1971­1986
Unconditional Love

Karen Lee: I met Tupac when he was a couple weeks old and saw him pretty frequently until he was 4 or 5. I was friends with his biological father, Billy Garland. Tupac was intense and the biggest things on him were his eyes. He was a tiny little baby and the first thing you could see popping out of the blanket were those eyes. He was such a watchful little boy.

Mopreme: Afeni and my father [Mutulu Shakur] were married in the early '70s. I was already 4 or 5 when Tupac [who was 2 or 3] and I started living together because we have separate mothers. We lived up in Harlem. We weren't rich, that's for sure, but it was a family.

Watani Tyehimba: Mutulu, Afeni, and myself worked around COINTELPRO issues. We worked around a lot of the political prisoners' issues and a lot of the issues that dealt with the black liberation movement over the years in different locations. This [shaped Tupac into] the person that he was.

Mopreme: He was a little old for his age. He always wanted to hang out with the older fellas, me and my other cousins. He was like, "I don't know what you're thinkin', but I'm goin' with y'all."

E.D.I: We went to the same private elementary school on the Lower East Side. I was in the third grade and [Tupac] was probably in the sixth. You had to pay to go there, and that's why we didn't go long. We went for, like, six months and then had to leave.

Watani Tyehimba: He'd been an actor all his life. When he was 13, he did A Raisin in the Sun at the Apollo Theatre [after joining the 127th Street Ensemble, a Harlem theater group].

E.D.I: He was the most intelligent and always had the plan for us. In the street we used to play The A Team, and Pac was always Hannibal, the leader. Everybody went to Pac to know what to do.

In 1986, Tupac and his family moved to Baltimore, where Pac studied drama at the Baltimore School for the Arts. Two years later, the family packed up and headed to Marin City, Calif. While there, Tupac's mother wrestled with a crack habit, and Tupac spent a lot of time on the streets.

1988­1990
Trapped

Charles Fuller: Tupac was homeless and staying in Marin City. My brother took him in. We wanted to keep him straight till he could get a [record] deal. He was getting kinda buckwild out there, doing whatever he had to do to keep his head above water.

Sleuth-Pro: Marin is a real nice area in the Bay, but Marin City is like the projects. They call it the jungle.

Mopreme: He was kind of rough riding, dealing with problems with his mother and at home. Every once in a while he'd come over to my house in Oakland and spend the night. I'd cut his hair, get him straight, and let him rest for a while.

Watani Tyehimba: [My family] ran a community center at that time called the Center for Black Survival. We had a youth group called the New Afrikan Panthers, and [Tupac] became the chairperson of that organization. They did various plays and skits at our community center. They'd interpret political issues or social issues in the community and he'd help pull those skits together.

Leila Steinberg: I started out as a dancer but eventually got a name for myself promoting [rap] concerts in California. When Pac first moved to Marin City, I just kept hearing about this kid that I gotta put in my show. He was rapping and doing poems for anybody that wanted to listen. Meanwhile, people were telling Tupac there's this lady with hookups who can help you.

Charles Fuller: If you heard him rap you knew he was talented. You felt like he should have money and he should be making it in the rap game.

Leila Steinberg: So I was at this club one night dancing and I noticed Pac across the room. He was very attractive and I was like, Hmmm. So we danced together, but I never asked him his name. He never asked mine, we just danced together and I walked away. So the next day I was sitting in the grass reading Winnie Mandela's book Part of My Soul Went With Him, and all of a sudden I hear this voice saying, "Oh, I love that book." And it's like, you always remember Tupac's eyes. I was like, "You're the one I danced with last night," and told him my name. He said, "I'm Tupac. You're gonna manage me, and if you don't know how to do it, I know how to make you do it. I'm a star." This is our very first conversation.

Cosima Knez: It was the middle of my sophomore year at Tamalpais High School, and of course we all noticed this new student, Tupac. I think he was a junior. My friend and I were laughing because he had one of those Gumby haircuts, slanted on the side and blond at the top. We hit if off really quickly. I mean, he pursued me for a long time and wouldn't take no for an answer.

Leila Steinberg: He lived with me during that time, and he literally trained me to manage him. I didn't know shit about what I was doing and I hated it. He had already bought all these books on the music business and I didn't have any. First he made me write down a list of everybody I knew with connections.

Cosima Knez: We had a really great drama department in our school and there was a big play at the end of the year. I remember watching [Tupac] and being absolutely blown away. Even though he was hanging around a ghetto crowd and the drama crowd was a whole different white crowd, [Tupac] really broke through. He was sooo talented and was talked about for weeks.

Leila Steinberg: He was the best cook. His favorite things to make were egg rolls and chicken wings. This one night we were so broke and starving and he made potato tacos and Top Ramen. He could make Top Ramen in a million different ways-teriyaki Top Ramen with vegetables or chicken or tuna. He could turn a 25-cent meal into something out of this world.

Atron Gregory: Many of the people I met back then would say, "You know what? I'm gonna be your next star. I'm gonna be bigger and better than everybody." Everyone said that to me, so I didn't see [Tupac] as being any different. At that time, Tupac, Ray-Luv, and DJ Diz were in a group together called Strictly Dope, but Leila really wanted me to meet Tupac. So I decided to have Shock [G, of Digital Underground] listen to him in the studio.

Leila Steinberg: I called Shock and said, "I don't give a fuck how busy you are on your new album 'cause you'll probably want Pac on it. So you need to stop what you're doing and let me bring this man to you." We got into the studio and Tupac had written a song called "Panther Power" and, man, those lyrics grabbed you.

Sleuth-Pro: He did the song with no music and we were floored. It was like, Wow, this guy's a star. We gotta put him on. And that's how he ended up on the end of [Digital Underground's 1991] "Same Song." He blew it up.

1990­1994
Me Against the World

Money-B: We [Digital Underground] went on tour with Public Enemy. I remember the very first day, in Augusta, Ga., and we go in to do a sound check. Walking up the ramp, I guess the soundman bumped into Pac, [who was working as a roadie]. So Pac pushed the soundman and was like, "You ain't gon' say excuse me?" Pac was ready to whip his ass and we had to hold him back. We were like, "Pac, you can't beat up the soundman. He do the fucking sound."

Atron Gregory: I don't know if Money remembered this or not, but there was another soundman getting ready to hit [Tupac] with the flashlight. We just grabbed him.

Money-B: Another time on the same tour, we were in Memphis and Pac used to wear a lot of silver chains. He came running back, like, "Mon, come on, we got beef." I asked him what he was talking about. He was like, "These people stole one of my chains. Man, let's go get 'em." I'm like, "Pac, how many is it?" He's like "It's about 10 of 'em, let's go." I was like, "Dude, I'm not about to fight no Memphis niggas in Memphis-you can't win." He was like, "Fuck that!" I was like, "Alright, I'll go with you, but I don't want to."

Sleuth-Pro: That was the tour where Trouble T-Roy [of Heavy D & the Boyz] died. Late that evening after he died, Tupac came in my room crying, bawling. They'd grown really close, always jokin' around. [Tupac] really showed a sensitive side that night. He was cryin' like a baby. He wanted an advance on some money 'cause he wanted to go get drunk. He was hurt for the rest of the tour.

Money-B: Tupac was more sensitive than anything, not a mean or violent person. When Mariah Carey first came out, he would play it back-to-back-to-back. And he was always listening to Sade. I was like, "Man, turn this shit off." He told me I didn't understand.

Sleuth-Pro: Tupac never did laundry on the road. He would just wear clothes until they got funky and then he would just throw them away and buy new ones. It would take, like, two or three days. When I would catch him, I'd make him give them to the local kids.

Shock-G: I remember a fucking nut, and ashes and cigarettes all over my house. Wherever he stood, that's where he ashed. [He said,] "Shock, I got this great idea, yo, we should come out on stage-" "Pac, come on man, this is my house, this ain't no hotel." "Oh, I'm sorry, right, right. But listen, [pause] oh shit, I did it again."

Atron Gregory: We shopped [Tupac's] demo to just about everybody, and no one wanted to sign him. When I told him it looked like we were gonna have to put the record out independently and see what happens from there, the look on his face wasn't of sadness. What mattered to him was that his record was gonna come out. We didn't have to put the first record out independently because we met with [president] Tom Whalley, who was starting a new record company [Interscope]. [Tom] liked "Trapped" a lot, gave it to [co-CEO] Ted Field to listen to, and Ted liked it too. Tupac, myself, and Ted had dinner and closed the deal right there. It's interesting that it took someone that really knew nothing about rap to say, "Okay, let's do this." Of course, Tupac was coming out of a platinum group [Digital Underground]. That never hurts.

Sleuth-Pro: Money-B was going for the role of the fat kid in Juice. While reading the script I saw Bishop's character and knew Pac could kill it. I called him on the way to the audition and [Tupac] went over the script in the limo ride over. He fell in love with the part.

Ernest R. Dickerson: He blew the audition away. As an actor, he was outstanding. Juice was done on a very tight budget, a very short schedule, and we really didn't have any rehearsal time. It really depended on the actors' understanding of the characters, plugging into people they knew of and building upon them. That's the mark of a great actor, and he did that.

Shock-G: Pac's thing was, "All I ever wanted to do is be in a movie and make an album. And I've done that. If I die today, I die happy."

Karen Lee: The next time I saw Tupac it was during the first album [2Pacalypse Now, 1992]. When Interscope called about being his publicist, it didn't connect with me at first as to who he was. But soon it all came back. What was kinda weird was that in his biography it said that his father was dead. And I knew that Billy Garland wasn't dead, but I didn't say anything. When I saw [Tupac], he was sitting with headphones on and he was the picture of his father 20 years before. I went over, introduced myself as his publicist and then explained that his mom used to bring him to visit some friends of mine when he was a little boy. I didn't feel like it was my place to say, "Well, your father's not dead."

Sleuth-Pro: Pac hated police. He didn't respect them and he let you know it.

Karen Lee: Tupac couldn't understand why it was front-page news when he was arrested that time in Atlanta [for shooting two white off-duty police officers on October 31, 1993]. But when the charges against Pac were dropped and one police officer involved was found guilty [of firing at the car that contained Shakur and of making false statements; charges were dropped], it was a story on, like, page 85 that nobody knew anything about.

Kendall Hunter: Tupac saved my life that night. I was on my way to a party and made a wrong turn. So I turned into this driveway, proceeded to back up, and realized some people were walking behind me. They were talking a bunch of stuff, like, "You need to learn how to drive." There were two white guys and a girl. One of the guys came up to my car. I rolled the window down and he was like, "Fuck you." I was like, "Fuck you too" and rolled my window up. Then he kicks my window. I'm stopped in the middle of the street, getting ready to hit this guy when the other guy pulls out a .38 and points it at me. Some cars pull up and they're like, "What's goin' on?" One of the guys in the car pulls out a gun and they start firing back and forth at each other. I got in my car 'cause it was madness and jetted around the corner. It wasn't until the next day that I found out that one of the people in the car was Tupac. They didn't need me in court so I never met Tupac, but I was the reason that it all went down.

Karen Lee: There was a side to Tupac that no one ever talked about. One time we were in Washington, watching TV in the limo, and it came on the news that a little girl had been attacked by two pit bulls and was rushed to the hospital. He canceled the flight and we went to the hospital because he insisted. He wanted to be with the family and to let the mother know that he's praying for her daughter. They later became extremely close family friends.

On November 30, 1994, while on trial for sexual assault, Tupac was shot five times and robbed of $40,000 worth of jewelry in the lobby of Manhattan's Quad Recording Studios. Later that day he checked himself out of the hospital. He attended his court hearing the next day. Pac received a sentence of up to four-and-a-half-years and was sent to New York's Rikers Island.

1994­1996
Keep Ya' Head Up

Charles Fuller: I was Tupac's codefendant on the rape case. I think we were set up. It was a plan to get money. Right before we got sentenced [on February 7, 1995] Tupac said that he felt like an injustice was being done to us, but what he really felt bad about was bringing down one of his partners who's from the streets. [Tupac] told the court that I'd had it hard and did some things in life that I could have gotten in trouble from doing, but he promised to take me away from all of that. He felt guilty and he was in tears when he said it. It really touched me.

Tracy Robinson: His spirits in prison were incredibly good, although he said it was rough. Shock-G was there one time when I was and they were playin' dominos, kind of chillin'. Of course it's always hard when it's time to say good-bye.

Karen Lee: I watched Tupac change in prison. He was focused because he wasn't smokin' any weed. He was very clear and wrote a lot.

While in prison, Tupac's third album, Me Against the World, debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's pop charts and eventually went double platinum. After serving eight months of his sentence-during which he officially renounced "thug life"-Tupac was released from jail when Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight posted $1.4 million bond. Tupac then returned to L.A. and signed with Death Row.

Watani Tyehimba: No one in his camp really supported Tupac's move to Death Row. We're still family, it was nothing personal, but he didn't need their help, nor did he need all the baggage that came along with it.

Charles Fuller: Pac could sell 4 million on his own, and he did! What did [Death Row] do? But he was determined. He was into it with the whole Biggie/Puff thing. I guess he figured he might as well go with the biggest thing on the West Coast. After he went to Death Row we had no more contact. I guess he felt like if I wasn't makin' that move with him I was being disloyal. But I loved him. We would have eventually gotten back together, but we didn't have enough time. That still hurts.

Spice 1: Pac had a little mansion in the hills. We went up there and that's where he first told me about the song "Hit 'Em Up." He was mad as fuck. The [original] cover of the single had Puffy's head in a snake's body and Biggie's head with a pig's body.

Tracy Robinson: He was an actor. I don't feel like he was such a thug. As a black man you have to put on an act. He could change his lingo or his voice to sound like [Robert] De Niro or Al Pacino. At his core he was this spiritual, loving guy who wanted peace on earth.

Gobi: I've got footage of him on tape saying, "If the powers that be put community centers around America, I would go kiss Biggie on the cheek, and I would make him go perform with me for free in these community centers in the ghetto."

Mickey Rourke: You could tell that the shit in the paper bothered him. Of course, livin' up to what he was supposed to be every day-a motherfucker-can wear your ass down. I know that firsthand. But this motherfucker could act. I've worked with some of the best actors in the world, and when this guy was goin' he was as real as any fuckin' method actor that ever stepped foot on the planet. It was in the moment, very concentrated, very instinctive acting.

Ferman: I worked as an engineer in one of the studios Death Row used all the time. Pac was one of the fastest rappers I've ever worked with, in terms of come in, write it, rap it. Soon as he recorded a song he expected you to have it mixed and have a copy ready to go. I worked with him on September 6, [1996], the last session he ever did. I knew we were gonna do a song that was gonna be played when Tyson walked out ["Let's Get It On" for his fight against Bruce Seldon], but we ended up doing two more. They [Suge, Outlawz, and Tupac] left the studio to go to a video shoot. Tupac was in a limo, Suge and a bunch of guys were in the Beemer, and some Outlawz were in black sports cars. I thought, Damn, they look like a funeral procession.

On September 7, 1996, Tupac went to see the Mike Tyson­Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Tyson ended the fight with a knockout in 109 seconds, and on their way out of the hotel Tupac, Suge, and friends attacked Orlando Anderson (the man later suspected of killing Tupac out of revenge). About three hours after the incident, Tupac was shot while he and Suge drove down the Vegas strip in Suge's black BMW. While they idled at a stoplight, a white Cadillac pulled up alongside them and let loose with a barrage of gunfire. A bullet grazed Suge's head and four pierced Tupac's body. After spending six days in critical condition at the University Medical Center, Tupac died on September 13. He was 25.

September 7, 1996­1999
How long will they mourn me?

Frank Alexander: When we left the [Tyson fight] all the guys were waiting for us outside the arena area, Suge's guards and everything. One of them ran up to Pac, whispered something in his ear, and Pac just took off running. I caught up to him and he was fighting with Orlando Anderson. [Tupac] threw a blow, Anderson threw a blow, [Pac] threw a blow back and Anderson hit the ground. I grabbed [Tupac] and [threw] him against the wall. At this point everybody else is fighting with Anderson, but Tupac's not in it anymore because I had him against the wall. That breaks up and I lead everyone out of the MGM. We get back to the Luxor [hotel], we're hangin' out, and Pac changes his clothes. [At this point, Tupac asks Frank to drive the car of Tupac's girlfriend, Kidada Jones. Kidada stays in the hotel while the guys head back out. Frank is driving directly behind Suge and Tupac]. There's an entourage of cars. We're on the strip, cut a right on Flamingo, and come up to a stoplight. I see this Cadillac drivin' up, it's getting closer and closer, moving up to the BMW. I see the arm come out with the gun and it just started firing. All I see is the smoke. Now everything is in slow-motion.

The paramedics pull Pac outta the car, and I didn't see any blood squirting out. There was just the blood that was in the seat and on the ground where they laid him down. His eyes were closed and he took a deep breath. That was the last time I saw him breathe on his own.

Tracy Robinson: In the hospital there were fans everywhere, everyone giving their love. When you're in that predicament you're no longer a star, you're a human being who needs love.

Gobi: We got one or two death threats at the hospital. They said, "We're gonna come finish him off." Sometimes I think God realized we weren't loving enough of Tupac's soul, and that's why He took [Tupac] away.

Leila Steinberg: The day he died I ran and got all the poems out, sat there reading them and was falling apart. Pac had given me the poem "In the Event of My Demise" and he would always say, "You're gonna read this one day and you'll understand that I'm only here temporarily and my work is big."

Gobi: I think the reason he foreshadowed his own demise was because he saw that the energy around him was becoming overpowering. I saw him as Luke Skywalker and he had nothin' but Darth Vaders around him, pulling him on the wrong side of the force. [His death] was a big loss, not just to black people, but to humanity.
 

Storytellers
Frank Alexander: Bodyguard, 1996
Money-B: Member of Digital Underground
Ernest R. Dickerson: Director of Juice
E.D.I. Mean: Friend, member of the Outlawz
Ferman: Studio engineer
Charles Fuller: Friend, road manager, 1991­1995
Shock-G: Friend, member of Digital Underground
Gobi: Friend, business partner
Atron Gregory: Manager, 1991­1995, president of TNT Recordings and Management
Kendall Hunter: Witness in Atlanta shooting
Cosima Knez: High school friend
Karen Lee: Publicist, family friend
Mopreme: Brother, member of Thug Life
Spice 1: Rapper, friend
Sleuth-Pro: Road manager/A&R for Digital Underground
Tracy Robinson: Friend, business partner
Mickey Rourke: Actor, costar in Bullet
Leila Steinberg: Friend, first manager
Watani Tyehimba: Family friend, business and personal manager, 1993­1995