No but the thing is that you have now just said that basically you are now pleased and honoured to realise that somebody has reacted to your record and gone out and killed somebody...

Well Yes...

Yes its nice to get a recation...

Nah, I said I'm honoured to be, I'm flattered that somebody is moved by MY music either way, either way!

But aren't you, aren't you worried that somebody has said, "He has moved me so much that I wanna kill."?

[Pause] Nah...

Or do you even think that....

I don't even see it like that, no. I don't think my music did that, I don't see it like that. This is what happened... [interviewer trys to talk]. A cop walked up to the car, the guy killed the cop. He did that because he was scared off the cop, that had nothing to do with my music. What I'm honoured about is that he said my music moved him, to say that he mean that my music had to be strong. Or why would he way me? I Just hit the scene. Why not N.W.A.? Why not Public Enemy? Why not anybody out there? Why Tupac? Why would he say me, that's what I'm talking about, it has nothing to do with a murdered cop.

So can you perform in Texas now?

I wanna perform but no-one will let me [laughing], its like, I'm booking shows on pay phones and it just, it just hangs up. "Ok, Ok.. so its like 5.... Duuuuu! [phone hanging up]"

You could change your name in Texas...

Yeaaaa, I'm tryin though.

So has it hurt, you know your latest record?

No, I think its helped, I think its really, really, really helped. I'm starting to get this like political prisonor vibe, everybody's like you know, "Free 'Pac!" or "Go 'Pac, forward together" you know what I'm saying.. [laughing]. So its good, I like that, I like the support you know, it just seems that the more they beat me down, the more people rally around me and I enjoy that, it helps me, and I enjoy that support.

Do you have any singles on this soundtrack? [Poetic Justice]

Yea, Definition Of A Thug.

Ok... Well was it written spacificaly for the movie or was it something you already had in your repetoi and they just picked it out?

I had made a seperate song for the movie, a sader song...

Sader? Ok...

Its called Pour Out A Little Liquor. And it was already gonna be on the thing, everybody agreed and everything, and I was just in the studio, making a beat, and John [Singleton] came by and was like, "What's this?" and I'm like, "Its a song that I'm NOT giving to you, I'm putting it on an underground tape, its not yours." I knew he was lookin', he said, "I bet I can make you put that on the soundtrack." I said, "No! Its not yours, I'm keeping this." We ran up for a couple of phone calls, next thing I know; its on the soundtrack. So it wasn't meant for the soundtrack but John just got that way about him where if he wants the song its gonna be there.

So what was it like working with John Singleton?

It's like ummm, working with your buddy. You know like if your buddy got a good job and he get you into like a managers position, well that's how it was. You know its like John got this really great job and he be like, "Yo I can get you.. You want a job? I can get you a job were I work at, they got a opening, a manager, EVERYTHING!" [laughing], "Just show up!" So thats how he was to me.

What was it like working with Earnest Dickerson?

Earnest is older, he was used to working in a team situation you know, him and Spike, older, he wasn'teven in the same peer group as me but he was good, that's what they had in common. John is younger, in my peer group, listens to my music you know, its like we have a lot to draw from, a lot of things to talk about. I never felt like, "Does he know I can act?" cuz he coulda came at me like, "Hey, you can act." So it was comfortable.

Have you ever thought of acting up until then?

Umm, I've thought of it reallyseriously because at the time I was having the thoughts it was funny for black people to be thinking about making a serious career in the motion picture business, unless they wanted to be butler, or unless they wanted to do a driver of Miss Daisy Too, or another slave picture, or another new jack. But now its happening you know, what can I say...

You're talking about John Singleton's help, like being your best buddy; how far back to you go with him?

Not far back, I'm just saying that the atmosphere that he gave me and the way he treated me, it was a friendly atmosphere. He just walked up to me and said, "Hey man." I was at a convention, a music thing, and he walked up and said, "Hey man I listen to your music." And I'm like, "Yea.." I go outside, see him, hes in his car listening to my music; I'm like, "Ohhh Shat, wassuuup..." You know, it just made me be like, "Ok, a man of his word." Cause everybody does that you know, "Oh I like your song, what's your name?"

You mentioned earlier in the interview about how you wanted Lucky to be potrayed more positivley, did you draw from anybody in your personal experience to build out Lucky's character?

Umm, actually yes. I didn't have any father figures though to draw from so I had to draw from like, my friends. And I'd hang out with the homies and see how they act with their fathers cause I'm really lost. I'm nota father, never had a father, never saw a person with a father you know, I didn't even know what to... "What is a father?" Beside throwing bat, I don't know what to do. Besides doing something like that, like what I saw on Boyz N The Hood. So I'm like, "Man, I gotta do this whole fall in love with my daughter thing, not only I gotta fall in love with Janet but I gotta fall in love with my daughter too so I gotta figure this out. But while we doing this, I got like 30 God Children, seriously, I'm not lying [laughing].

You mentioned the atmosphere working with John Singleton and it being like him bringing you to a job and saying manager or whatever, but the pen??? soundly comes from some real life experiences of having some other jobs that weren't exactly acting or a music in a part of things, do you recall some kinda strange jobs you had to take to make ends meat so that you could do your music?

Oh, let me tell ya! I was a roadie, that was how I started. I was with Digital Underground, I started as a roadie, this is unpresidented. I started as A roadie with Digital Underground. Lemme explain what a roadie is; he carries the bags to the hotel, when its raining he's the first outta the bus, when they stop in town he gets out, gets everybody's stuff off the bus, smelly socks and all, carries them to their rooms while these guys just walk around with no luagage, you carrying everything, checkin it, you setting the equipment up, no groupy seen, none of that, and that was me, I did that, and I was applied at that as I am at anything else I've done and that's why I think it grew to be something more, cuz I was a roadie. I said, "Yea I'll do the roadie thing, instead of paying me just let me get on stage, let me dance, let me do something, let people see me." And Tommy Boy's like, "Who's that? They guy in the back, under the truck, behind the wing.." You know what I'm sayin, and they couldn't deny me, "That's Tupac." And they was like, "Well put him up front!" And it was just good.