1996-02586 words · 3 min
"Live from Death Row": Tupac in Vibe (February 1996)
Fresh out of prison, Tupac tells Kevin Powell why he joined Death Row, what he thinks of Biggie and why All Eyez on Me is not for kids.
Original: part of the cover story “Live from Death Row” · Vibe, February 1996 issue · Kevin Powell
When and where
This conversation is part of the cover story “Live from Death Row,” which Vibe ran in its February 1996 issue. Kevin Powell, who had interviewed Tupac on Rikers Island eleven months earlier (Ready to Live), now spoke with a free man. The archived text gives neither the place nor the exact day. The interview took place in the weeks when Tupac was finishing his first Death Row album.
The cover became one of the magazine’s most famous: Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tupac and Suge Knight, assembled as a collage modeled on the GoodFellas poster. The photographer was Ken Nahoum.
Where Tupac stood in early 1996
On October 12, 1995, Death Row had posted $1.4 million bail, and Tupac walked out of the prison in Dannemora. He signed with Suge Knight and recorded the double album All Eyez on Me within weeks; it came out on February 13, 1996. At the same time, Snoop was on trial for murder in Los Angeles. The hostility between Death Row and New York’s Bad Boy was growing.
What they talked about
Tupac says he did not go to Death Row for protection. He is there, he says, because the people there are not afraid. He describes how Suge visited him in prison, found him lawyers and, after his release, paid for a house for his mother, Afeni. In return, Tupac promises to make Death Row the biggest label in the world.
His marriage to Keisha Morris has been annulled. He moved too fast, he says, and can only be committed either to his work or to a wife. He angrily dismisses rumors that he was raped in prison.
Most of the interview is about the conflict with New York. At first he denies any beef with Puffy or Biggie, then accuses Biggie of copying his style and says he now represents the West Coast. Biggie is still his “brother,” he adds; they simply disagree. Instead of violence, he proposes a contest: Bad Boy and Death Row each release a record with their artists on the same day, and whoever sells more wins. He also suggests pay-per-view shows for charity.
“I don’t want it to be about violence. I want it to be about money.” Tupac Shakur, Vibe, February 1996
The album, politics, his mother
He sums up All Eyez on Me in one word, “relentless,” and advises parents not to hand it to their children without talking first. He sees himself as a born leader, wants to go into politics and would follow a President Colin Powell. Two sides are fighting inside him, he says: the son of a Black Panther and the “rider” from the streets. His mother taught him her ideals; he taught her how to live in the real world:
“She put heaven in my heart.” Tupac Shakur, Vibe, February 1996
Why it matters
For Vibe editor Alan Light, this issue marks the absolute peak of Death Row. The decline came fast: Dr. Dre left the label in March 1996, Tupac was shot dead in September 1996, and Suge Knight went to prison for nine years in 1997. The interview catches Tupac at the moment he publicly frames the conflict with Bad Boy as East versus West, while still offering a peaceful way out. It was the last of Kevin Powell’s three Vibe cover stories on Tupac.