Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel, The Life of an Outlaw (2002)

Thug Angel is one of the Tupac documentaries fans still rate highly. That is less down to any new theory than to rare footage: Tupac at 17, Tupac freestyling, Tupac at a gun range. Add to that people who knew him early on and rarely got a big platform.

Facts and figures

Spirer had made his name with music documentaries such as Rhyme & Reason (1997) and had earned an Oscar nomination in 1993 for a short documentary. He later also produced the Beef series about rap feuds.

What it covers

The film moves through Tupac’s life in 28 chapters: childhood, the family’s Black Panther roots, the Marin City years, his time with Digital Underground, Thug Life, censorship battles, the charges, prison, his release and his death at 25. The chapter titles set the tone, from “Homelessness and Change” to “Predicting Death”.

The archive footage is the heart of it: a 1988 interview in which 17-year-old Tupac talks about injustice on the streets of Oakland; freestyle scenes with Treach, Biggie and Grand Puba; a conversation at a gun range in Compton. The DVD includes several of these interviews in full as extras, plus a conversation with his stepfather Mutulu Shakur recorded outside a prison in Atlanta.

Interviewees include Shock G and Money-B of Digital Underground, Treach of Naughty by Nature, Tupac’s first manager Leila Steinberg, producer Johnny “J”, former publicist Karen Lee, author Michael Eric Dyson, UCLA musicologist Susan McClary and Quincy Jones. Snoop Dogg, Yafeu Fula of the Outlawz, former manager Atron Gregory and Rashida Jones also appear.

A moment that sticks

Shock G’s observation about Tupac’s voice is often quoted: other rappers rhymed from the nose or the back of the throat, but Tupac rapped “from the pit of his stomach”, and that was where his power came from. Insights like this from people who worked with him are what make the film worthwhile.

Verdict

Thug Angel is a serious production that fans respect. It doesn’t push a theory of the murder and avoids sensationalism. If anything, its weakness is abundance: many voices, short chapters, not much of a through line. For anyone who has seen Tupac: Resurrection, it is a good companion piece, because people from the early years get more room to speak.

A sequel, Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel 2, followed in 2011. There is also a soundtrack album, covered on the page Thug Angel, soundtrack.