If I Were Able to Interview Tupac Shakur

This is an interview guide for an Information Interview with Tupac Shakur with background, interview strategy, and questioning rationale. It was created posthumously, but would have been the interview I would have completed given the chance to personally interview Tupac Shakur.

Biography

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn, NY to Afeni Faye Williams, a member of the Black Panther Party and a defendant in the infamous Panther 21 trial. Sometime either shortly before or shortly after Tupac's birth, Williams changed her name to Afeni Shakur, using the Arabic word for "thankful to God" as her surname. "Tupac" is Arabic for shining serpent. Afeni Shakur claimed her son would be the "Black prince" that "saved the Black race."

Tupac began acting at a young age. He felt that acting gave him a natural high. It was also something he could do that his cousins, who always told Tupac that said he had an "effeminate face" could not do. His first real role was as "Travis" in the play "A Raisin in the Sun." Tupac went on to star in five major motion pictures (Juice, Above the Rim, Poetic Justice, Gridlock'd, Gang Related) with guest appearances and cameos in many others.

Tupac recorded his first rap song came after a friend accidentally shot himself. Tupac's love of poetry fueled his desire to rap. When Tupac and his family moved to Baltimore and Tupac joined the Baltimore School of Arts, he maintained street credibility as "MC New York" (feeding on Maryland residents' pre-disposition that people from New York are crazy). Tupac's song-writing became legendary in the streets and Tupac became a member of Digital Underground, a hip-hop group famous for "The Humpty-Dance" and "Same Song." In 1991, Tupac released "2pacalyse Now", his debut album. During this time, Tupac met Christopher Wallace a.k.a. Notorious BIG a.k.a. Biggie Smalls.

Tupac began having legal troubles in the early 1990's, though this only increased his "me against the world" profile. In Atlanta, Tupac was involved in a shootout with two policemen, but was later acquitted of the charges. Tupac was charged with sexual assault on November 1994 for an incident between him and a female fan. The jury was deliberating and the verdict to be announced in a few days. The following day Tupac was shot five times in the lobby of Quad Studios in New York's Time Square. Tupac accused Wallace, and Wallace's producer and CEO of Bad Boy Records Sean "Puffy" Combs. Tupac also accused Andre Harrell, who was supposed to meet Tupac at the studio. Two days later, Tupac appeared in court for the verdict and told the judge that "it doesn't matter what sentence you hand down to me, because only God can judge me now." Tupac was sentenced to four and a half years in prison.

While in prison, Tupac studied Machiavelli and wrote poetry and rap songs and met with Marion "Suge" Knight. Knight had just started Death Row Records. Knight helped Tupac get parole after eight months in prison after Tupac signed with Death Row. Tupac moved to Los Angeles and became a West Coast icon. Tupac came out with "All Eyez on Me", his most successful album, selling 6 million copies its first year on the market. Tupac immediately after came out with lyrical "battle raps" against Wallace and the entire Bad Boy Records staff. Tupac's song Hit 'em Up became an instant classic with references to sexual encounters with Wallace's separated wife, Faith Evans, and blatant death threats to Wallace himself.

Why I chose Tupac

Hip-hop has always been my favorite music. When I was a child, I remember the first time I heard Run DMC. I wanted to be able to rap like that. I wanted to be able to dance like that. I can probably still spit out all the words to the Beastie Boys' "License to Ill" album. I became more interested in "gangsta rap" when I heard N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton", which included the hit F_ck the Police.

I heard Tupac for the first time when I was fourteen years old; however, I didn't take him as anything special until I started finding things out in his personal life, such as the Atlanta police shoot-out. As I progressed through high-school, "All Eyez on Me" became my favorite album.

To me, Tupac has always been the "realest" rapper because he didn't rap about how much money he had or what car he drove. He didn't rap about "fake" things. He rapped about the things that happened in his real life. He rapped about prison, getting shot, getting robbed, getting in fights, living in the ghetto, being homeless, and anything else that happened to him either past, present, or future.

Another aspect was Tupac's prophesies about his own demise. Many of Tupac's songs are written as though he was already dead. For example, in his latest posthumous single, Thugz Mansion, Tupac raps "Dear Mama, don't cry, your baby boy doin good, tell the homies I'm in Heaven and they ain't got hoods, seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night, it had me shook, drinkin peppermint Schnapps with Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke." Creatively and lyrically, Tupac has always been my favorite rapper.

Interview Strategy

My interview would take place shortly after the release of "All Eyez on Me" and more specifically his single Hit 'em Up. I want to explore his beef with Christopher Wallace and the Bad Boy Staff, his police shootout in Atlanta, his sexual assault case, his thoughts on the east coast vs. west coast "rap war", and where he thinks hip-hop is going. I want to explore Tupac's seemingly endless supply of problems with the law and his seemingly endless supply of raps. I'm going to explore his sources of creativity, his "heroes", his friends, and his enemies.

The Interview

I. Where are you at creatively right now?

A. What sources do you pull from creatively?

B. What does it take to write a good song?

Rationale: Develop rapport by getting into Tupac's creative development. This also gives me an outlet to explore my other target topics.

II. How much real life is in your albums?

A. Is there more real life now than before?

Rationale: This is simply a "connector" to my next question. However, this does explore the balance between what we see on TV vs. what happens on the streets.

III. How real is the beef between Death Row and Bad Boy?

A. East and West?

B. Tupac and Notorious B.I.G. (herein referred to also as Biggie Smalls and Christopher Wallace)?

Rationale: This is the first target subject that I want to tackle. I want to know his feelings on the feuds between his label and Biggie's, his coast and Biggie's, and him and Biggie.

IV. In your song, Hit 'em Up, you have a line directed at Biggie Smalls and his estranged wife, Faith Evans: "you claim to be a player, but I f-cked your wife." How accurate is that line? i.e. What is the story between you and Faith Evans?

A. How accurate is the line directed at rapper Lil' Cease (a known associate of Biggie Smalls who was in the building the night Tupac was shot): "I'll cut your young ass up and leave you in pieces, now be deceased"?

B. How serious are these lines and how have they (Bad Boy) responded?

Rationale: I want to explore some of his specific lyrics directed Biggie Smalls and his associates. I also want to see how much he believes in these lyrics. I also want to explore the relationship between him and Faith Evans.

V. You have stated that you believe Biggie Smalls had something to do with your shooting in the lobby of the Quad Studio in Times Square. What do you think his level of involvement is?

A. What motive did he have?

B. Why do you believe that?

Rationale: I want to further explore the existence and degree of hatred Tupac has for Biggie Smalls. I want to know his opinions on the shooting specifically.

VI. Will Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace ever be friends again?

A. What would it take?

Rationale: I want to explore the possibility that they could put this behind them and move on.

VII. You have publicly stated that while in prison you

studied Machiavelli. You have even used a derivative of Machiavelli, Makavelli the Don, as a moniker in some of your recordings. What is it about Machiavelli that appeals to you?

A. Are you feared or loved?

Rationale: I want to explore his fascination with Machiavelli and how he feels it has influenced him. I also want to see how he applies Machiavelli's ideals to his own life.

VIII. At the end of your trial for sexual assault, you made a statement: "it doesn't matter what sentence you hand me down because only God can judge me now", which you later turned into the song Only God Can Judge Me Now. Can anyone besides God judge Tupac? Why or Why not?

A. How will God judge Tupac?

Rationale: I wanted to touch on Tupac's sexual assault trial, but I really wanted to explore Tupac's relationship with God while at the same time catch his feelings on the judicial system.

IX. You made that statement shortly after you were shot five times. What does it feel like to get shot?

A. Where did you get shot?

Rationale: I wanted to explore his feelings on getting shot and living to tell the tale. I also wanted him to describe his wounds.

X. You shot two policemen in Atlanta and the case was dismissed. What happened the day of the shooting?

A. Why do you think the case was dismissed?

B. If you had to do it over again, would it go down the same way?

Rationale: I wanted to touch on the police shootout without dwelling on it.

XI. Do you feel that "gangsta rap" is glorified? Why or Why

not?

A. Are there "heroes" in gangsta rap? Who?

B. Are there "villains" in gangsta rap? Who?

C. Which one are you?

Rationale: I really want to know what his feelings on the state of hip-hop are. I also want to know who he feels the "good guys" and "bad guys" are.

XI. There is an infamous picture of when you being put on

the ambulance after being shot. You are giving the camera "the finger." Who was that finger directed

toward? Why?

Rationale: I want to give him the opportunity to vent and basically get off his chest things he feels he should get off his chest.

Works Cited

Jones, Quincy. Tupac Shakur. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998.

Farley, John. "Rhyme or Reason?" Time 24 May 1997: 44-46.