(AllHipHop News) The name of the Tupac Shakur has been uttered by thousands of rappers, his image has been “resurrected” as a hologram and now an unheard interview of his has been turned into an animated video. For PBS’ webseries “Blank on Blank”, the audio recording of Tupac’s 1994 interview with Entertainment Weekly reporter Benjamin Svetkey is unearthed for the first time.
The interview occurred in March of 1994, approximately 4 months after he was accused of raping a young woman. Tupac claims the “press machine” altered his fans and supporters’ perception of him and ruined his life during the lengthy court case:
I have no friends. I have no resting place. I never sleep. I never close my eyes. It’s horrible. Can you imagine what it’s like..for you to be, who I am, who I was, for them to say that I raped a woman and for the whole world to entertain the thought. It’s hell.
Tupac eventually was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse and sentenced to a minimum of 1 and a half years in prison. In October 1995, he was released on $1.4 million bail paid by Suge Knight and Death Row Records in exchange for an album deal. The most intriguing and possibly prophetic part of the interview was shortly after when he discusses the possibility of facing jail time for the rape charge. Tupac says he would die in prison and would be dead inside even if he was released from prison:
I can not live in a jail cell and that is why I do not rob people and stick up people. But for you to put me there and I didn’t do it, I wouldn’t go that route. I would die in jail. That’s what they want. They want me to go through all of that, then come out. But I’m already dead. No creativity. I’m finished.
Check out the full interview below and hear Tupac speak on how him dying would have been the “worst case scenario” for him in 2009:
