Six days after his release from a New
York prison, Tupac Shakur is holed up in the control booth of a dimly
lit Tarzana recording studio.
Bobbing his head and grinning, the 24-year-old rapper turns up the
volume on a funky duet called "2 of America's Most Wanted," which he
just finished with label mate Snoop Doggy Dogg (a.k.a. Calvin Broadus,
whose murder trial is set to begin Monday in Los Angeles Superior
Court).
It's the 14th song Shakur has recorded since emerging from behind
bars. Death Row Records, which recently signed a contract with Shakur,
posted $1.4 million on Oct. 12 to spring the rapper from Riker's
Island maximum-security penitentiary, where he was serving up to 4 1/2
years for two counts of sexual abuse. The charges stemmed from a 1993
incident at a Manhattan hotel in which Shakur and an associate were
accused of holding a female fan down while a third man sexually
assaulted her.
Shakur denies the allegations but was advised by his attorneys not to
discuss the case during his first interview since his release. It was
the biggest in a series of confrontations involving the rapper, who
was shot five times last December by a robber in New York. He has also
faced criminal charges on four other occasions since March, 1993,
including a weapons violation in Los Angeles, where a trial is set for
Nov. 16.
Shakur comes across as a man of many contradictions--someone who has
the words thug life tattooed across his stomach but complains about
being misrepresented by the media as a gangsta rapper.
His best-selling music, which covers topics ranging from police
shootings to teen-age pregnancy, polarizes listeners. It has been both
widely acclaimed by numerous critics and frequently attacked by parent
groups and politicians. While Shakur was in jail, his last album, "Me
Against the World," entered the national pop charts at No. 1 and held
that position for a month. It has sold nearly 2 million copies, fueled
by the poignant Top 10 single "Dear Mama"--an ode to the struggle of
single mothers. Some of his more violent songs have been accused in a
pending Texas civil suit of influencing a teen-age car thief to kill a
state trooper.
Dressed in a baggy sweat suit and bandanna, Shakur --who hopes to have
a new album out by Christmas, just days before arguments begin on his
appeal -- spoke about prison, the media and his music .
Question: How does it feel to be free again?
Answer: I'm so glad to be out. It was tough sitting in jail
listening to Jay Leno and Rush Limbaugh and everybody making jokes
about me getting shot. And watching the media report all kinds of lies
about me, like that I got raped in jail. That never happened. But at
least while I was locked down, all the inmates gave me props
[encouragement], and so did lots of mothers and kids, who wrote me
letters of support.
One of the best letters I got came from [actor] Tony Danza. I've never
even met the guy, but he wrote me to say he liked my album and to keep
my head up and to just come out stronger. I can't tell you how great
that made me feel.
Q: How do you look back on the last couple of turbulent years?
A: It's been stress and drama for a long time now, man. So much
has happened. I got shot five times by some dudes who were trying to
rub me out. But God is great. He let me come back. But, when I look at
the last few years, it's not like everybody just did me wrong. I made
some mistakes. But I'm ready to move on.
Q: Did you write this new album in jail?
A: No. I only wrote one song there. But I've been in the studio
every waking hour since I got out. Me and my producer Johnnie "J."
keep coming up with new songs till people start passing out. Then we
come back early in the morning and start over. You're going to feel
the entire 11 months of what I went through on this album. I'm venting
my anger.
Q: A number of your songs deal with--and some people say
glorify--drug dealing and gang violence. What do you say to people who
say you are a bad social influence?
A: Let me say for the record, I am not a gangster and never
have been. I'm not the thief who grabs your purse. I'm not the guy who
jacks your car. I'm not down with people who steal and hurt others.
I'm just a brother who fights back. I'm not some violent closet
psycho. I've got a job. I'm an artist.
Q: So why is gangbanging and violence so often the focus of your
music?
A: Everything in life is not all beautiful, not all fun. There
is lots of killing and drugs. To me, a perfect album talks about the
hard stuff and the fun and caring stuff. What I want to know, though,
is why all of a sudden is everybody acting like gangs are some new
phenomenon in this country? Almost everyone in America is affiliated
with some kind of gang. We got the FBI, the ATF, the police
departments, the religious groups, the Democrats and the Republicans.
Everybody's got their own little clique and they're all out there
gangbanging in their own little way.
The thing that bothers me is that it seems like all the sensitive
stuff I write just goes unnoticed . . . the media doesn't get who I am
at all. Or maybe they just can't accept it. It doesn't fit into those
negative stories they like to write. I'm the kind of guy who is moved
by a song like Don McLean's "Vincent," that one about Van Gogh. The
lyric on that song is so touching. That's how I want to make my songs
feel. Take "Dear Mama"--I aimed that one straight for my homies'
heartstrings.
Q: You studied at the Baltimore School of Performing Arts. Does
your theater background influence your songwriting?
A: It influences all my work. I really like stuff like "Les
Miserables" and "Gospel at Colonus." And I love Shakespeare. He wrote
some of the rawest stories, man. I mean look at Romeo and Juliet.
That's some serious ghetto [expletive]. You got this guy Romeo from
the Bloods who falls for Juliet, a female from the Crips, and
everybody in both gangs are against them. So they have to sneak out
and they end up dead for nothing. Real tragic stuff.
And look how Shakespeare busts it up with Macbeth. He creates a tale
about this king's wife who convinces a happy man to chase after her
and kill her husband so he can take over the country. After he commits
the murder, the dude starts having delusions just like in a Scarface
song. I mean the king's wife just screws this guy's whole life up for
nothing. Now that's what I call a b----.
Q: Why do you use such derogatory terms to describe women? Doesn't
that play into the hands of critics who say rappers are misogynists?
A: If the shoe fits wear it, that's what I say. What if all the
guys started complaining when women call them dogs? In real life, just
like in Macbeth, all women are not just pure and true. Just because I
write some songs about bad women, though, that doesn't mean I hate
women. I've written songs that show great love and respect for women
too. Songs that talk about strong, upstanding women and their pain.
Look around you in this studio right now. I have women working on my
music. They understand where I'm coming from. So does my mama. I
always play my music for her before it comes out. Why do you think I
wrote "Dear Mama"? I wrote it for my mama because I love her and I
felt I owed her something deep.