Live Q&As

Yes, I get the fact that it was music. But it was music that spoke to the urgent issues in urban America at that point in history. That's what made the message so potent and the artists so relevant. The sad reality is that the whole East Coast -West Coast hostility made for good media feasting. It should never have been hyped to the point that it obtained.

I am not totally up to date on the biopic project. My coauthor may know of the status. She's in NYC and has more immediate access to people who'd know such details.

This information about the Quad Studios shooting is quite important. Recall that it was this incident that really moved Pac to believe that people were out to get him. More specifically, he began suspecting that Biggie Smalls (Notorious B.I.G.) was involved. This information adds more light to what has been a mystery.

Tupac, along with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg (or whatever his current manifestation is), and that whole generation of artists will remain relevant for the messages that they delivered in their time and for the fact that those messages are still relevant today. The nation's focus has been hijacked by powers and interests that seek to blame the most vulnerable and those with least access to the hallways of influence for deficits, educational setback, and international difficulty. Tupac and his generation of artists challenged those interests in their time, and they did so with a raw passion, power, and message that didn't apologize for their having had the bad manners to have grown up in poverty, in crime ridden neighborhoods, or just plain old seeing their opportunities being pirated by modern robber barons. As long as the poor, the struggling, and those seeking to simply provide for their families are plundered by pirates, Tupac and his message will remain relevant. Of course, he made mistakes and toward the end of his career, he was not the same person he'd been at the start. But his being the son of a Black Panther and his ability to bring together elements like the Crips and the Bloods, yeah, the brother had some clout.

I'm a historian, so I looked at the matter of the breakdown between Biggie and Pac within the context of the social forces that were working on them and in which they were working. The environment they competed in almost demanded some sort of controversy. Of course, it did not help that on many occasions Pac was willing to provide that controversy but @ the same time, people were foaming at the mouth about rap music. It still had not become as accepted (or, at least, as commonplace) as it is today. The shootings, rumors, verbal insults back and forth, well, even the best of friends would experience some distancing of relationship under those conditions. Let's also not forget that Tupac's family had been dogged by authorities from his childhood. His connection to the Black Panthers always made them a point of interest, so he grew up looking over his shoulder. It would not have taken much, especially after a literal attempt on his life, for Pac to lend an ear to rumors and draw his own conclusions.

Given the length of time, and given that it's been fifteen years, I wouldn't think that the LVPD was expending any extra effort to resolve this one. Look, the bottom line was that - within the perspective of that time - this was just a rapper who met the end he always sang about. Like Malcolm X, more people are prepared to speak of Tupac in relation to violence and social discord than bothering to delve into his efforts to bring communities together and do some good. His methods and music rankled many. His THUG LIFE campaign, in my opinion, was a case of good effort and bad judgment. His behavior before the media at times harmed more than helped. His failure to reach out to Biggie and squash the whole East Coast - West Coast furor demonstrated how caught up he was in the affair. It just doesn't seem likely that, once the excitement dissipated, that tons of energy would have been exerted to find Pac's killer(s).

Indeed, it is power, and it's powerful. Rap music has gone truly global and was even a factor in elections in Senegal. The evolution of rap, from party music (i.e. Sugar Hill Gang), to social challenge/revolutionary (Public Enemy, etc.), to social responsibility  (Tupac, phase I), to Gangsta (Death Row Records), demonstrates the versatility of the art form and its viability as a market force. The rappers did what those who advocate pulling up one's self by the bootstraps are always talking about. They took what they had, turned it into a major industry, are making millions of dollars and employing people. For others in other industries, that's success. For the rappers like Tupac, they were just enterprising rabble rousers. Go figure.

It's been a while.