really don't owe us anything and at any minute we could be you know, alone without a contract after you put all your heart on the line, your music on the line, you went out there and gave all your talent up and all of a sudden, it's not good enough any more and they'll kick you off. So I was like, by going to Death Row, it's like two superpowers joining up. You know, it would be similar to the US and England teamin' up against anybody, you know what I mean? So I felt it was like joining two super powers. And if rap music was going to have to fight for its right to be uncensored, then this was the team for me to get on, to wage that battle."
Did jail change your perspective on the world? "Yeah...Doing eleven months of maximum security penitentiary time for a crime you didn't commit would definitely make you a little bitter," said Tupac. "But I'm trying not to be bitter. I'm trying to let that be my ambition. Now I'm very ambitious. This year will mark a new ground for Tupac where I'm relentless. There's no boundaries. I'm not looking at no stop signs. I'm going full speed ahead. I'm planning on touching everything with my name on it, and there's a lot of stuff with my name on it, so I'm out there. So I got with the Row, that's move number one, I wrote a movie, that's move number two. Did the double album -- that's never been done before -- that's move number three. Got the divorce, that's move number four. And now it's just about standing by my grind, stay up on my music, stay out of trouble."
Tupac has often said that the media have misrepresented him. What is the real Tupac Shakur like? "He's a human being with all sides," replied Pac. "Multi-faceted, ups and downs. Goods and bads. Mistakes. Everything, you know. All they want to show is one side, which is distorted. That's a distorted view. So what I said was true. If they would show the good things and the bad things, I would have no complaints, and it would even make them look better. When you just show me doing all this bad stuff, then people gonna just start thinking like 'wait a minute, this dude can't be doing all this bad stuff.' I mean, come on. They don't show nothing else. So it's really helpin' me, cause it's making it look one-sided and untrue. But the thing that bothers me is that it's just not across the board. They do this to rappers or young black males -- inner city people. You know, they do that to us but they don't do that for everybody else. But that bothers me, but I'm not gonna harp on everything that's unfair, 'cause life is unfair. Nobody said it's gonna be easy or fair. I'm not even gonna trip off it. I'm just gonna push forward. When I stop, I stop. When the wheels fall off, the wheels fall off. But until then I'm gonna put the foot to the metal."
Tupac has already starred in a number of movies including "Above the Rim" and "Poetic Justice." So we asked what his future acting projects are. "I just wrote a movie called "Live To Tell." We talking about doing a movie now, me and Snoop, that Pooh is working on, and everything else is before me. I haven't even started looking into that, but it's going down."
Tupac talked about his upcoming double album, the first by a hip-hop star. "The last album was one side of Tupac," he said. "And it's the other side, you know what I mean? I did what I had to do with "Me Against the World" as far as lettin' people know that rappers think and we feel and we care. I did that. Now it's time for me to just get into the music. This album is more like about unrestricted. I'm not rying to tell a message. I'm just getting a lot of frustrations out from being in jail for eleven months. And just speaking my mind, talking about things that I see and just groovin', having fun. They like more upbeat tracks than this. My last album was kinda sad and down. This one is like way high. There's only two slow songs on there."
Street Heat gives props George Pryce and Greg Howard of Death Row Records for getting us with Tupac My Dream Came True OKEJ September 2, 1996 What's gonna be your New Year's promise? I'll do more exercise! Jan. 1st, I'll start doin' 300 pushups each day. How many are you doing now? I can do 300 one day, but then I don't do anymore the next day. I'd really like to do something regularly. And I'd like to be some kinda rolemodel so that the next generation actors, entertainers and...yeah, people in general try to get in better shape. It's important! What does your acting career give you that the music don't? Orgasms! I used to think that musicians were the ones that got the most sex, Tupac says and laughs so much that he's falling from his chair. Then Tupac tries to give me a serious answer. That's like askin' a woman what she gets from bein' a motha, that the career can't give her.
It's a totally different kinda satisfaction, a different kinda joy, but they are similar, 'cause they're both creative, says Tupac, who feels privileged to be both an actor and a rapper. One knight I record a video, next mornin' I'm here makin' a movie.... How do you avoid that your success goes to your head? The society prevent that from happenin', by puttin' me in jail for a crime I've never committed! It makes you humble... What do you think is the biggest misunderstanding about your personality? There are so many... The biggest one is that I'm one-sided.. That's me? I'm born in the Gemini... I'm a Gemini, young, black, and a Bloods member. I've got many different sides. I'm a communist. I thirst for knowledge. I'm hard to put in a box, so they try to make me look like I'm crazy. That's the biggest misunderstanding 'bout me. Are there anything from your time in prison that you can use in a positive direction? Good question. In prison I was demanded to go into bankruptcy. I was just about to do it, when a friend of mine advised me not to, 'cause it would lower my credibility. So, instead I went to court, and won, says Tupac and tells that time, in prison I had nothing. No acting career, no music career, nobody wanted to have nothin' do with me. A rape charge is the worst thing you can get! You get marked. But I knew myself that I hadn't committed the crime I was charged for, so I kept the faith. I didn't commit suicide with an AK, did I? And it felt like God, himself, were holdin' his hand over me when my CD- which was the most expensive someone's ever did this year- sold in 6 million copies. The best sellin' album!! So, the good thing by bein' in jail was this: My "million $ dream" came true, you know what I'm sayin'? It's all that! And it ain't stoppin' yet! Nothin' can stop me now! says Tupac and with a serious expression on his face, he continues with, when you've reached the absolute bottom, like I did, then you're free. Nothin' can hurt me!! Where do you live now? Where I live? You mean which country or state? I've got a big house n' good friends down in L.A. Is Tupac your real name? My real, starts Tupac and tells about his name, the Patriot Tupac who never gave up. Though, when people ask I never tell without sayin' my name means determined, 'cause I've decided never to start slangin' again. Nobody's gonna gimme their power so that I can live longer, that's why I ain't gonna give mine to nobody either. Instead I just take deep breaths. Which one's the biggest myth about fame? That all celebrities wanna be famous. People think that you shouldn't complain if someone comes up to you and rip off your clothes, 'cause as a celebrity you've chose it, says Tupac, who describes himself as down to earth and ordinary. Do you think you'll get a new audience now that you're making a movie? The fact that I sold five-six million albums shows that it ain't only black homey's from the ghetto, and whiggas that listen to my music. I've got audience everywhere. Both Americans and people outside the USA. I love the Swedish! I've been to Sweden and I loved it! Are you planning to go on tour? Yeah, I am!!! Tupac Promised.
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