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The thing is, I've always wanted to be a star. I've always wanted to be an Elvis Presley or a Tupac - like, a huge icon.
That's what Tupac and I got from my dad - the rebellion and the need to fight back and be recognized for being different.
I only like people to know what I want them to know. People didn't know what Tupac was doing. That's why he was so iconic.
'Dear Mama' is my favorite song from Tupac, man. It touches you, and I think that that's the most important thing with music.
They use all of the music that I did in the '50s, '60s and the '70s behind people like Tupac and LL Cool J. I'm into all that stuff.
I was a big hip hop girl, and still am, I listened to artists like Wu Tang, and K'Naan, but I was a particular fan of Biggie and Tupac.
When I was running away, I didn't have somebody there to help me run away. All I had was DMX's voice or Eminem's voice or Tupac's voice.
You've got a lot of Tupac clones, but I don't think I'm one of them. I just think I give people a little piece of the feeling he gave them.
You know, Tupac would go into the studio and make like six or seven songs in one day. That's how he operated. He was real quick with his pen.
One day, I'll be listening to a bunch of Ray Charles, the next day it's nothing but Red Hot Chili Peppers. The next day it might be Tupac all day.
I'm not motivated by money or fame. I'm more driven by the electricity of creativity. The idea of being one of the legends that inspired me, being like Tupac.
But then again in the East Coast, I think, Tupac, inspired everybody on the East Coast, everybody down south, everybody in the West Coast you know what sayin'.
I would say Tupac influenced me the most to start rapping, but as far as a female icon that I've looked up to since I was six or seven is definitely Gwen Stefani.
Everything Tupac said was introspective. He was really honest with himself about himself. He knew his flaws, but he also had such love for his work and his people.
I will say this: Rapping-wise, there has never been anybody to match Tupac's energy when coming on a song, like when rappin'. It's unmatched. You can't duplicate it.
I don't know rap. I can't tell you a Tupac song. But you put on some go-go, and I'll know it word-for-word. That's why I feel like I got my own sound - or a D.C. sound.
I often say that I want to write like Tupac rapped. I could listen to his album, and within a few minutes, I could go from thinking deeply to laughing to crying to partying.
I have no secrets. Neither did Tupac, neither does my daughter. We don't live behind secrets, we don't live lies, we are who we are, and we are pretty happy to be who we are.
Tupac is definitely an icon. There'll never be another Tupac, so I'm not gonna ever, ever try to fill those shoes. I'm just gonna stay in my lane and be the best me that I can be.
He's been my number one influence. If you say Tupac didn't influence you, then you don't really need to be rapping because nobody evokes that kind of emotion on a track like Tupac does.
You'll get a kid in Liberia wearing a Tupac T-shirt, and for us, that's zef. People try to say it's like trash, but it's not really trash. It's putting things together you think are cool.
We don't really know who killed Martin Luther King. We don't really know who killed Bobby Kennedy. We don't really know who killed John Kennedy. We don't really know who killed Tupac Shakur.
'Chappelle's Show' was like the Tupac of TV shows. It came out, it got everybody's attention, it was a bright shining star, but it burned out, and for some strange reason, it burned out quick.
I think what it was is that Tupac was extremely passionate, very honest and raw in his approach to communicating. He understood communicating. And I think he just did it from a deep place within.
I met Tupac pretty much right after he did the movie 'Juice,' so he was already with Digital Underground, but he was on his own rise at this time. He was very humble, down to earth, a very cool guy.
When I carried Tupac, when I was five months pregnant they put me back in jail, my bail was revoked. When my bail was revoked, I was not allowed to have my own food. I could only have what was there.
When I was growing up, it was 'All Eyes On Me' by Tupac and 'Doggy Style' by Snoop Dogg. I've met Snoop and he's the best. They say you shouldn't meet your idol - that definitely doesn't apply to him.
I like Jay-Z. I love Luda. I love Ledisi. I like Beyonce, of course. I think she's just brilliant. She's a triple threat. But my favorite - my all-time rapper is Tupac. See, I could have been Tupac's girlfriend.
I worked with Ice-T, Ice Cube, and Tupac! But Tupac was the sweetest man in the world. That whole thug thing was an act - it was silly and dumb. He was a complete gentleman and one of the kindest men I've ever met.
I submerged myself in his life. Before I went to sleep at night, that's what I was watching. The videos would literally be going on while I was sleep; that's what I was hearing in my sleep. I woke up in the morning, Tupac.
I was a super-duper Tupac fan, and I realized later, when I became a huge Nas fan and a huge Eminem fan, I was drawn to the storytellers. They all told stories in different ways, but they were all like the best storytellers.
Everybody has the Tupac that they admire. Certain people love the hip-hop person, the rapper. Strictly just the rapper. A lot of people, the newfound Tupac fans... they're into Death Row-era Tupac. But that was only nine months!
Whatever else anyone says he was, he may have been. But Tupac really was a great American artist. The passage of time allows us to see things as they really are: We see the poetry; we see the personality; we see different sides.
I do say things that I think will shock people. But I don't do things to shock people. I'm not trying to be the next Tupac, but I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet. So while I'm here, I might as well make the most of it.
I listen to a lot of Tupac and Biggie Smalls. Old school songs. Rick Ross. I listen to a guy ASAP Rocky. I like different kinds of music. I always have. It motivates me before games... A Tupac playlist or a Meek Mill playlist. It varies.
I have a lot of friends who are in love the '90s. Girls, boys. '90s music? That's Tupac. That's Biggie. That's TLC. That's Aaliyah. I still listen to Aaliyah. I still listen to Tupac and Biggie. There's people who are really heavy on that culture.
I think my music's more disturbing than Tupac's - or at least I thought some of the themes of 'The Downward Spiral' were more disturbing on a deeper level - you know, issues about suicide and hating yourself and God and people and everything else.
I knew Snoop Dog didn't start misogyny. I knew that Tupac Shakur didn't start sexism, and God knows that Dr. Dre didn't start patriarchy. Yet they extended it in vicious form within their own communities. They made vulnerable people more vulnerable.
Tupac has always been somebody who represented a higher consciousness of what it means on both sides of the coin to be black in America. He and Prince were leaders who moved to the beat of their own drum, and I can only hope to follow in their footsteps.
With Biggie, I thought his flow and his swag was better than Tupac's, but I thought Tupac's passion and ability to relate to the average person was better than Biggie, and I thought Nas was kind of like both, with a lot substance going but a lot of swag.
There's a great documentary on Tupac called 'Resurrection' about the last few years of Tupac's life and how he transformed. And, ironically, how this East Coast rapper became this West Coast icon, back when all that Death Row/Sean Combs stuff was going on.
My dad's Nigerian, and I remember going to Nigeria, and all of these kids and adults and everyone in-between knew who TuPac was. They had TuPac t-shirts, TuPac posters, TuPac cassettes... everyone knew TuPac, and sometimes that was the only English that they spoke, was TuPac lyrics.
I've got an extra-specific story about Dr. Dre. I saw him when I was 9 years old in Compton - him and Tupac. They were shooting the second 'California Love' video. My pops had seen him and ran back to the house and got me, put me on his neck, and we stood there watching Dre and Pac in a Bentley.
I think that Tupac was the trendsetter, the high mark. What we hope his music will continue to do is to at least encourage people away from mediocrity, because he was not a mediocre artist. When he was alive, people competed. There was a lot of competition, and a lot of the artists were better for it.
My mom had a produce business in in Oxnard, and we used to take these long trips to talk to farmers and different distributors. She'd take us with her after picking us up from school, and she'd be blasting all this old soul music and R&B. I knew all those O'Jays songs before I knew Snoop or Dre or Tupac.
I fell in love with hip-hop a little bit late; I grew up on Another Bad Creation and Kris Kross. But my mom got me a TV in my room, and I remember seeing Biggie's 'Give Me One More Chance,' and I was like, 'Oh, this is how a house party looks!' I really, really fell in love with it when Tupac created 'Dear Mama.'
A lot of people say I tried to emulate Tupac, but when I look back at my career, we're very different artists. I took pages out of Pac's book, of course, and lots of other rappers - Biggie, Nas - of course you take pages out of those books, but you eventually make it your own thing. And I think I did a good job of that.
When Tupac turned thirteen, we were homeless on that day. His theater club gave him a party. Sometimes I do wonder that if I hadn't gone on with fool-heartedness, my son would have had an easier transition into this life. But at least I was able to keep art there. Otherwise he would've had no way to get his feelings out.
Nas always been my favorite rapper, but 50 Cent, he changed my way of thinking about music 'cause he was so detailed in his music, I knew that wasn't lying. I never felt Tupac that way; I never felt Biggie that way. I love Nas music, but I never felt and believed like, 'This is for real.' 'Cause I grew up that gangsta lifestyle.
I wanna be in a movie, I wanna have a clothing line, I wanna put myself in a position where, when I'm dead and gone, or I can't rap anymore, that's still moving. Tupac and Biggie, they've been dead 10-plus years and people talk about them everyday. I'm gonna try to speak everything into existence. I know the music is my key to get there.