2Pac was many things over his short lifetime, including a catalyst for change in the Black community – so says anti-violence activist Erica Ford.
The veteran reformer worked with ‘Pac before his passing to create the “T.H.U.G. Life” rules to reduce violence and promote community respect. In a new round-table conversation with AllHipHoplast week, the community leader spoke passionately about her time with the late legend and his stepfather Mutulu Shakur, and how important their work was.
“Working with his entire family was like something … it’s life-changing in a sense that you could look at him on a movie screen and you see him in person, and it’s the same person,” she noted. “He [was] a true representation of his true representation. When he showed up for anybody, he showed up his best and he showed up real.”
She added: “He’s got a mind that is beyond the world. They [The Black Panther Party] educated him and trained him in a manner that you know would bring some fundamental change for black youth in America.”
Watch the full panel below, which also includes Beanie Sigel:
In a recent interview with The Art of Dialogue, Naughty By Nature MC Treach pinpointed the moment that 2Pac stopped making positive music, noting that the change occurred because was “fed up.”
Recalling the treatment his friend received while filming the movie Above the Rim, he said: “The majority of the people out there was loving ‘Pac but you got your taunters and your haters and your trolls. A lot of the ones that were taunting him were females ’cause it was a sexual assault case.
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“And he was like, ‘Man, I would never think my own people would come for me when I rep the thugs, I speak for the women. I always had their back. Man, I’m never doing no fucking …’”
The 53-year-old said the experience made the Death Row Records legend distance himself from uplifting and socially conscious songs like “Keep Ya Head Up” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” Instead, he shifted his focus to a “thug” persona with records such as “California Love” and his infamous Notorious B.I.G diss “Hit ‘Em Up.”
“That was the new ‘Pac,” he added. “Muthafuckas had got him fed the fuck up.”
