Recorded nearly two decades ago, JMix/Jessesurratt Productions has unveiled a previously unheard interview with Tupac Shakur and actor Jim Belushi as they were promoting their 1996 film Gang Related. Reportedly held a month before Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, the legendary artist discusses the origin of his name, how jail humbled him and more.
According to the Pac, “To be perfectly honest, I’m very conceited. But how the world prevents it is by putting me in jail for a crime I didn’t commit last year. That kinda humbles you out. But now that I’m out and I’m free it keeps me humble. It keeps my feet on the ground…All of us as human beings have a dominant and a quiet side. I happen to be a Gemini and I’m young and I’m black and I’m from the hood, so it’s just you got all these different facets, but I’m an artist. And I’m hungry for knowledge, so there’s no pigeonhole for them to put me in, so they’d rather just make it look like I’m crazy. That’s the biggest misconception.”
He goes on, “People ask me what my name means, I don’t tell ‘em like ‘Tupac Amaru.’ But I just say it means determined because I’m determined to never ever negotiate again. We are in the midst of war. Nobody wants me to live longer than them. Nobody’s gonna give me the breath out of their mouth for me to live longer, so therefore I’m not giving anybody the breath out of my mouth for them to live longer. I’ll just breathe deeply and go through this life myself without bothering anybody. Without pushing anybody else over. But on the same token, nobody ever will move me from where I’m standing.”
Check it out for yourself below: