1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:15,440 Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: Tupac Shakur are insane. He shot two police officers and 3 00:00:20,040 --> 00:00:22,439 Speaker 1: got away with it, settled out of court after a 4 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 1: six year old boy died from a bullet shot from 5 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: his gun. He himself survived two bullets to the head. 6 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: He famously brawled with the notorious Big and partnered with 7 00:00:33,159 --> 00:00:36,800 Speaker 1: the notorious Blood Street gang record label boss Shug Knight. 8 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,239 Speaker 1: Tupac Shakur wrapped a new hybrid style of rap that 9 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,960 Speaker 1: was at once socially conscious and at the same time 10 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:46,879 Speaker 1: violent and representative of the streets. He came up on 11 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,959 Speaker 1: raised by his mother, the former Black Panther in sixties 12 00:00:51,080 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: radical As a boy, he showed natural talent as an actor, 13 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,360 Speaker 1: attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, and later went 14 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,880 Speaker 1: on to display his immense acting talent and charisma and 15 00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: two critically acclaimed performances in his first two films. And 16 00:01:06,680 --> 00:01:10,959 Speaker 1: in addition to making great movies, Tupac Amaru Shakur also 17 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: made great music. That music you heard at the top 18 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:17,399 Speaker 1: of the show that wasn't great music, That was a 19 00:01:17,440 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called Mellow Street Charisma MK one. 20 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 21 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,039 Speaker 1: rights to want ads by Honeycomb. And why would I 22 00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of deliciously soulful Lipstick on 23 00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: the Collar Cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: the number one song in America on June sixteenth, nineteen 25 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,400 Speaker 1: seventy one, And that was the day Tupac Shakur came 26 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: into this life, a life you would spend the rest 27 00:01:49,280 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: of his short years trying to survive on this episode, 28 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: lipstick cheese, radical street charisma, too many bullets of Tupac Shakur. 29 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: I'm Jake Brennan in. 30 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:05,080 Speaker 2: This this Disgraceland. 31 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:29,359 Speaker 1: The thing about five star hotels, this one anyway, was 32 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,440 Speaker 1: that it was a bitch to get your music to play. 33 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: She decided against the bluetooth connection. It was taking too long, 34 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: so she just let the music blast from her iPhone 35 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: while she got ready. Her eighties hip hop playlist was 36 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: blaring NWA's Fuck the Police. She loved this song. How 37 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:50,040 Speaker 1: could she not? It reminded her of ninety two people 38 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: thought twenty fourteen was fucked up. Ferguson Tamir Rice I 39 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:58,079 Speaker 1: can't breathe, ninety two Los Angeles, Rodney King, the riots. 40 00:02:58,520 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 3: It was a mess. 41 00:03:00,600 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: The shower in the hotel suite blasted, and so did 42 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: Drace Be. Her husband would be happy to hear her 43 00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: when he emerged to dry off. He was there back 44 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:11,600 Speaker 1: then in La right in the eye of the hurricane 45 00:03:11,600 --> 00:03:14,959 Speaker 1: on April twenty ninth, nineteen ninety two. It was before 46 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:17,920 Speaker 1: he really knew dre or should. He was recording inn 47 00:03:17,960 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: Atwater Village when the news hit. He jumped in his 48 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:24,520 Speaker 1: Honda shipbox and raced to South Central. She knew this 49 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:27,080 Speaker 1: because her husband told this story every chance he got. 50 00:03:27,639 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: She didn't fault him for it. She would do the 51 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: same if she witnessed that kind of history. She had 52 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: her own jaw dropping stories. It was in part why 53 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:38,160 Speaker 1: they worked so well as a team. She came from 54 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:41,280 Speaker 1: a totally different background than he, and they both appreciated 55 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:44,320 Speaker 1: that about the other, though it hadn't always been that way. 56 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 1: Back in ninety five when they first hooked up, the 57 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,200 Speaker 1: difference in their backgrounds was what broke them up. He 58 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,720 Speaker 1: was black, she was white. He thought his fans wouldn't 59 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: accept it. She was too proud to act like she cared, 60 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:00,720 Speaker 1: and so they went their separate ways knew that one 61 00:04:00,800 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: day they'd link back up, and she was beyond thankful 62 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: they had, and tonight she was beyond proud of her husband. 63 00:04:07,760 --> 00:04:11,839 Speaker 1: He'd earned this. But ninety two, ninety two was an 64 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: entirely different situation. Tupac Shakor looked around Chaos, south central 65 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: Los Angeles on fire. He was on the corner of 66 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,640 Speaker 1: Crenshawn twenty eight and the looters were out in full force. 67 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: He himself had just taken part in the looting of 68 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,640 Speaker 1: Tempo records. He had filled his arms with CDs and 69 00:04:33,760 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: was back at the car, about to dive back in 70 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 1: and follow the action wherever it took him. But then 71 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: he was recognized that he would have been lying if 72 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:43,160 Speaker 1: he said he was upset when they started asking him 73 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,719 Speaker 1: for autographs. He wasn't yet the star he'd become, but 74 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: he could feel himself rising in stature in the music world, 75 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: and this confirmed what he had already accepted as fact 76 00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:56,200 Speaker 1: that he was the most talented MC working in the time. 77 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,120 Speaker 1: To be recognized out here though among his people, in 78 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:03,039 Speaker 1: the middle of what was clearly a monumental, historic event, 79 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: it felt special, It felt almost too perfect, Even though 80 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: he wasn't from la He's felt like his people, and 81 00:05:11,200 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: from that moment on, Tupac Shakor felt an even stronger 82 00:05:14,760 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 1: obligation to complete the path he was on, to continue 83 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,480 Speaker 1: to rise up out of the situation he was born into, 84 00:05:21,040 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: to make something of himself, and to make damn sure 85 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,680 Speaker 1: that he survived and delivered on the promises made by 86 00:05:26,720 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: his mother back in the more turbulent nineteen sixties. But 87 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: that was not an easy proposition. That when he carried 88 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,159 Speaker 1: the baggage Tupacamaru shakurt him the baggage of growing fame 89 00:05:37,279 --> 00:05:41,520 Speaker 1: and success. By the time of the Riots, Tupac had 90 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,680 Speaker 1: completed and released his debut solo album, Tupocalypse Now, his 91 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: first recording since coming up with the Digital Underground, with 92 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: a series of featured verses. 93 00:05:50,279 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 2: In ninety one. 94 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: Tupocalypse Now was typical of any artist's first album, A 95 00:05:58,560 --> 00:06:02,120 Speaker 1: chronicled word Tupac Shakor came from. Tupac had written and 96 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: wrapped about his life as a teenager slash young adult 97 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 1: in Maren City, California, a neighborhood that consisted largely of 98 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,839 Speaker 1: other African Americans living in public housing. His mother of Fini, 99 00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: was back on the East Coast, battling a serious crack addiction, 100 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: and Tupac was living with an alcoholic ex black panther 101 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:23,960 Speaker 1: friend of the family. Tupac survived Maren City by adapting 102 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,679 Speaker 1: to the ways of the street, and this meant standing 103 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:30,520 Speaker 1: his ground when challenged physically and speaking out against injustices 104 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:34,839 Speaker 1: he saw it threatening his community. On to Apocalypse now 105 00:06:35,120 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: you can hear the paranoia induced by police brutality on 106 00:06:38,320 --> 00:06:42,159 Speaker 1: Trapp and the trauma of keen pregnancy on Brenda's Getta Baby. 107 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,960 Speaker 1: Tupac knew his community, and he was an accepted and 108 00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:49,160 Speaker 1: protected member of that community, and they were his and 109 00:06:49,200 --> 00:06:50,000 Speaker 1: he was theirs. 110 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 3: When he turned twenty, it was clear that rapping was 111 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 3: his main priority. 112 00:06:55,160 --> 00:06:57,479 Speaker 1: It was a vehicle to not only survived the streets, 113 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: but to escape them. When Tupac's started giving interviews as 114 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 1: an artist, he occasionally spout it off from what was 115 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,680 Speaker 1: fast becoming known as his legendary Big Mom, and in 116 00:07:07,720 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: doing so, he betrayed the very place that made him 117 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: Marin City. In an interview promoting his debut, Tupac referred 118 00:07:15,800 --> 00:07:19,040 Speaker 1: to Maren City as a quote unquote jungle. He then 119 00:07:19,080 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: went on to gripe about how he wasn't given respect 120 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: when he was coming up because he didn't have any 121 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: money or women, but that now that was changing with 122 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: his growing success. Tupac went on to claim that he 123 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 1: got love with the kind of love he would give 124 00:07:31,960 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 1: a dog or a neighborhood crack feed, claiming that they 125 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: only liked him because he was at the bottom. When 126 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: word up back to the hood, maren City was not pleased, 127 00:07:42,320 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: Tupac felt the sting and perhaps some fear. He had 128 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:48,640 Speaker 1: to make it right, so it was decided that Tupac 129 00:07:48,680 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: Shakora would perform at Marin City's annual street festival for free, 130 00:07:53,600 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: a give back to the community. He had the best 131 00:07:56,200 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: of intentions, and then the whole plan went to shit. 132 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: Get out from under the car with your hands up. 133 00:08:05,680 --> 00:08:08,560 Speaker 1: Tupac heard the cop barking from three feet away. He 134 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:11,200 Speaker 1: lay there on the cement under the automobile and clinched 135 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: his eyes closed, hoping the cop would just go away, 136 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: hoping the sirens would stop screaming, hoping to echo from 137 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: the shot would fade from his ears. I said, get 138 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: out from under the motherfucking car with your hands up. 139 00:08:26,560 --> 00:08:29,080 Speaker 1: It was no use. The cop wasn't going anywhere. And 140 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: Tupac didn't want a chance getting shot himself. He crawled 141 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: out from under the car and under the street with 142 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:36,920 Speaker 1: his hands up a street that had quickly become a 143 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: crime scene. He could hear the helicopters, but couldn't yet 144 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:43,880 Speaker 1: see them. Then he tasted the blood in his mouth 145 00:08:43,880 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: from the police officer's fist. It came out of nowhere. 146 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:50,000 Speaker 1: It was much harder than the punch he'd taken minutes before, 147 00:08:50,440 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: the punch that sent the whole melee off. Tupac, like 148 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,880 Speaker 1: most everyone else in attendance at Maren City's fiftieth in 149 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 1: Old Community Festival on August twenty second, nineteen ninety two, 150 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,000 Speaker 1: didn't have any clue what set the whole thing off. 151 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:09,959 Speaker 1: It all happened so fast. He and his crew showed 152 00:09:10,040 --> 00:09:12,880 Speaker 1: up to perform as was the plan, and some neighborhood 153 00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: roughnecks gut in his grill for what he didn't really 154 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: know in these days. It was all some version of 155 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:20,680 Speaker 1: the same thing. Where the fuck did he think he 156 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:24,079 Speaker 1: was too good for the hood? A jungle, Fuck you, Tupac, 157 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:27,400 Speaker 1: We're still living here. And then someone hit him, most 158 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:29,400 Speaker 1: likely some young blood trying to make a name in 159 00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: the neighborhood, take a swing at the rap star prove himself, 160 00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:41,000 Speaker 1: and then there was the shot. Tupac knew who fired 161 00:09:41,000 --> 00:09:43,840 Speaker 1: the shot. It was his gun, after all, he brought 162 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:46,439 Speaker 1: it to the festival. It was registered in his name, 163 00:09:46,880 --> 00:09:52,720 Speaker 1: a three eighty colt automatic handgun. First the punch and 164 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: then the gun fell out of his hand, discharged. A 165 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 1: bullet blasted off into the crowd. Someone then picked up 166 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: Tupac's gun and allegedly started firing over the heads of 167 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 1: Tupac's attackers. One hundred yards away, six year old kayd 168 00:10:10,320 --> 00:10:13,720 Speaker 1: Walker Tiel was pedaling by on his bicycle. The bullet 169 00:10:13,760 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: from Tupac's gun blasted right through the boy's forehead, killing 170 00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: him instantly. Tupac, his half brother, and some of his 171 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:26,440 Speaker 1: crew were arrested in connection with the shooting, but quickly 172 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: let go, and Tupac was free to pursue his career. However, 173 00:10:30,640 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: he was later sued by the boy's parents. Had eventually 174 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:36,200 Speaker 1: settled out of court, paying out and estimated three hundred 175 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,320 Speaker 1: thousand dollars to avoid trial and quite possibly jail. A 176 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: place Tupac Shakur had spent his earliest days in and 177 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: a place he would eventually become all too familiar with 178 00:11:07,480 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: a foene. Shakur sat in her jail cell awaiting trial. 179 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,400 Speaker 1: She was five months pregnant and she knew in her 180 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,200 Speaker 1: heart that she would give birth to a black prince. 181 00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: She was given one egg a day and a glass 182 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: of milk for protein, an accommodation made only because she 183 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 1: was pregnant. She could smell the grass wafting down the 184 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,160 Speaker 1: hall from another inmate cell, and the smell turned her stomach, 185 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:31,439 Speaker 1: made it hard to eat, but it brought her back 186 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,839 Speaker 1: back to the Bronx, back to her days in the Disciples, 187 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:40,400 Speaker 1: one of the first female streak gangs and one of 188 00:11:40,400 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: the city's most fearsome, and the pot used to soothe her, 189 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:46,720 Speaker 1: mellow her out. Along with fellow members of the Disciples, 190 00:11:46,840 --> 00:11:49,680 Speaker 1: she would hang on the stew smoke joints, drop acid, 191 00:11:49,760 --> 00:11:52,040 Speaker 1: and freak out to sigh in the family stone and 192 00:11:52,120 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 1: Jimmy Hendrick's records. But then Bobby Seal came calling, and 193 00:11:55,880 --> 00:11:59,920 Speaker 1: her whole world changed. Bobby co founded the Black Panthers, 194 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:03,959 Speaker 1: a revolutionary group inspired by Malcolm Xis by any Means 195 00:12:04,040 --> 00:12:08,559 Speaker 1: Necessary edict and organized to loudly protests the injustices. Black 196 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: Americans faced in the nineteen sixties. The Black Panthers demanded 197 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: total liberation from the impressive hand of white capitalist America 198 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,040 Speaker 1: through what they called ultra democracy, which was basically just 199 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:23,680 Speaker 1: a clever way of saying that the Panthers weren't trucking 200 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:27,240 Speaker 1: with any Martin Luther King Junior peaceful protest chib They 201 00:12:27,240 --> 00:12:29,800 Speaker 1: were in it to take what was rightfully theirs again, 202 00:12:30,120 --> 00:12:34,360 Speaker 1: by any means necessary. The Doctrine Bobby Seal, drafted with 203 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: Panther co founder HUEP. Newton, entitled What We Want Now, 204 00:12:38,440 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: laid it out so Number one freedom the power to 205 00:12:42,480 --> 00:12:46,359 Speaker 1: determine the destiny of the Black community. Two full employment 206 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:49,560 Speaker 1: for their people in three the end to the robbery 207 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 1: by the white men of the black community. Four decent housing. 208 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:58,239 Speaker 1: Five education that exposes the true nature of quote unquote 209 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: this decadent Americans society. The six point called for the 210 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:06,120 Speaker 1: exemption of all black men from military service. This during 211 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:09,640 Speaker 1: the time of the Vietnam War. Number seven in immediate 212 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:14,679 Speaker 1: and police brutality and murder of black people. In freedom 213 00:13:14,679 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: for all black men held in federal, state, county, and 214 00:13:17,920 --> 00:13:22,000 Speaker 1: city prison in jails. Nine the calling for blacks to 215 00:13:22,040 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: be tried and judged only by blacks in court. And finally, 216 00:13:26,400 --> 00:13:31,440 Speaker 1: the tenth Point demanded land, bred, housing, education, clothing, justice, 217 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:35,360 Speaker 1: and peace, all of which sounded better to a Phoenie 218 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:38,680 Speaker 1: than sitting on the stoop smoking grass, listening to sly Stone, 219 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 1: and showing up at her job as one of the 220 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:44,200 Speaker 1: first female postal carriers in Manhattan. So she turned to 221 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:52,439 Speaker 1: the revolutionaries. Violent revolutionaries. The Black Panthers were not, by 222 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:55,280 Speaker 1: any stretch part of the Peaceful Hippy to be countercultural 223 00:13:55,320 --> 00:13:59,080 Speaker 1: of the nineteen sixties. They had justifiable beef over real 224 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:03,960 Speaker 1: injustices porbetrated upon Black Americans, but the violence they perpetrated 225 00:14:04,400 --> 00:14:09,040 Speaker 1: justified the FBI's categorization of them as a domestic terrorist organization. 226 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,520 Speaker 1: That said, the FBI went way beyond the long arm 227 00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:15,959 Speaker 1: of the law and combating the Panthers, and there is 228 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: a real case to be made that the FBI aided 229 00:14:18,679 --> 00:14:22,040 Speaker 1: and a bedded Chicago pee in the murder of Panther 230 00:14:22,160 --> 00:14:26,160 Speaker 1: Fred Hampton. The FBI was not averse to exploiting, rat fucking, 231 00:14:26,200 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 1: and trumping up any and all charges and accusations against 232 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:33,000 Speaker 1: the Black Panthers, and there were many multiple shootouts with 233 00:14:33,080 --> 00:14:36,360 Speaker 1: police ended with dead and wounded on both sides, the 234 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: conviction of Panthers co founder Hughey Newton in nineteen sixty 235 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 1: seven for the shooting death of an open police officer, 236 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:44,840 Speaker 1: the arrest of Bobby Seal as a member of the 237 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: Chicago Seven, for his part in organizing the violent anti 238 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: war protests at the sixty eight Democratic National Convention. The 239 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,040 Speaker 1: Black Panthers were tried for the murder of member Alex 240 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:58,800 Speaker 1: Rackley and suspected of torturing and murdering Black Panther accountant 241 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: Betty van Pattern. Both were being suspected FBI informants in 242 00:15:03,400 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: Los Angeles. The Black Panthers were active participants during the 243 00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,120 Speaker 1: violent Watts riots, and as mentioned in Chicago, police raided 244 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,720 Speaker 1: the home of Fred Hampton on trumped up charges that 245 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: he was stockpiling the legal weaponry. He was mysteriously dragged 246 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,160 Speaker 1: earlier in the evening before the raid, and then eventually 247 00:15:20,240 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: shot and killed by police. Hampton's death robbed the Panthers 248 00:15:24,120 --> 00:15:27,400 Speaker 1: of one of its most charismatic speakers and further radicalized 249 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:31,520 Speaker 1: the party in the late sixties. The Black Panthers' violent 250 00:15:31,600 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: revolutionary acts, however justified they may have been, were so 251 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: prominent in the eyes of the public that California's Republican 252 00:15:38,480 --> 00:15:41,640 Speaker 1: governor Ronald Reagan was able to use the organization as 253 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,440 Speaker 1: a boogeyman to drum up support to pass strict gun 254 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: control laws in his state. A Republican passing gun control laws. 255 00:15:53,360 --> 00:15:56,000 Speaker 1: Uffini heard Bobby Cia laying out his panther rap on 256 00:15:56,040 --> 00:15:58,880 Speaker 1: a Manhattan street corner, and she quickly signed on with 257 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:01,880 Speaker 1: the group, even after she hooked up with fellow panther 258 00:16:02,240 --> 00:16:05,480 Speaker 1: Mumba Shakor and they lay next to each other in bed. 259 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: On the morning of April second, nineteen sixty nine, the 260 00:16:08,680 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: raid came quick and from out of nowhere, five NYPD 261 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,120 Speaker 1: officers barreled into their living space, guns drawn, screaming for 262 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: everyone to get on the floor with their hands up. 263 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:22,280 Speaker 1: The cops were pissed. A few months earlier, their station 264 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,160 Speaker 1: house was bombed and then shots were fired on the 265 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: exiting officers, and the assailants fled, but left one of 266 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: their own behind to answer questions, a black panther by 267 00:16:31,720 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: the name of Joan Bird, a friend of Afieni. She 268 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:37,760 Speaker 1: was dragged into the station house and beaten senseless by 269 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:40,960 Speaker 1: the cops. Joan Bird sang and the cops put a 270 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: tail on her in her associates, and when they thought 271 00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,080 Speaker 1: there was enough contraband for an arrest, they raided the 272 00:16:46,120 --> 00:16:49,720 Speaker 1: panthers home where a Fenian Lumamba slept, and they turned 273 00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: up ten guns, some brass pipe, the supposed makings of 274 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,440 Speaker 1: a pipe bomb, and a book entitled Urban Guerrilla Warfare. 275 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: A Fenian Lumumba Shakor were arrested on charges not only 276 00:17:00,840 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 1: to the bombing of the Bronx police station house, but 277 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,240 Speaker 1: also in a larger conspiracy alleging the Black Panthers planned 278 00:17:07,240 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: to bomb other police stations and department stores frequented by 279 00:17:10,640 --> 00:17:16,919 Speaker 1: white middle class shoppers. A Fieni was looking at three 280 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:20,240 Speaker 1: hundred and twelve years in prison if convicted. Bail was 281 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: set at one hundred grand. Sixty of it was raised 282 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,639 Speaker 1: by the labor movement who supported the Panthers cause, and 283 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,439 Speaker 1: the rest was provided in real estate collateral put up 284 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:32,000 Speaker 1: by our local church. Afioenie Shakur was out on bail 285 00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:37,400 Speaker 1: and during that time two things happened. One she got pregnant. 286 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 1: Two the house of the judge hearing her case was bombed. 287 00:17:41,960 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: Her bail was revoked off to jail she went with 288 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:50,840 Speaker 1: a baby in her belly, Surviving the woman's house of 289 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,159 Speaker 1: detention would not be easy. The conditions were, as a 290 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,680 Speaker 1: Phoenie Chakur argued in her own defense at court, inhuman 291 00:17:58,280 --> 00:18:01,239 Speaker 1: female prisoners were denied toilet paper in hot water and 292 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: provided with inedible food. But the baby in her belly 293 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:07,679 Speaker 1: would help her survive. If it weren't for him, there 294 00:18:07,680 --> 00:18:10,280 Speaker 1: would be no real food, no one egg a day, 295 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:16,639 Speaker 1: no glass of milk, no survival. We'll be right back 296 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:23,120 Speaker 1: after this word word word. A Phoenie Shakur was eventually 297 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: acquitted on all charges connected with the alleged black panther 298 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,560 Speaker 1: bombing of the Bronx Police station house. After the birth 299 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,640 Speaker 1: of her son, Tupacamorro Shakur, named after an eighteenth century 300 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 1: Peruvian revolutionary, A Foene's marriage to Lumumba Shakur quickly fell apart. 301 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:42,520 Speaker 1: Lumumba learned he was not Tupac's biological father. Fellow panther 302 00:18:42,680 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: Billy Garland was, but neither man would play a real 303 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,640 Speaker 1: role in Tupac's life. Shortly after his birth, in June 304 00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:54,360 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy one, he and his mother relocated to Baltimore, alone. 305 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: By the time the nineteen eighties rolled around, Baltimore was 306 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 1: still the same crime ridden story a Phoenie had seen 307 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:05,160 Speaker 1: in ghettos elsewhere in the country throughout her early adulthood, 308 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:09,800 Speaker 1: gun saturated streets, collapsing neighborhoods, a sky high murder y, 309 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,720 Speaker 1: and now the inner city had the added element of 310 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: the crack epidemic. It wasn't long before Phoene Shakur became 311 00:19:16,320 --> 00:19:19,960 Speaker 1: addicted to the new drug herself. Tupac made his way 312 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:22,159 Speaker 1: through middle school and then in his first couple of 313 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 1: years of high school, and at that time his mother 314 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,640 Speaker 1: was fully addicted to crack cocaine. While Tupac was accepted 315 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,480 Speaker 1: to the prestigious Baltimore School for the Arts, his mother 316 00:19:31,480 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: could barely hold down a job addiction aside that revolutionary 317 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:38,399 Speaker 1: fire still burned in her belly, and much of the 318 00:19:38,400 --> 00:19:41,560 Speaker 1: family's extended network of support was made up of other 319 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: former members of the Black Panthers or the Black Liberation Army. 320 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,760 Speaker 1: Young Tupac was exposed to the harshness of the streets 321 00:19:48,800 --> 00:19:52,280 Speaker 1: by day and the radical liberation ideology of the movement 322 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: by night, but in between he excelled at the arts 323 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,439 Speaker 1: in his New High School. Despite having to be up 324 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: way too early to make it to school in time, 325 00:20:00,880 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 1: Tupac was a night owl. More often than not, the 326 00:20:03,760 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: electricity bill went unpaid and there were no lights in 327 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,560 Speaker 1: the apartment, so when the weather wasn't too harsh, Tupac 328 00:20:09,560 --> 00:20:12,000 Speaker 1: would sit out on the street curve under the street lights, 329 00:20:12,040 --> 00:20:15,720 Speaker 1: reading Malcolm X's autobiography. The book would go on to 330 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:18,320 Speaker 1: be as influential on Tupac as anything else in his 331 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: formative years. You can hear that influence all over Pak's 332 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:26,359 Speaker 1: debut album, Tupacalyps Now, an album filled with social commentary 333 00:20:26,400 --> 00:20:29,360 Speaker 1: from a different kind of street poet, a modern day 334 00:20:29,400 --> 00:20:32,480 Speaker 1: Gil Scott Heron, with leading man good looks and charisma, 335 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,680 Speaker 1: and with none of the typical vapid frontman trappings. Tupac 336 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 1: was educated not only in the ways of the street, 337 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 1: but also in the progressive and sometimes radical teachings of 338 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,760 Speaker 1: the prophets of rage who came before him. On Soldier's story, 339 00:20:46,960 --> 00:20:50,760 Speaker 1: Tupac reps the stand your ground edict of the Black Panthers. 340 00:20:51,240 --> 00:20:54,880 Speaker 1: The lyrics are a dare, a violent escalation of the panthers. 341 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,400 Speaker 1: In Malcolm X's famous line that it's criminal to teach 342 00:20:58,440 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 1: a man not to defend himself. He's the constant victim 343 00:21:01,480 --> 00:21:05,480 Speaker 1: of brutal attacks. On the fifth track, I just don't 344 00:21:05,520 --> 00:21:09,680 Speaker 1: give a fuck, Tupac names his personal inspiration his mother, 345 00:21:10,560 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: his mother, Malcolm, Bobby Seal, Huey Newton. They all diagnosed 346 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,600 Speaker 1: systems of oppression and called for an armed and potentially 347 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: violent response to the plague of police brutality. Who filled 348 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:24,800 Speaker 1: through the lens of Tupac's own street experience seeing his 349 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,760 Speaker 1: mother fall from radical activists to crack addict. These lessons 350 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,959 Speaker 1: went from rallying cries to visceral from the gut lyrical 351 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 1: declarations not about political principle, but about inner rage boiling over, 352 00:21:36,880 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: and that rage was widespread and Tupac's music connected. One 353 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:44,680 Speaker 1: Tupac fan shot a Texas State trooper to death, incited 354 00:21:44,720 --> 00:21:48,080 Speaker 1: the lyrics to soldier's story as an inspiration, and on 355 00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:52,479 Speaker 1: the single Trapped, Tupac lays it out bluntly. Released on 356 00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:56,160 Speaker 1: September twenty fifth, nineteen ninety one, Trapped was the first 357 00:21:56,200 --> 00:22:05,080 Speaker 1: single from Tupocalypse Now. One month later, Oakland, California, Trapped 358 00:22:05,119 --> 00:22:08,239 Speaker 1: as a hit. Tupac Shakur is a hit. He was 359 00:22:08,240 --> 00:22:11,600 Speaker 1: feeling himself as he crossed seventeenth in Broadway. He had 360 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,960 Speaker 1: ignored the do not walk sign and was jaywalking. Two 361 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,720 Speaker 1: white cops caught the move and quickly rolled up on him. 362 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,880 Speaker 1: The fuck you think it is you're doing, Tupac told 363 00:22:20,960 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: me wasn't doing anything, He's just crossing the street. The 364 00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:26,640 Speaker 1: cops got into it with him, he was jaywalking. Who 365 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 1: did he think he was that sort of thing? Tupac 366 00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,440 Speaker 1: was shocked angry. The cops wanted to see his ID. 367 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:35,120 Speaker 3: When they got their hands on it, they ridiculed his name, 368 00:22:35,400 --> 00:22:38,439 Speaker 3: black prints, my ass more like a clowny cartoon character 369 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:40,600 Speaker 3: that fell off some off brand cereal box. 370 00:22:41,440 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: Tupac grew more agitated. He couldn't let the police slights go. 371 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: He shouted back, give me my citation and let me 372 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,240 Speaker 1: on my way. This is jaywalking, not murder. This is Opland, 373 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: not South Africa. Ain't no need for this type of harassment. 374 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:59,480 Speaker 1: That sealed it. Tupac never saw it coming. A hard 375 00:22:59,480 --> 00:23:02,000 Speaker 1: fist from one of the officers to his face. It 376 00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:05,040 Speaker 1: knocked him down, and the two cops pounced and rained 377 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:09,240 Speaker 1: down punches, burying Tupac's face into the pavement. He woke 378 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: up in cuffs on route to the police station, and 379 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:16,120 Speaker 1: he was arrested for resisting arrest. The bust and Tupac 380 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:20,359 Speaker 1: subsequent sued against the Oakland PD for harassment made national news. 381 00:23:20,800 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: Tupac was gunning for ten million in damages. He went 382 00:23:25,240 --> 00:23:27,880 Speaker 1: on television and did an interview on Live from LA 383 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 1: with Tanya Hart. He played the part he had now 384 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 1: been cast in by the media and by authorities. He 385 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:36,520 Speaker 1: stated that in my album, the number one enemy. 386 00:23:36,320 --> 00:23:40,480 Speaker 3: Is the police, the crooked police officer. His case against 387 00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 3: the Oakland PD dragged on, and the headlines continued. 388 00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:47,840 Speaker 1: United States Vice President Dan Quayle claimed that Tupac's records 389 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:51,320 Speaker 1: should be pulled from stores for inciting violence. Civil rights 390 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: activist ce Delores Tucker called out Tupac and other rappers 391 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,960 Speaker 1: for their lyrics that she claimed were misogynistic pornographic film 392 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,440 Speaker 1: He was on both on Tupac Shakur and on the 393 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:08,199 Speaker 1: Oakland PD. So eventually a settlement was reached for forty 394 00:24:08,200 --> 00:24:15,320 Speaker 1: two grand, nearly all of it went to pay Tupac's lawyer. Tupac, 395 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:18,280 Speaker 1: in an effort to express the horrific reality young black 396 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:21,320 Speaker 1: men were trying to survive, became a casualty of that 397 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 1: reality trapped detailed police harassment that he himself had never 398 00:24:25,840 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: actually experienced. He later said that the details in that 399 00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: song were relayed to him by friends who had gone 400 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:36,240 Speaker 1: through those traumatic experiences with croocket cops. The wicked irony 401 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:39,360 Speaker 1: was that now, after having shone a light on those injustices, 402 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:44,440 Speaker 1: Tupac himself was now experiencing those injustices, and the shit 403 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:47,960 Speaker 1: storm had swirled up marked Tupac with authorities and with 404 00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:51,959 Speaker 1: the rest of mainstream America as a bad man, a menace, 405 00:24:52,359 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: a thug. But the hard truth was he had had 406 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: no criminal record. Until he had made and released an 407 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,920 Speaker 1: actual record. The experience changed Tupac. He would never be 408 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: the same. Janet Jackson wasn't going to do the love 409 00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,479 Speaker 1: scene unless Tupac got the AIDS test. It was that simple. 410 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:31,360 Speaker 1: Tupac was offended, but nonetheless he was ever the opportunist. 411 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:34,240 Speaker 1: I'll get the AIDS test, he said, but Janet and 412 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: I are gonna have to fuck for real if I do. 413 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,439 Speaker 1: John Singleton, director of nineteen ninety three is Poetic Justice, 414 00:25:40,480 --> 00:25:43,639 Speaker 1: starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur, did not find the 415 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,800 Speaker 1: comment humorous. Neither did Janet Jackson. She'd done a scene 416 00:25:47,840 --> 00:25:50,560 Speaker 1: earlier with a tribe called quest q Tip and caught 417 00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:52,359 Speaker 1: a cold from making out with him in front of 418 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:56,000 Speaker 1: the cameras. By the time they started filming in nineteen 419 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,800 Speaker 1: ninety two, Tupac Shakor's bad boy reputation preceded him. Janet 420 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:03,160 Speaker 1: wasn't down to catch the bug from some street thug. 421 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:06,720 Speaker 1: Thesbian starring opposite her didn't matter how important the film 422 00:26:06,800 --> 00:26:09,359 Speaker 1: was or how good looking or talented he was, and 423 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,920 Speaker 1: by ninety two, Tupac Shakur's talent, both behind the mic 424 00:26:12,960 --> 00:26:15,000 Speaker 1: and in front of the camera was as obvious as 425 00:26:15,000 --> 00:26:18,720 Speaker 1: his good looks. That year, the film Juice put Tupac 426 00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:23,040 Speaker 1: on Hollywood's radar, with Entertainment Weekly describing his striking performance 427 00:26:23,040 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 1: in the film and Variety describing him as a real find. 428 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,399 Speaker 1: So when NWA's Ice Cube turned down the role of 429 00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:33,000 Speaker 1: Lucky in Poetic Justice, John Singleton could have done worse 430 00:26:33,080 --> 00:26:37,560 Speaker 1: than his second choice, Tupac Shakur. Opposite Janet Jackson, he 431 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:40,840 Speaker 1: dazzled on the screen. The role was the exact opposite 432 00:26:40,880 --> 00:26:42,800 Speaker 1: of the role of Bishop that he played in Juice, 433 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:47,240 Speaker 1: the hard, psychotic street character with Poetic Justice. As Lucky 434 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,359 Speaker 1: Tupac played the lovable, romantic lead. He showed range in 435 00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: a deep well of acting talent, perhaps even more talent 436 00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,159 Speaker 1: in front of the cameras than behind the mic, and 437 00:26:57,240 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: the result was undeniable. Poetic Justice debuted at number one 438 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 1: at the box office, and even critics mixed on the 439 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,440 Speaker 1: movie praiseed Tupac's performance, and with his on screen success 440 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:12,879 Speaker 1: and burgeoning recording career, Tupac Shakur was afforded two things. 441 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 1: A bigger platform from which to spout off whatever fresh 442 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:21,240 Speaker 1: outrage he'd experienced, and the burning hot spotlight of celebrity. 443 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,040 Speaker 1: Tupac Shakor either didn't realize or didn't care that being 444 00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:30,960 Speaker 1: a celebrity is like being in a secret club. You 445 00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: don't bite the hand that feeds you, don't criticize fellow celebrities, 446 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,119 Speaker 1: and you certainly don't tear down those who came before 447 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,680 Speaker 1: you and helped pave the way, no matter what your 448 00:27:39,720 --> 00:27:43,640 Speaker 1: beef is, and Tupac had beef. On a press tour 449 00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,000 Speaker 1: for Juice, a film directed by Ernest R. Dickerson, Spike 450 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:51,440 Speaker 1: Lee's longtime cinematographer, Tupac blamed Spike Lee for not showing 451 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:55,080 Speaker 1: up on set as a failure of solidarity. Okay. He 452 00:27:55,160 --> 00:27:57,760 Speaker 1: then roped in Eddie Murphy in Our City Hall, claiming 453 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,640 Speaker 1: they didn't give enough back to the streets, and then, 454 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: prior to dating Cadada Jones, Tupac publicly ship talked her dad, 455 00:28:05,560 --> 00:28:09,679 Speaker 1: the unfuck withable icon, Quincy Jones, saying that all he 456 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:11,640 Speaker 1: does is stick is dick and white bitches and make 457 00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: fucked up kids. This prompted his other daughter, seventeen year 458 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:17,800 Speaker 1: old Rashida Jones, to write an open letter to The 459 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:22,360 Speaker 1: Source magazine calling Tupac ignorant and disrespectful of his own people. 460 00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:27,320 Speaker 1: She wasn't wrong, word got around. Tupac had no respect. 461 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:30,119 Speaker 1: He was nothing more than a thuck, a thug with 462 00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:34,120 Speaker 1: a big fucking mouth. To Tupac, he was just speaking 463 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:37,400 Speaker 1: his mind. He didn't understand the backlash, the rebuke from 464 00:28:37,400 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: the Jones family stung and the sting, the spotlight, the 465 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,280 Speaker 1: feeling of no matter what he said or did, he 466 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,360 Speaker 1: catch shit from someone, his co stars, his role models, 467 00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:49,320 Speaker 1: his former neighbors, cops whoever. It all came to a 468 00:28:49,400 --> 00:28:56,080 Speaker 1: head on Halloween in nineteen ninety three, Tupac rolled into 469 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,560 Speaker 1: the Atlanta Hotel parking lot after the show in his 470 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:02,640 Speaker 1: BMW seven fifty. The party was about to start the show. 471 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:07,520 Speaker 1: He just played crushed time to celebrate weed, girls, champagne, 472 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:11,040 Speaker 1: lots of sex. The kind of sex. Tupac increasingly got 473 00:29:11,040 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: off on group sex. But there in the parking lot 474 00:29:16,480 --> 00:29:19,160 Speaker 1: two white dudes tuling up a black guy beating on 475 00:29:19,240 --> 00:29:22,920 Speaker 1: him viciously. Tupac, after wheeling his beamer to a full 476 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,280 Speaker 1: stop and with a caravan of his crew and touring 477 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,240 Speaker 1: entourage pulling up behind him, jumped out of his car 478 00:29:28,320 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: and immediately came to the defense the defenseless black man 479 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 1: getting pummeled. The fuck you doing. Knock that shit off, 480 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,880 Speaker 1: He's one man. One of the white guys immediately pulled 481 00:29:37,880 --> 00:29:40,520 Speaker 1: a pistol and pointed it straight out Tupac's sternum and 482 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,800 Speaker 1: barked out a series of racist directives, in forming Tupac 483 00:29:43,840 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: to get the fuck out of there to mind his 484 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 1: own business. Tupac kept us cool. He lifted up his shirt, 485 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,200 Speaker 1: exposing his abdomen With his new tattoo, it read thug 486 00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:58,560 Speaker 1: life in old English letters black bold, just like he 487 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 1: was staring down the word white dude's gun and shouted 488 00:30:01,440 --> 00:30:04,719 Speaker 1: back at them, thug life, motherfucker's go ahead and shoot. 489 00:30:06,440 --> 00:30:08,280 Speaker 1: The white dude with the gun didn't know what to do. 490 00:30:08,640 --> 00:30:11,040 Speaker 1: He Tucac turned and walked back to his car, and 491 00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,440 Speaker 1: the beating continued behind him. Tupac reached below the driver's 492 00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: seat and pulled his own gun. He calmly walked to 493 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: the other side of the car, faced the two dudes 494 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:22,040 Speaker 1: beating on. The black guy got down on one knee, 495 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: took gain and fired off three shots. One shot ripped 496 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: through one dude's abdomen, The other dude caught the second 497 00:30:34,320 --> 00:30:37,479 Speaker 1: bullet in the ass, and the third shot missed. The 498 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 1: black dude took his beating and split. Tufac had stood up, 499 00:30:45,120 --> 00:30:47,640 Speaker 1: fought back against the racism and the violence, and he 500 00:30:47,680 --> 00:30:51,760 Speaker 1: had survived the moment by any means necessary. He didn't 501 00:30:51,760 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: know it at the time, but those two white dudes 502 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,560 Speaker 1: were off duty cops. I'm Jake Brennan. 503 00:30:59,000 --> 00:31:17,680 Speaker 2: In this this Disgraceland. 504 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,239 Speaker 3: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in partnership. 505 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:22,720 Speaker 1: With Double Elvis. 506 00:31:22,960 --> 00:31:25,200 Speaker 3: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 507 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:29,040 Speaker 3: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as 508 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,400 Speaker 3: a Disgraceland All Access member. Thank you for supporting the show, 509 00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,200 Speaker 3: we really appreciate it, and if not, you can become 510 00:31:35,200 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 3: a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com 511 00:31:38,640 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 3: slash Membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland 512 00:31:43,080 --> 00:31:46,960 Speaker 3: ad free, Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode 513 00:31:47,080 --> 00:31:51,240 Speaker 3: every month, weekly unscripted bonus episodes, special audio collections, and 514 00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:56,160 Speaker 3: early access to merchandise and events. Visit disgracelampod dot com 515 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,760 Speaker 3: slash Membership for details, rate and. 516 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 1: Review the show, and follow us on Instagram, TikTok. 517 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:04,600 Speaker 3: Twitter, and Facebook at Disgrace lampod and on YouTube at 518 00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:07,440 Speaker 3: YouTube dot com slash at Disgrace Lampod. 519 00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:09,120 Speaker 1: Rock a Roller. 520 00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 2: He's a bad down man.