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Some of you may know Kevin Powell as an original cast member of the inaugural season of MTV’s The Real World; but the now political activist, author, and journalist has released some super rare audio from his sit-down interview with Tupac Shakur. Following the 1995 Source Awards controversy, where Suge Knight and Death Row proclaimed war against the East Coast, 2pac already planned to join his West Coast family and continue what was started in New York.
However, what many don’t know is 2pac’s full explanation for his rift with The Notorious B.I.G. and Bad Boy Records, which Mr. Powell has released to the public audio from Vibe interview. To protect himself, others still alive and those involved as part of the streets, Kevin decided to censor certain names and individuals that were on hand at Quad Studios.
Powell even went to say he and Biggie would have conversations, where he cited the Brooklyn rapper even said he didn’t understand where the rift came from and had had love for his former friend. Kevin went to say he was believed that Shakur was set up, but not by anyone involved with Bad Boy Records – as Pac was even angered about the original articles publication censoring.
With the blessing of Afeni Shakur and the Tupac estate, he’s planning his own biography book for the Bay Area rapper; but has shared for the first time ever a excerpt from his interview with Pac in his The Education Of Kevin Powell book. Take a listen to excerpts from the rare interview above.
Tupac Shakur Interview from Rikers Island in 1995
Chapter 25: Tupac and Me
A few weeks after the video shoot I spoke to Tupac again. Apparently, much had changed in Tupac’s mind since our last conversation about a year before. He told me how angry he was, and with everyone. But he said that he could trust Suge Knight and the Death Row family to protect him from his enemies. I remember hanging up the phone after that interview, on December 2, 1995, and feeling sick. Tupac had displayed a side of himself, a darker, more menacing side, that made me think, Damn, maybe I never really knew him. I didn’t want to speak to Tupac Shakur anymore. I guess a part of me knew it was only a matter of time before he would get his wish and be gone from us forever. I never stopped following Tupac’s life, though, and whenever I heard someone mention his name, I listened as carefully as I had in 1992.
Tupac was me, and I was him, ghetto children from birth, living until it was our turn to die. So, in a way, the “new” Tupac made me feel as if I had lost a friend, and that I couldn’t do anything about it. He was gone.
Around that time I also spoke with Snoop Dogg in person—he was more paranoid than ever—a nervous Dr. Dre, and finally Suge Knight, who gave me the most bizarre interview of my career. In his overly air-conditioned office with red carpet and gigantic Deathrow logo in its center Knight kept his very big dog Damu (which meant “blood” in Swahili) with him the entire time and lectured me sternly about the questions that he did not like.
As I got into my rental car that night, I was shocked to see Faith Evans, The Notorious B.I.G.’s wife, in a car. Why was she there? Was Tupac having an affair with Biggie’s wife, as he claimed? I decided to leave Faith out of my piece to avoid adding more fuel to this fire. A few days later I spoke with Tupac by phone and he was short, tense, and mumbled things about M&M peanuts of different colors not going together, so why should East Coast and West Coast go together? I sighed to myself a few times as I listened to Tupac’s rant. This was a year after he had admitted his many flaws, vowed to be a better person, and even said that he should have stopped the men in his hotel room from sexually assaulting a woman there. The woman charged him with the attack, which he adamantly denied, saying that the sex was consensual. I hung up the phone from that latest conversation with Tupac Shakur not knowing what to believe or what to do.
OS REWIND: Vintage Footage of 2pac and Snoop Dogg Rallying for Voting
OS REWIND: Jerry Heller Alleges Suge Knight was Behind Tupac Shakur’s Assassination
OS REWIND: ‘Welcome to Death Row’ is Being Shopped as Sequel to ‘Straight Outta Compton’
[Source]