2Pac (aka 'The Prodigal Son') on Biggie & Diddy via VIBE

2Pac in this 'lost' VIBE interview explains why he rushed Biggie & Diddy after Pac was shot five times on his way to visit the pair in New York in 1994. MIKE TV will take this post opportunity to breakdown my motivation to get T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. tattooed on my body (maybe on the stomach).



2Pac is on record saying that THUG LIFE stands for 'The Hate U Gave Little Infants Fucks Everyone;' basically he, like so many other intelligent, humanity loving students of life, surmised that racism and all forms of hateful discrimination touches everyone in our American community. The tragic case of Emmet Till is a glaring testament to T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. He was fourteen years old in 1955 when he traveled from up north to visit his uncle in Money, Mississippi; Emmet reportedly whistled at a white woman walking down the street in Money. Subsequently, the boy was murdered by a group of white men. When his body was found Emmet's face was deformed beyond recognition, but his mother insisted that he have an open casket funeral.



The point is that no one - not Money residents (white or black); not the President of the United States; not Martin Luther King Jr. - was untouched by this hateful murder because it was rooted in a deeply imbedded societal ill. And so MIKE TV continues to flirt with the idea of getting a provocative T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E. tattoo. Students of hip hop history know that THUG LIFE morphed into something violent and at times nonsensical because 2Pac, the flawed human he was, wasn't quite prepared to lead his sheep. However, my favorite 2Pac quote is, 'I will spark the brain that will change the world.' Food for thought.