Tupac: Resurrection Page #2

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that everybody talks about.

I was like, "Whoa, this is it."

It was better than sex and anything,

money, everything. It was like, "Whoa,

"I want this."

We moved out of New York

because my mother lost her job.

We were, like, stranded.

So we moved to Baltimore...

...which was total ignorance town

to me.

I mean, Baltimore has the highest rate

of blacks killing blacks in the country.

Then I auditioned for the

Baltimore School of Performing Arts.

Then I started

to have good-luck times.

Parents are the same

No matter time nor place

They don't understand that us kids

Are gonna make some mistakes

So to you, all the kids all across

The land, there's no need to argue

Parents just don't understand

I spent three years in Baltimore,

high-school years. I made friends,

like Jon Cole and Jada Pinkett.

You should've seen

This girl's bodily dimensions

I honked my horn to get her attention

She said, "Was that for me?"

I said, "Yeah. " She said, "Why?"

I said, "Come on and take a ride

With a hell of a guy"

I loved my classes.

We were exposed to everything.

You know, theater, ballet...

...listening to different types of music,

songs that became

a soundtrack to my life.

But in my homeboys' high school,

it's not like that.

They don't have trips

to go see this Broadway play,

they don't read things we read.

They didn't know when I was like:

"Yo, Shakespeare's dope." They don't

have the same experiences we had.

Then I started thinking

the art school I went to

was mostly for white kids

and rich minorities.

I started going, "I would have

been totally different

"had I not been exposed to this."

I was living in the ghetto.

We didn't have lights and electricity.

- We was about to get evicted.

- We want home!

We want heat! We want lights!

We want something

to do for our children!

I thought, "We're not being taught

to deal with the world as it is."

The rich should live

like the poor,

the poor should live like the rich.

They should change every week.

The president stirred up

a hornets' nest earlier this week

when he suggested

the problems of the hungry

came about because they were

uninformed about where to go for help.

How could Reagan live in a White

House, which has a lot of rooms,

and there be homelessness?

And he's talking about helping.

I don't believe that there is anyone

that is going hungry in America

simply by reason

of denial or lack of ability

to feed them.

It is by people not knowing

where or how to get this help.

Why can't he take people off the street

and put them in his White House?

Then he'll have people from the streets

to help him with his ideas.

Not helpless! Homeless!

Not helpless!

They haven't been homeless forever.

They've done things in society.

The White House would be tainted

because he doesn't want to get dirty.

Growing up in America, I loved my

childhood, but I hated growing up poor.

We live in hell. We live in the gutter.

We live in a war zone.

We've got us stacked

up 80-deep in one building.

When you get out your house,

you're strapped to protect yourself.

The same crime element

that white people are scared of

black people are scared of.

While they waiting for legislation

to pass, we next door to the killer.

All them killers they let out,

they're in that building.

Just because we black,

we get along with the killers?

What is that?

We need protection too.

Then I came to California

to escape that violence.

Come to Marin City,

and there's even more poverty.

I was starting to see the one

thing we have in common

as black people,

is we share that poverty.

I made it to where I had knowledge

this wasn't just me.

It was a bigger picture.

It was my people getting dogged.

It wasn't just my family.

It was all of us.

Moving to Baltimore and Oakland

and Marin and New York,

and the poverty helped me

to relate to everybody's struggle.

Don't get the wrong idea.

I feel like I'm being gloomy.

I don't mean just to be like,

"Damn it, it's bad out there."

I still try to be positive.

I know that good things

are gonna come for me.

- Where you go to school?

- Are you rolling?

- Yeah, rolling.

- Go ahead, that's OK.

You dressed right for it.

He said he's been a little chilly,

so this is good for him.

- Somebody will enjoy the heat in here.

- Anytime.

OK. My name is Tupac Shakur,

and I attend Tamalpais High School.

And I'm 17 years old.

Oh, my God,

I got the phattest dj vu.

I chased girls and bought the car

and loud music,

but I like to think of myself

as really being socially aware.

Kept my history a mystery

But now I see

The American dream

Wasn't meant for me

'Cause Lady Liberty's a hypocrite

She lied to me

Promised me freedom, education

Equality

I think there should be

a class on drugs.

There should be a class on sex

education, a real sex-education class.

There should be a class

on police brutality.

There should be a class on apartheid.

There should be a class

on why people are hungry.

But there are not.

There are classes on gym.

Physical education.

Let's learn volleyball.

Fathers of this country

Never cared for me

They kept my ancestors

Shackled up in slavery

And Uncle Sam never did

A damn thing for me

Except lie about the facts

In my history

Now I'm sitting here mad

Because I'm unemployed

But the government's glad

Because they enjoy

When my people are down

So they can screw us around

Time to change the government now

No more

How do you think you're

most like your mom?

I'm most like my mom

because I'm arrogant. Totally arrogant.

You should see us when we get

in our attitude moods.

We get in our tiffs and everything,

but it's good.

My mom's my homey,

but we went through our stages,

where first we was mother and son,

then it was like drill sergeant

and cadet.

Then it was like dictator, little country.

Then I moved out,

and I was on my own.

I was broke, nowhere to stay.

I smoked weed.

I hung out with the drug dealers,

pimps and the criminals.

They were the only people

that cared about me.

And I needed a father.

I needed a male influence,

and these were the males.

You could see where I spent time

in the streets when you talk to me.

The words I say don't come

from a mother's or father's mouth.

They come from a pimp's mouth or a

prostitute or a hustler or drug dealer.

To me, these were my role models.

My mom was lost at that particular

moment. She was addicted to crack.

It was hard. It was hard

because she was my hero.

Not long ago in Oakland, California,

I was asked by a group of children

what to do if they were offered drugs.

And I answered, "Just say no."

I was broke. I didn't have enough

credits to graduate, so I dropped out.

I said, "I gotta get paid.

I gotta make a living."

I started selling drugs

for maybe two weeks.

The dude was like, "Give me my drugs

back," because I didn't know how.

The dope dealers used to look out

for me. They would give me money

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