Picture Him Rollin’: VIBE Staff’s Favorite Tupac Moments

Tupac’s vision continues to inspire today’s rap OGs and young-uns. Just listen to lines from Nas, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar. Before his untimely death on Sept. 13, 1996, the West Coast legend offered quotables in a ’94 interview, humblebragging that he would “spark the brain” that would change the world. After sitting through his hefty catalog, including his ’91 debut 2Pacalypse Now to ’95’s Me Against The World, ‘Pac’s statement still holds true.

Away from the mic, Sir Shakur was also a cinema darling, giving life to roles for 1994’s Above The Rim and 1993’s Poetic Justice, where he stars opposite Janet Jackson.

On what would have been his 44th birthday (June 16), the VIBE Tribe rolls through their memory bank and deposits their favorite Tupac moments below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0mjE6dqQx0E

You can’t have just one favorite Tupac moment. You just can’t. The way he influenced not only hip-hop, but pop culture is so broad and vast that you can only pick what comes to mind first. For me, it’s the sincerity in his voice on the song “My Block”. The way he so vividly depicts the mind state of a young black male just getting by on hopes and dreams in an area that stifles progress is genius.

With Pac’s life filled with constant change of location as a youngster throughout the East and West coasts, you’d think his view would be so one-sided since he’s mostly associated with California. Yet, the way he universally takes us on a trip through ghettofied America is like a camera lens focusing on the ills and few highs of living in Anyhood, USA. More than the holy icon of #Thuglife, ‘Pac was the spokesman for Black Pain. Something so real and fragmented that if not for his insight with songs like this one, we’d be lost for ways to express our hurt, circumstances and undefined love/hate for one another as a black people in particular.
—Datwon Thomas, Editor-in-Chief

How can one forget one of the many popular scenes from the John Singleton 1993 film, Poetic Justice? Here, Tupac’s character, Lucky, tries to start up friendly conversation, but is hit with the “I’m not interested in what you have to say right now” body language. It’s funny how a simple question takes two people (who, deep down, are fond of each other) from 0 to 100 real quick. As real as that scene was, it was clear that Pac was not only a gifted lyricist, but a multi-talented artist capable of doin’ his thing on the big screen, too.
—Christine Imarenezor, Social Managing Editor

I was five years old when Poetic Justice hit the big screen. Too young to understand back then that my elders were watching a classic in the making, I’d be somewhere doing the oblivious things five-year-olds do. But revisiting Tupac Shakur’s on-air romance with Janet Jackson some seven years later, the “guy that didn’t like Biggie” became my first crush. As a born-and-bred Brooklynite, the image of the West Coast-reppin’ legend was one of abrasiveness, disrespect and recklessness. In Poetic Justice, however, the perceived degenerate tapped into his softer side, and revealed a charm that no one informed me had existed. His magnetic smile remains disarming ’till this day. Too bad we had already lost him by the time I was able to gift him with a place in my young heart; he definitely could’ve been the object of my preteen obsession.
—Iyana Robertson, News Editor

Tupac is one of the greatest storytellers in the history of music. Period. But one song in particular that truly solidified that statement for me was when I first listened to “Brenda’s Got A Baby.” Obviously I was a baby myself when that song was released, but once I got old enough and started to explore music aside from my parents’ Soca and Calypso tunes, I came across this track and was immediately full with emotion. Tupac’s knack for seamlessly telling a gripping tale had me hooked, and the fact that it was based on a true story made listeners focus on the plight of those living in underprivileged communities, mainly teenage girls. Like Lauryn Hill said, “Music is supposed to inspire,” and I think this is one of ‘Pac’s most influential moments that other MCs have tried to emulate.
—Camille Augustin, Contributing Editor

SEE ALSO: Check Your Vernacular: VIBE Staff’s Favorite Left Eye Lines

Tupac’s portrayal of a New York hustler with his eyes on young high school basketball stars captivated the world in Above The Rim. Released in 1994, the same year as Nas’ Illmatic, the film captures the grittiness of the baddest drug dealers but also the way money and crime can tear families apart.
—Mikey Fresh, Music Editor

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HfXwmDGJAB8

I first heard of Tupac when my rebellious uncle, tatted like Wiz Khalifa and rocking an afro, blasted “Ambitionz as a Ridah” in my family’s native Philippines. In 1996, I was hip to Spice Girls and every boy band at the time but got my first real helping of hip-hop outside of America. Years later, as an aspiring journo and VIBE intern, juggling three jobs to pay my college tuition to graduate and help my mom and grandma with rent (“I’m tryin’ to make a dollar out of fifteen cents/ It’s hard to be legit and still pay the rent”), I turned to ‘Pac’s 1993 anti-struggle anthem, “Keep Ya Head Up.” Despite rap’s rep for being overly misogynistic, here was an articulate, street smart poetry master tackling rape culture and fist pumping for young mothers and hustlers who became victims of the system on wax. Now, when happy moments seem few and far between, I remember the hook by the Five Stairsteps and Pac’s wise words: “Keep ya head up, ooh child, things are gonna get easier.”
—Adelle Platon, Associate Editor

“In ‘Pac’s 1994 interview with MTV, he boldly said, “I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I’ll spark the brain that will change the world.”

Filled with palpable passion that was oftentimes presented as anger or hate, Tupac was well aware of his influence. Society and the media didn’t know how to digest a man who in one breath said “Keep Ya Head Up” and then in the next created “I Get Around.” They tried their hardest to place ‘Pac in a box and even to this day, almost 19 years after his death, Tupac’s music and candor has influenced new legends such as J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar. Even our darling poet Nikki Giovani gets it and has the infamous “Thug Life” tattoo to prove it.

It’s heart wrenching ‘Pac didn’t live to see how far his legacy has gone, but I guess that’s not the point. Instead of expressing sorrow towards his absence I’ll instead be thankful for his presence, despite how short it was.
—Shenequa Golding, Editor