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It's hard to believe that fourteen years have passed since Tupac's murder, and on today's anniversary it's tempting to ramble on about his legacy. Where I once considered him to be an overrated gangster imposter, the intervening years have softened my opinion of him; in comparison to many of the emo rappers that dominate the charts these days, it's hard not to appreciate the energy that Pac brought on every single track he released. Perhaps on the fifteenth anniversary I'll delve further into those thoughts, but for today I wanted to focus on one of the stranger aspects of Tupac's career: his relationship with Tabitha Soren, a former reporter for MTV News.
At first glance, Tabitha and Tupac made an odd pairing. By the time they met, in the latter half of Pac's career when he was a member of Death Row in full blown thug mode, the preppy looking red head always seemed completely out of place whenever she interviewed him. Soren did have something of a background in hip hop, having made her first television appearance in the video for The Beastie Boys' Fight For Your Right (you can see her throwing a pie at an LL Cool J look alike at the 3:12 mark of the video), but she was hardly a candidate for THUG LIFE membership.
Yet whenever Soren interviewed Tupac for MTV, it was clear the two had a bond that was unusual between a journalist and her subject. MTV has always had a cozy relationship with the artists it covers - even more so back in the 90's, when the channel made its living off of actual music videos - but the playful banter and flirtation shared between the two seemed genuine rather than something played up for the benefit of the audience. Whereas in most cases this would be grating - a journalist infatuated with the interviewee is often a recipe for a very bad interview - with Tupac this actually led to his best interviews, showing a side of himself that wasn't always visible beneath his thug facade.
The culmination of the relationship between the two came in a 1995 interview held in Venice Beach, shortly after Tupac was released from prison after serving time for a sexual abuse conviction. Check it out (full transcript here):
Tabitha Soren interview with Tupac - Part 1
There's a lot of good stuff in this first segment: Tupac describes the origins of his "Thug Life" movement, Tabitha drops the "n-word" and Pac in turn breaks down the proper use of it, and Pac reveals that his upcoming album was going to be named "Euthanasia," a sadly ironic title for an album that would eventually be released posthumously. Scattered throughout are glimpses of what seemed to be a mutual infatuation between the two: Tabitha chiding Tupac for staring at a bikini-clad roller skater (1:38), Tabitha's expression of shock that Pac would talk trash to the prison guards (3:00) and, finally, Tupac jokingly confessing to Tabitha that he was "trying to turn [her] on." (9:52)
Tabitha Soren interview with Tupac - Part 2
Tabitha Soren interview with Tupac - Deleted Scene
This last segment never aired on MTV, but it's one of the most interesting parts of the interview. In it, Tupac discusses his time at Clinton Correctional Facility and some of the people he befriended in prison, including the man who killed Yusef Hawkins.
Tabitha Soren has since retired from her life as a television journalist, and is now married to Michael Lewis, the author of The Blind Side.
And lest I go a whole post without putting up some music, here is one of my favorite Tupac songs. My older brother used to play this all the time when he would drive me to school, and it's the first song of Pac's that I had ever heard:
2Pac - If My Homies Call
9/13/2010 3:45:50 PM posted by Fresh