Q: Interviewer
A: Tupac Shakur
Q: So Tupac, how were you raised as a kid?
A: It was hard times. I remember I had to do whatever I could to get by. Sometimes I had to steal, and eventually I had to start dealing drugs because it was the only way I could put food on the table for me and my family. But I never got into that stuff. If anything, all that (stuff) with the drug lords and gangsters only made me a (stronger) person.
Q: What would you consider to be your biggest success?
A: I don't think I can choose one particular product of my work to be my biggest success, instead I think my entire career, my entire life story is a beautiful representation of how far I've come and the success I've had.
Q: Then, would you consider your life story to be one of the American Dream?
A: Definitely.
Q: How so?
A: Simple. I started out with nothing. I was poor, I had a single mom who was either in prison or on crack, and I grew up in hard times. I mean, (really) hard times, people around me were getting shot by gangsters. But I overcame all that despite the odds and became who I am today.
Q: You were born as Lesane Parish Crooks, but your parents later changed your name to Tupac Shakur. Why?
A: My mom named me after Tupac Amaru II, an Incan revolutionary. I think that says enough. Haha.
Q: When you were assassinated, you died with less than $100,000. Where did all your money go?
A: I never had money to begin with. I was born poor and I died poor (relatively), I guess. The thing is, when no one wanted to pay the millions of dollars to bail me out of prison, Suge Knight offered to. And I really wanted to get out. Not just because prison was hell, but because I knew I was going to die young. I knew, after I got shot 5 times and survived, I knew God was telling me to start working, fast. So I took Knight's offer and he and Death Row Record basically owned my (butt) for my next five albums. They got most of the profits.
Q: You released an album in seven days. How/why did you accomplish such a feat?
A: Like I said, I knew I was going to die young. Hell, I made five albums and starred in five movies in the four years before my death. I wanted to get my (work) out, I wanted to leave my legacy before I died. And I did.
Q: So, Tupac, to say the least, your life was definitely hard, no? Do you wish you could have had it any easier?
A: No. Every hardship I went though, every bullet I took, every dollar I earned made me who I am. It was definitely a struggle, definitely a climb up a very steep mountain. But, baby, I made it to the top. And now I'm looking down through the clouds.
A: Tupac Shakur
Q: So Tupac, how were you raised as a kid?
A: It was hard times. I remember I had to do whatever I could to get by. Sometimes I had to steal, and eventually I had to start dealing drugs because it was the only way I could put food on the table for me and my family. But I never got into that stuff. If anything, all that (stuff) with the drug lords and gangsters only made me a (stronger) person.
Q: What would you consider to be your biggest success?
A: I don't think I can choose one particular product of my work to be my biggest success, instead I think my entire career, my entire life story is a beautiful representation of how far I've come and the success I've had.
Q: Then, would you consider your life story to be one of the American Dream?
A: Definitely.
Q: How so?
A: Simple. I started out with nothing. I was poor, I had a single mom who was either in prison or on crack, and I grew up in hard times. I mean, (really) hard times, people around me were getting shot by gangsters. But I overcame all that despite the odds and became who I am today.
Q: You were born as Lesane Parish Crooks, but your parents later changed your name to Tupac Shakur. Why?
A: My mom named me after Tupac Amaru II, an Incan revolutionary. I think that says enough. Haha.
Q: When you were assassinated, you died with less than $100,000. Where did all your money go?
A: I never had money to begin with. I was born poor and I died poor (relatively), I guess. The thing is, when no one wanted to pay the millions of dollars to bail me out of prison, Suge Knight offered to. And I really wanted to get out. Not just because prison was hell, but because I knew I was going to die young. I knew, after I got shot 5 times and survived, I knew God was telling me to start working, fast. So I took Knight's offer and he and Death Row Record basically owned my (butt) for my next five albums. They got most of the profits.
Q: You released an album in seven days. How/why did you accomplish such a feat?
A: Like I said, I knew I was going to die young. Hell, I made five albums and starred in five movies in the four years before my death. I wanted to get my (work) out, I wanted to leave my legacy before I died. And I did.
Q: So, Tupac, to say the least, your life was definitely hard, no? Do you wish you could have had it any easier?
A: No. Every hardship I went though, every bullet I took, every dollar I earned made me who I am. It was definitely a struggle, definitely a climb up a very steep mountain. But, baby, I made it to the top. And now I'm looking down through the clouds.