I have no secrets. Neither did Tupac, neither does my daughter. We don't live behind secrets, we don't live lies, we are who we are, and we are pretty happy to be who we are.
Afeni Shakur
I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that Tupac's entire body of work is made available for his fans.
Everything Tupac said was introspective. He was really honest with himself about himself. He knew his flaws, but he also had such love for his work and his people.
When Tupac turned thirteen, we were homeless on that day. His theater club gave him a party. Sometimes I do wonder that if I hadn't gone on with fool-heartedness, my son would have had an easier transition into this life. But at least I was able to keep art there. Otherwise he would've had no way to get his feelings out.
When I carried Tupac, when I was five months pregnant they put me back in jail, my bail was revoked. When my bail was revoked, I was not allowed to have my own food. I could only have what was there.
I think people have gotten to know Tupac much better since he's been gone than they did when he was here.
All we ever wanted was for Tupac to have the opportunity to tell his story.
Whatever else anyone says he was, he may have been. But Tupac really was a great American artist. The passage of time allows us to see things as they really are: We see the poetry; we see the personality; we see different sides.
That's what Tupac and I got from my dad - the rebellion and the need to fight back and be recognized for being different.
Tupac loved to read! Books were a constant part of his life.
Even after his death, Tupac is as powerful as he was when he was living.
I think that Tupac was the trendsetter, the high mark. What we hope his music will continue to do is to at least encourage people away from mediocrity, because he was not a mediocre artist. When he was alive, people competed. There was a lot of competition, and a lot of the artists were better for it.
I think what it was is that Tupac was extremely passionate, very honest and raw in his approach to communicating. He understood communicating. And I think he just did it from a deep place within.
Revolution is Tupac showing a young artist that he can scribble in a notebook and it's worth a lot.
I wanna thank Biggie Smalls, Redman, Jadakiss, Tupac and Michael Jackson for being my theme music throughout my career.
Allen Iverson
Who doesn't love Tupac? Those records have such swagger to them. The groove is just incredible.
Anderson East
My mom had a produce business in in Oxnard, and we used to take these long trips to talk to farmers and different distributors. She'd take us with her after picking us up from school, and she'd be blasting all this old soul music and R&B. I knew all those O'Jays songs before I knew Snoop or Dre or Tupac.
Anderson Paak
Tupac was real and honest about every question I asked.
Angie Martinez
I often say that I want to write like Tupac rapped. I could listen to his album, and within a few minutes, I could go from thinking deeply to laughing to crying to partying.
Angie Thomas
I've always been a huge Tupac fan, and I often listen to him for inspiration or when I'm stuck.
My dad's Nigerian, and I remember going to Nigeria, and all of these kids and adults and everyone in-between knew who TuPac was. They had TuPac t-shirts, TuPac posters, TuPac cassettes... everyone knew TuPac, and sometimes that was the only English that they spoke, was TuPac lyrics.
Tupac is huge; he's an inspiration. Arguably, he's probably the biggest, most analyzed and loved artist of all time.
I wanted to be like Tupac.
I went to Baltimore School of the Arts, which is known for discovering Tupac and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
When Tupac came out, my writing changed for sure. I learned from it. It was a cultural thing.
But then again in the East Coast, I think, Tupac, inspired everybody on the East Coast, everybody down south, everybody in the West Coast you know what sayin'.
I would say Tupac influenced me the most to start rapping, but as far as a female icon that I've looked up to since I was six or seven is definitely Gwen Stefani.
My biggest influence is Tupac. He was a poet, and listening to Tupac is what inspired me to start rapping.
'Chappelle's Show' was like the Tupac of TV shows. It came out, it got everybody's attention, it was a bright shining star, but it burned out, and for some strange reason, it burned out quick.
Tupac was the first artist that I really related to.
We don't really know who killed Martin Luther King. We don't really know who killed Bobby Kennedy. We don't really know who killed John Kennedy. We don't really know who killed Tupac Shakur.
With Biggie, I thought his flow and his swag was better than Tupac's, but I thought Tupac's passion and ability to relate to the average person was better than Biggie, and I thought Nas was kind of like both, with a lot substance going but a lot of swag.
I wanna be in a movie, I wanna have a clothing line, I wanna put myself in a position where, when I'm dead and gone, or I can't rap anymore, that's still moving. Tupac and Biggie, they've been dead 10-plus years and people talk about them everyday. I'm gonna try to speak everything into existence. I know the music is my key to get there.
I will say this: Rapping-wise, there has never been anybody to match Tupac's energy when coming on a song, like when rappin'. It's unmatched. You can't duplicate it.
'Dear Mama' is my favorite song from Tupac, man. It touches you, and I think that that's the most important thing with music.
He's a layered person, so you have to tackle all the aspects of Tupac individually.
My fondest memory of Tupac is my father producing 'Toss It Up' for him when I was 7 years old and hearing that.
If you want it, and you want to get it, then you've got to work hard for it, like Tupac was working hard for it.
I submerged myself in his life. Before I went to sleep at night, that's what I was watching. The videos would literally be going on while I was sleep; that's what I was hearing in my sleep. I woke up in the morning, Tupac.
Everybody has the Tupac that they admire. Certain people love the hip-hop person, the rapper. Strictly just the rapper. A lot of people, the newfound Tupac fans... they're into Death Row-era Tupac. But that was only nine months!
Growing up, you hear Tupac's music, it's kind of like... it goes without saying that everyone likes Tupac.
Tupac was a person who was all about love. I feel like that's me, too; that's who I've always been.
I loved B.I.G., but not like I liked Tupac, because he was an actor, so I related to him.
When I was growing up, it was 'All Eyes On Me' by Tupac and 'Doggy Style' by Snoop Dogg. I've met Snoop and he's the best. They say you shouldn't meet your idol - that definitely doesn't apply to him.
Me and Tupac were long-time friends.
Guru's like Tupac. He just records and records and records.
They use all of the music that I did in the '50s, '60s and the '70s behind people like Tupac and LL Cool J. I'm into all that stuff.
You know, Tupac would go into the studio and make like six or seven songs in one day. That's how he operated. He was real quick with his pen.
I do say things that I think will shock people. But I don't do things to shock people. I'm not trying to be the next Tupac, but I don't know how long I'm going to be on this planet. So while I'm here, I might as well make the most of it.
Allen Iverson was the Tupac of basketball; he was a true revolutionary.
