Twenty-five plus years later and still we find ourselves with rare Tupac footage.
It has become almost expected every year for unseen or rare Tupac videos to surface. Photographers who had the honor of capturing the hip hop icon also continue to share never-before-seen photos of Tupac.
1. Tupac and Dr. Dre On Set Of California Love
Exclusively via MTV Vault YouTube channel, Tupac and Dr. Dre are seen on the set of the “California Love” music video shoot.
The footage starts off with Tupac and Dr. Dre joking around and giving a big shout out to director Hype Williams who appears on camera briefly. “You gonna win an award for this one,” shouted Tupac. During the on set interview, Dr. Dre stated how California Love the song itself and the video all came together within a week.
The Cali anthem was originally a Dre solo, but that was until Tupac was released from prison and signed to Death Row records. Peaking at number one on the Billboard 100, “California Love” became one of Tupac’s most successful songs.
Another interesting fact revealed by Dr. Dre is when he said Jada Pinkett Smith came up with the concept for the music video. California Love in the year 2095 after the world ended as Tupac and Dr. Dre party it up, only to have Chris Tucker try and stop it. “Its a little different from what she came up with but we liked the idea and ran with it,” Dre said.
2. Rare Tupac E! News Interview Talks Poetic Justice
E! News, just as MTV, continues to leak rare Tupac footage throughout the years. On this particular video, Tupac spoke about his role as Lucky in the movie Poetic Justice. “Lucky is a father and that is his number one priority is to his daughter. His commitment to his daughter. That’s what drives him everyday. That’s his ambition and that’s what he does,” Tupac says in the rewind clip via E! News. “That’s what I like about the character and that’s what drew me to the character.”
The 1993 film directed and written by the late John Singleton featured Tupac Shakur, Janet Jackson, Regina King, and Joe Torry. All whom talked about their characters in the film in the exclusive rewind clip. Shakur’s character allowed him to reflect on his own life. “It was therapeutic for this period of my life. I needed to do a part like this. It really let me look inward and see where I was as a person. As a human being. It left me with some good foundation to move on,” Tupac explained.
But, things weren’t all smooth as the movie was filmed. The story of Tupac having to take an AIDS test to lock lips with Janet Jackson is well documented. Despite the brief conflict, Jackson has always had kind words when speaking of Shakur. “Pac’ was crazy and I adored him. He was one way the way people saw him, not to say that wasn’t him but he also had another side to him, he was fun and silly,” Janet said in an interview with the real 92.3.
Tupac also didn’t seem bothered by the AIDS test request. “I do anything with Janet. I go to the beach with Janet. You can go to the trash dump. She’s great. She’s a good person. Everything you can imagine,” Tupac remembering the pop icon during the rare interview.
- Also watch: Nas To Create Short Film On Tupac NY Meeting
The three-minute video also touches on Maya Angelou’s impact on the movie. Janet Jackson’s character ‘Justice’ recites poems throughout the film, which were all written by Angelou. Tupac a poet himself, understands the importance of poetry. “Poetry is universal. More so Black people use it as a form of expression of pain,” Tupac says closing out the rare footage.
3. Tupac’s 1993 MTV Jams Live Rehearsal Unedited
In another exclusive footage via MTV, Tupac Shakur performs two of his hit singles from his second studio album during an episode of MTV Jams back in 1993.
Hosted by MTV VJ Bill Bellamy in the nineties, Tupac found himself on multiple occasions as a guest. On this particular rare video, Tupac is seen performing his hit 1993 single Keep Ya Head Up and I Get Around off his second studio album.
The full unedited version of the episode has Tupac accompanied by Big Stretch and Digital Underground. Viewers are able to witness footage that would other wise be replaced by commercials and Shakur rehearsing his I Get Around performance.
“Before I do it I have to bring out the man responsible for having me out here at all. For anybody to see me or hear me or anything. Gave me my opportunity to do it. My man Shock G and the homie Money B,” Tupac said before performing I Get Around.