Afeni Shakur Speaks On Resurrection

Vibe.com, February 4th, 2004

Afeni Shakur, mother of the murdered rapper, former Black Panther, and executive producer of the film, Tupac Resurrection, talks about her son, the movie, and her former crack addiction.

I carried him in that jail cell, not the Panther Movement. It was me who did that. Tupac came with his mom's baggage. And, that's probably a fair way to put it. It's a lot nicer to look at it gloriously, but let's look at it realistically. Tupac came with his mom's Panther baggage. He carried it. It was this baggage that caused a swat team to arrest him for sexual assault at that hotel. They closed off the entire block and the building. Bulletproof vest and strap jackets. That was his mom's baggage that made that happen, and I'm sorry for that. He did the best he could with it, but I never look at it as a romantic vision of what he was. These things that other people look at romantically are my day-to-day life, but they are a pain, you see. It is pain that had me carry that child in the jail cell. I had to get a court order to get a glass of milk and one boiled egg a day. So, if that's what made him who he is, then that's what he is. But, let's call it "the baggage," let's not call it a glorious thing.

When Tupac discovered that I was using drugs, Tupac put a hard barrier between him and I. I love him, and I tell young people today, if your parents are using drugs, it's okay if you don't talk to them. Don't think you're doing something wrong. Remember you are doing it right. You could just not speak. I thank God that He helped me with a lot of it. I think it was necessary for Tupac to deal with my addiction the way he did. He did that right when his career was starting. He was touring Japan and on Arsenio, and the dope people had to tell me he was on TV. That's real.

Dear Mama was Tupac's full circle. He was allowed to express himself, his anger, his frustrations, his pain about my drug use, and what it did to him and his sister. He was able to find himself in a place where Dear Mama could be written, and ultimately what you see in the movie, is it was not written just for me, but for Betty Shabazz, Coretta Scott King, and for other mothers. That is indicative of the development he made around his journey, around his anger over his mom's addiction. I need for people to understand that, only because if you are using drugs, you should not expect for your children to forget right away. You should know that you have to let time do that.

Good thing is that I was smoking crack but that now I am a recovering addict. When I went to AA and NA, they actually told me that this was part of my recovery. Tupac had a right to speak about what I did and how it affected him. That's his life and that's his truth. Because of recovery, I can understand that. My son had the right to talk about that. What I'm grateful for is his ability to creatively express that, rather than allowing it to eat him, to keep him from achieving. I love him so much for that.

I Want to Spark the Mind of the Person That Will Change the World : Tupac Amaru Shakur

Tupac Resurrection is more, I think, aboutÂ… Here is a good way to look at it. It's been seven years where seven is a number of completion. The way that Tupac has resurrected is what he says in the film. What he says is he wants to be resurrected by sparking a person who will change the world. And, that's the way we want him to be remembered. If we can take all this material, the book, the soundtrack, the movie and we can use it to spark people who can't do it on their own, then that's pretty good.

I'm ecstatic about this film. I am so happy about the way it came out. Great look. Great quality. I am amazed by my son. I'm so amazed by his energy and his magnetism and his clarity. But, I have to say, it is difficult sometimes. I watch the film and when I feel it is difficult I have to tell myself that it's a blessing that I have that much, because a lot of mothers don't. It is much more difficult the fact that he's not alive. So, I am not in a position to sit there talking about, "oh, it's difficult." I have to check myself and say, "You are blessed."

I am just amazed by the soundtrack. What amazes me the most is, first, the classic Tupac songs that are on it, but, in addition to that, the three or four new songs. Three of them are produced by Eminem. I just want to say that Eminem stopped his own project to do this work and did it with every bit of humility that could exist in an artist. He did it from an upper place. He did it as a gift, and he did it to honor Tupac, and I am really happy with it. I am amazed because I prejudged Eminem and I had to go back and say, my God, thank you. You did a wonderful thing for my son, and I appreciate it.

Some people talk about artists now using Tupac's name in their music, and quoting his lyrics in their songs. If you are inspired by something that I do, and you go out and write a song using every word that I say, God, I hope it's a hit. From my perspective, the point is for us to create. I am the person who says "keep writing. Keep singing. Keep dancing." If you have a talent, if God graced you with a creative gift, you better be creating, I don't care how it comes out. You keep doing it until it gets to be yours. You start where you start, I don't care.

Tupac weighed 165 pounds. That little body was too small for that spirit, for all that person. It wore down. It's easy for me to understand how that shell could not really contain a spirit like that longer than he did I think it's true of people who really have great amounts of energy, of talent, of passion. I think the lights wear out early.