LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Tupac Shakur is one of the most prolific Hip-Hop stars to ever grace the world of music. His raps were not only a creative medium to channel Tupac’s thoughts and artistic visions, but were also the medium of expressing his political thoughts. Tupac, or 2Pac or Pac also ventured into the world of acting before his tragic death in 1996 and successfully starred in ventures like ‘Juice’, ‘Bullet’ and ‘Gang Related'. Thus, when it was announced by the Hollywood Walk of Fame that he would be getting a star posthumously, Tupac’s fans were naturally very happy. However, an old interview reveals that the music sensation had plans to "move away" from making music just months before his tragic death in September, 1996.
In an promotional interview for his movie ‘Gridlock’d’ (the movie was released posthumously in 1997), the ‘Dear Mama’ crooner shared that he intended to move away from the music industry. He also expressed his wish to star in a romantic comedy. The musician, who received considerable success with his few outings in Hollywood movies, also wished to open a film production company.
‘I want to move further away from the music’
In the interview, Tupac expressed his desire to break away from his image. Moreover, he also wanted to do something light-hearted. That’s the reason why he chose to do ‘Gridlock’d’ in the first place. In his interview, he revealed his reason for auditioning for the film, “To have change in my image, really, number one.” He further continued, “This movie is really about friendship and what unconditional friendship means. I did it basically because it was funny, and I’ve never really got to be funny.”
While he had the desire to “move further away from music,” it wasn’t that he wanted to leave the entertainment industry altogether. Rather he wanted to star more in cinema. The ‘All Eyez On Me’ singer said, “We got a lot of good things happening. If I say it right now, the way my luck has been going, it’ll all fall through. Just give me a month so I can lock it down before I tell everybody. I just want to push the envelope and work, work, work. I want to move further away from the music and start wading myself into the acting more.”
While Tupac had the desire to bid audio to his music, he simultaneously had grand plans for his swansong. Referring to his final studio LP, ‘All Eyez On Me’, which was just released then, the Rock n Roll Hall of Famer said that while the album was fuelled with emotions, it wasn’t “though-provoking.” Only being in the world of films, he believed, can help in his growth as an artist.
He explained, “The album that’s out now is just my emotions, it’s emotional, but it’s not thought-provoking. So I want to do some thought-provoking work with my music, and I can do that if I’m working in the films because I grow and learn more things and have more to talk about.”
‘I try to go outside the boundaries’
A political activist through his music, Tupac was an iconoclast in true sense. Even in this interview he talked about breaking barriers in order to achieve something bigger. Referring to his time in jail, Tupac shared, “If you in jail and you getting chased by the police, it’s like I haven’t gone anywhere from the block because I’m still talking about the same things, so the music reflects that. First, I gotta move out of the environment, and then I have other things to write about.”
The ‘California Love’ singer celebrated the idea of going beyond his boundaries to realize his dreams of achieving more. Tupac was not the one to be shackled by preconceived expectations. As a true rebel he said, “People can tell you, ‘Don’t do this, don’t do that.’ But my whole mind state is: if we don’t ever go outside of the boundaries, we will never change anything, we will never begin anything, we will never start anything.” Giving an analogy, Tupac said, “We’ll just keep talking about the people who did it once and told us not to go outside the boundaries. That’s just like telling Christopher Columbus that the world is flat."
Thus, it was his personal challenge to be able to break the preconceived notions of the dissenters who argued that he would be limited just to a definite genre of rap and Black films, Tupac continued, “I’m doing the same thing. They’re telling me, ‘You can’t do this, you can only rap. And if you rap, you can only rap about this. You can’t act, and if you act, you can only do the Black films. You can’t be an artist or a celebrity and go out still. You can’t be an artist and still have fun and still be true.’..I don’t like that, so I try to go outside the boundaries.” In his never-yielding attitude, he said he is not always successful, “. . . sometimes it’s effective and positive; sometimes it’s negative and it blows up in my face.”
