Up next in 10
Aiyisha Obafemi, Author and Cousin of Tupac Shakur Talks New Book 'A Light On A Hill'
Jun 16, 2021
On what would've been Tupac Shakur's 50th Birthday, his cousin and Author, Aiyisha Obafemi talks to the Sway In The Morning team about the release of her new book 'A Light On A Hill'. The book is a tribute to the legacy of the late rapper in the form of commemorative essays and anecdotes.
Subscribe Here! http://bit.ly/SubscribeSU
Watch the Best of Sway In The Morning! http://bit.ly/BestOfSITM
Check out More From Sway’s Universe
http://swaysuniverse.com
http://twitter.com/swaysuniverse
http://instagram.com/swaysuniverse
http://facebook.com/swaysuniverse
#TupacShakur #AiyishaObafemi #ALightOnAHill #SwaysUniverse #SwayInTheMorning #SiriusXM #Shade45
About SWAY’s UNIVERSE
Exclusive interviews from Sway Calloway and the Sway In The Morning/ SwaysUniverse.com team with some of today's biggest celebrities, like Kevin Hart, Kanye West, Eminem, Usher, Jessica Alba, Steve Aoki, Torey Lanez, Julia Stiles and so much more.
Aiyisha Obafemi, Author and Cousin of Tupac Shakur Talks New Book 'A Light On A Hill'
https://youtu.be/AYvdiTLeMDY
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
quiet, withdrawn. I read a lot. I wrote
0:03
poetry. I kept a diary. I watched TV all
0:06
the time. I stayed in front of a
0:07
television. I went to movies.
0:10
Everything.
0:11
Ladies and gentlemen, today
0:14
June 16th
0:17
2021
0:20
we celebrate the 50th
0:22
birthday of the legendary Tupac Shakur,
0:25
one of the best-selling music Keep them
0:27
applause going artists of all time, over
0:29
75 million records worldwide. He was
0:32
inducted into the Hip Hop Hall of Fame
0:34
in 2002.
0:36
2017, he was inducted in the Rock & Roll
0:39
Hall of Fame.
0:41
Uh Rolling Stone named him on the list
0:43
of 100 greatest artists of all time.
0:47
Come on, man. He was a quadruple threat.
0:50
But he was 10 toes down.
0:53
One of the first times I ever came
0:55
across and met Pac was at the Uhuru
0:58
house.
0:59
Round of applause for the Uhuru house.
1:02
That's in East Oakland, California, off
1:05
of Macarthur Boulevard, a few blocks
1:08
east
1:11
of 73rd Ave.
1:13
The Uhuru house
1:15
taught self-dependence.
1:18
Taught economics, education, health,
1:21
wealth,
1:23
community.
1:24
Taught all of those things to empower
1:26
the black community. That's the energy I
1:28
met him in Shock G from Digital
1:30
Underground on. Nice.
1:33
And I went on King Tech and I to open
1:35
up. We did shows together.
1:40
That's great. That's crazy you were
1:42
saying that. It is.
1:44
We did shows together.
1:47
Remember hanging out at his apartment in
1:49
Lake Merritt. We sat down on the couch
1:51
and talked and chopped it up and did
1:53
nothing
1:55
together.
1:56
I would see that man's star rise as it
1:59
continued to rise and he started moving
2:01
around the country and about and he's
2:02
always been a pillar to the Bay Area,
2:05
even though he was born somewhere else.
2:07
He got the game from the Bay.
2:11
Come on, man. And today, we got a very,
2:13
very, extremely powerful woman with us
2:16
today
2:17
that's going to open up in a way that we
2:19
rarely see her do it.
2:22
She's the CEO and founder of the Blue
2:24
Nile Group, the co-CEO and the founder
2:26
of the A&D agency and founding member of
2:28
the Keeping Score Media.
2:30
Come on. She's the chief operating
2:33
officer and marketing director
2:35
along with her brothers Shaka and Jeff
2:37
from Disturbing the Peace Oh. Records.
2:41
Oh, okay.
2:42
It's starting to come together now,
2:43
right? There you go.
2:45
I was rocking with her when she was
2:47
working with X Clan. Come on. Man, shout
2:50
out to Shaka and Jeff and everybody,
2:52
man. That's good.
2:53
Yes. I invited Rich Nice on the line
2:56
with us, too.
2:57
Rich N I C E.
2:58
Rich.
2:59
We here to celebrate.
3:01
Grand Rising, Grand Rising. Rich, you
3:04
tell them who this the name of this
3:05
powerful queen that's going to We're
3:07
going to open up these phone lines. Any
3:09
real questions you have about Tupac, his
3:12
childhood, his family, his mission, his
3:14
purpose, she can answer these questions.
3:17
888-742-3345.
3:19
Rich, who we got on the line?
3:21
Oh, we got my sister here, Ayisha Over
3:23
Easy. There it is. Ayisha Over Easy,
3:26
WELCOME TO THE SHOW.
3:27
HEY.
3:29
HEY, Y'ALL.
3:30
HEY. HOW YOU DOING, FAMILY? How y'all
3:32
doing?
3:32
What's up? How you doing?
3:34
I'm good. I'm blessed. Today is a great
3:37
day. Ain't it?
3:39
Ain't it? A beautiful day. It's an
3:41
amazing day. Ayisha, just for clarity,
3:44
you are What is your relation to Tupac
3:46
Shakur?
3:48
I am his cousin.
3:49
Mhm.
3:50
There it is. So, y'all used to fight
3:52
over the chicken legs growing up.
3:55
Well, no, cuz I'm older, so there was no
3:57
fight.
3:57
Ain't no fight.
3:58
Oh, well, then
3:59
I'm dead.
4:00
She let you know early, Sway. It wasn't
4:02
no fight. It was Yeah, she did say that
4:04
early. And Ayisha is like that. She'll
4:06
shut you down. She's still fighting.
4:09
Um Tupac would have been 50 today. None
4:11
of us
4:12
Yes. thought about 50 when we were at a
4:15
younger age, when we was in our teens
4:17
and in our early 20s. We didn't think
4:19
about 50. How amazing and glorious is
4:22
that? And what you're doing with A Light
4:24
on the Hill, talk about that real quick,
4:26
too. Talk about A Light on the Hill and
4:28
why today of all days you want to talk
4:30
Let this be known to the world.
4:32
Well, yeah, let's talk about it. And
4:34
first of all, let's talk about the fact
4:36
that my dear family member Swaye agreed
4:39
to do the forward for me for this book.
4:41
Yeah.
4:42
So, thank you for that. You're very
4:44
welcome. Thank you. Thank you for giving
4:45
me the opportunity.
4:48
I really didn't have no choice, but you
4:50
know, thank you for the opportunity.
4:54
She big cousins, you want that one, too,
4:56
Swaye? Yeah, she got it. Ain't no
4:58
fighting. Ain't no fighting.
4:59
It wasn't no fighting not at all. But
5:01
absolutely
5:03
I mean, I really was thinking, and this
5:06
is probably in in 2018, I was thinking,
5:08
what could I do to honor his 50th? And
5:11
because it's such a monumental year, 50.
5:15
And not only is this the year of his
5:17
50th birthday,
5:20
this is also the year, 50 years ago,
5:23
that my aunt Afeni was acquitted as a
5:27
Panther 21
5:28
Wow. member among before he was born.
5:31
And she did that herself. She defended
5:33
herself. So,
5:35
as a board member of the Tupac Amaru
5:37
Shakur Foundation, one of the programs,
5:40
one of the things that we're doing is
5:41
our 50 for 50 campaign. And that is
5:44
That's what it means. It's 50 years of
5:46
her acquittal, 50 years of his birth.
5:49
And so, we are pushing forward with the
5:52
mission to educate our people, to help
5:57
to end mental awareness, mental health
6:00
awareness with, you know, dealing with
6:01
that. And we're doing social justice. We
6:04
have a lot of different programming.
6:06
So, we're just doing things still out
6:08
here in the community. And this book
6:10
idea
6:12
I like to say it came to me in a dream,
6:14
but then I think it was Pac, also. Um
6:17
and I just decided to do it and talk to
6:19
people who knew him, people who didn't
6:22
know him, but who he impacted. And
6:24
there's a lot of powerful people in my
6:26
village really came through. Everybody
6:28
who is a part of this book
6:30
is part of my village. We have
6:32
interviews by Angie Martinez, Bun B,
6:35
Omari Hardwick, Rich Nice,
6:38
Mike G,
6:39
YZ, Brother J,
6:42
Stephen Hill,
6:44
Marshawn Lynch, Mhm. Shanti Das, April
6:47
Walker, and it goes on and on and on.
6:50
So, it's been really
6:52
cathartic for me doing this project,
6:55
getting to know some of my favorite
6:56
people even better,
6:58
and seeing emotions that comes up when
7:01
we talk about Pac, when we talk about
7:03
his impact, and when we talk about how
7:05
impactful he still is today,
7:08
almost 25 years after
7:10
being taken off of this planet.
7:12
Mhm. I'm glad you're doing this because
7:16
I
7:16
I've seen so many um so much literature,
7:20
music, movies, um unauthorized
7:24
um interpretations and creations of
7:26
Tupac.
7:27
And a lot of them sometimes miss the
7:29
mark. A lot of them Some sometimes
7:31
they're just giving out false
7:33
information, but it sells. You know what
7:35
I mean? This guy is still probably one
7:37
of the top-selling brands that Hip Hop
7:40
has ever produced. You could put out a
7:42
unreleased version of Pac songs right
7:44
now, and it'll probably go to the top of
7:45
the charts. Yeah. And that And that's 20
7:47
plus years later. Um so, I'm glad it's
7:50
coming from a family member, someone
7:52
who's actually from the tribe. And I
7:55
wanted to ask you about that because
7:56
even in that interview that Pac did with
7:59
Tabitha Soren from MTV, that was um
8:01
before I even got there, him speaking
8:03
about the Shakur tribe, the Shakur clan.
8:08
You talk of Mutulu Shakur, Afeni Shakur,
8:10
Assata Shakur, Mopreme Shakur, all these
8:13
different Shakurs. Can you break down
8:16
the Shakur clan who
8:18
in its inception? Yes. Yes. So,
8:22
uh Saladin Shakur, we called him Abba.
8:25
Abba means grandfather. And um
8:28
that's um
8:30
in Arabic. And Saladin Shakur
8:33
actually was a part of the Nation of
8:35
Islam
8:36
back in the day.
8:37
And his two sons,
8:39
Lumumba and Zayd Shakur, God rest their
8:42
souls.
8:44
My uncle Zayd was on the turnpike
8:46
with Assata and everything when that all
8:48
of that happened and he lost his life.
8:50
Mhm. My uncle Lumumba Shakur was killed
8:53
in his home in 1985 in New Orleans.
8:56
By the
8:56
And ironically, I'm in New Orleans right
8:57
now. I'm with my cousin Set here in New
8:59
Orleans today. Mhm. And um
9:03
So, Saladin Shakur, his sons, along with
9:06
his sons who were Black Panthers,
9:10
they just became
9:14
He became a father to everyone, to their
9:16
friends, to their comrades, who included
9:19
Mutulu Shakur, Sekou Odinga, Balogun Lia
9:22
Ali. All of them became one big family.
9:26
And Afeni became a part of that family.
9:28
She was
9:31
married to
9:32
Mutulu Shakur, so she became that.
9:35
And when you talk about Swaye, when you
9:37
said how people do unauthorized things
9:39
that happen, Mhm. there are unauthorized
9:42
people who call themselves Shakurs, but
9:45
didn't get
9:46
the
9:49
approval of the family, so to speak. Oh,
9:52
wow.
9:52
Anyone who became a Shakur and who was
9:53
part of that clan had to sit with
9:55
Saladin Shakur
9:58
and talk
9:59
so he could, you know, know where you
10:02
stood.
10:03
Know if you were worthy to be part of
10:05
this family.
10:07
And
10:08
over the years, like you said, we've
10:10
watched people and I'm not knocking
10:12
people trying to be conscious.
10:14
I grew up like this, so I'll be 54 next
10:16
month and I'm happy to see people coming
10:19
into consciousness and wanting to do
10:21
better and be better and learn about
10:22
themselves.
10:23
But you have to pay respect and homage
10:26
to those who came before you and know
10:28
why you're doing something.
10:30
So when we do talk about a Tupac Shakur,
10:32
we have to know from where he came and
10:34
we have to know who his influences were
10:37
and who the elders were who held him up
10:39
and who helped him elevate to get to
10:41
where he is.
10:43
So it's all about respect. Mhm. Amen.
10:46
Okay, Sekou Odinga came up on the show
10:50
a couple years back. Sekou was on the
10:52
show when we had a
10:54
I think it was anniversary for the Black
10:56
Panthers and I think we were
10:58
having a long conversation about that.
11:00
I'm I'm glad you kind of put that in
11:02
perspective. Obviously there's more
11:03
layers and more complexities to that.
11:06
Definitely. Yeah, but you know, we're on
11:09
air.
11:16
I know sis, we on air, we on air, but to
11:18
be a Shakur
11:20
that was the only initiation so to speak
11:22
is you had to sit down and and talk
11:24
about who you are and your purpose.
11:26
Right? Did what are any practices
11:28
Or be asked to be part. Okay.
11:30
It wasn't like there was a lot of
11:32
people, you know,
11:34
that were
11:36
coached
11:37
so to speak to be part of the family
11:39
like
11:40
it definitely was a core group.
11:44
Did everyone live together or live in
11:46
the same place or same space at one
11:49
point?
11:49
No. Okay.
11:50
No.
11:51
But there were times when, you know, we
11:53
all stayed with
11:55
each other's parents or spent summers
11:57
and the cousins would hang out a lot
11:59
together in the summers during during
12:01
spans of time, you know, we maybe like a
12:04
week at a time we'd all be at one of our
12:06
uncles' houses
12:08
so that we could all be together. So
12:09
what was Pac like at that time?
12:12
You know
12:13
at what what age are we talking? Are we
12:15
talking 7, 8, 9, 10?
12:17
I mean, yeah, at his his his 6, 7,
12:22
8, like
12:23
very playful. When he was playing, you
12:26
know, with his cousins
12:28
outside of that, he was very quiet. And
12:30
he did read and write. You know, and he
12:34
kind of was just trying to figure out
12:36
what was going to be his thing.
12:39
What he was going to do. But he was very
12:40
very playful as a child. Like annoyingly
12:43
playful.
12:45
Like you said, Oh, wait a minute. Hold
12:48
up. I don't know.
12:49
I'm not a child, Heather.
12:51
Uh
12:53
I'm just commenting on the annoyingly
12:55
playful part. Like
12:57
I hear you, Heather. I hear you. Uh-huh.
13:00
This ain't about to happen, Rich. Say
13:02
something, Rich.
13:04
Come on, Rich.
13:09
Uh okay, that's I'm trying to under Do
13:11
you Can you recall a childhood moment
13:13
you had with Tupac that stands out? I
13:16
don't know. Maybe he performed in front
13:18
of the family. Maybe he said something
13:20
profound. Maybe he stole something out
13:22
your purse.
13:27
Well, he always
13:29
he always wanted to be the center of
13:32
attention. I do feel like that. Like he
13:34
always
13:35
you know, he he liked the limelight.
13:37
Even though, you know, he liked to say
13:39
how quiet he was, he was that. But in a
13:42
family
13:43
you know, when we were all together like
13:45
that, it was different. He felt more
13:46
comfortable. He was in his safe space.
13:49
You know, he knew that these are the
13:51
people that love me, so I can truly be
13:52
myself. So he did like
13:55
to be the center of attention. So yeah,
13:57
he would perform, you know, he would
13:59
recite poetry, his poetry.
14:01
You know, and he would also act out TV
14:04
shows cuz he did like TV, so he would
14:07
watch a lot of stuff. So he he was
14:09
getting his acting chops up early.
14:11
Mhm. He would throw he would throw he
14:13
would get in costumes and get in
14:14
character in front of people. I remember
14:16
um Oh, yeah. Right? Like I'm hanging out
14:18
with him at his house and he just went
14:19
into a character. There was a bunch of I
14:22
I feel like Money B was there. A bunch
14:23
of us was there, but Aisha The other
14:25
thing he did and you got to understand
14:27
everybody's like 20 at that time.
14:30
Maybe 21, I don't know.
14:32
Even in those times, he would break down
14:35
at any given moment and get on the stoop
14:36
and tell us what we need to be doing and
14:38
improve the you know, the up
14:40
uplift the community. It wasn't stick.
14:42
It wasn't no cameras, no mics, no
14:44
nothing in front of him. He was It was
14:46
always kind of urgent to I felt. At
14:48
least when I was around, I felt a sense
14:50
of urgency from him. But meanwhile,
14:52
we're all like, you know, are we going
14:53
to get a record deal? Are we just now
14:55
coming up? You know, we're thinking
14:56
about those things, but he was always
14:59
years ahead in advance. Were all the
15:01
kids like that from the Shakur tribe?
15:04
Yes.
15:05
Okay.
15:05
Cuz that's the way That's the way we
15:07
were taught. That was, you know, we were
15:09
always learning. We could be doing
15:11
something playing and they and somebody
15:13
could call us over and say
15:15
"Tell me, you know, what the five-point
15:16
program is. Tell me, you know," and you
15:18
have to say it. And then if you didn't,
15:21
"What are you doing? What's happening?
15:22
What's going on?" You know, we got to
15:24
make sure that our people understand,
15:26
you know, how crucial it is for us to
15:27
fight, you know, how crucial it is for
15:29
us to educate and be educated and for
15:31
the children to be taken care of. And
15:34
and and the children, that's really, you
15:36
know, what was important to him, too. He
15:38
loved the children cuz he always felt
15:40
like
15:41
the children didn't ask for any of this.
15:43
So it's on us to make sure to give them
15:46
the best experience possible and to be
15:48
there
15:49
you know, for as many children as we
15:51
could be.
15:52
Why you think he
15:53
he never had a kid?
15:57
You know,
15:59
I asked myself that question
16:01
uh probably after he passed and then I
16:03
stopped asking.
16:04
Yeah. Because he had thousands of
16:06
children. They're all out here.
16:09
The roses that grow in from this
16:11
concrete, those are all his.
16:14
So I like to look at it that way and not
16:17
wonder why what if.
16:19
Absolutely. One of the last things he
16:21
said to me, Aisha,
16:23
and I may put this in a forward to
16:26
is he we sat and did this interview that
16:29
I never listened to.
16:31
And and he he said um
16:35
I said, "Man, what's your plan, man?
16:36
What's your plan?" He said, "Man, Sway,
16:38
with with this next project, I'm going
16:40
to tell the
16:41
tell the fans and the people in the
16:42
public everything they want to hear. You
16:45
know, I'm making songs where I can get
16:46
the streets and I can get the college
16:48
kids." You know, and he started telling
16:50
me titles of songs that we hadn't heard
16:52
yet.
16:53
And he said, I said, "What is your
16:54
ultimate goal?" I want to see the change
16:56
and I may not be here. He knew then.
16:59
Mhm.
17:00
He knew then. Like nobody talked like
17:02
that. You know what I mean, Aisha? Like
17:04
he was saying And he did. He did for the
17:06
last few years. The last the last and
17:09
that was like a couple months before you
17:12
know, he got shot in Vegas. This wasn't
17:14
that It wasn't
17:15
Right. That was right then. Right then
17:17
and there. And he said
17:19
you say that cuz Money B said something
17:21
similar to me when we did our interview.
17:24
Mhm. And he was talking about what the
17:26
next project was going to be.
17:28
Wow. So So everybody's aligned. I got to
17:31
sit and talk with Money B, too. We never
17:33
even sat down and talked about it, but
17:34
he said
17:36
I what I hope to see is the change and
17:38
it's going to happen. He said it's going
17:40
to happen. The people going to make it
17:42
happen. I might not be the one that make
17:44
it happen, but I'm going to spark the
17:47
mind of the ones that that are going to
17:50
make it happen.
17:51
And he certainly has done that. Um
17:54
Aisha,
17:56
she's here. The book is called A Light
17:59
on a Hill.
18:01
I just want to start the conversation.
18:03
Of course, Heather
18:04
and Tracy and Rich going to jump in, but
18:06
I want to open up the phone lines,
18:08
citizens, so you see how official if
18:10
you're a Tupac fan or you just
18:12
interested in this conversation. Um
18:14
888-742-3345
18:17
and there's a book called A Light on a
18:20
Hill.
18:21
I want everybody to pre-order it today.
18:24
You can probably Can you pre-order it,
18:25
Aisha?
18:27
They can go to my publisher's site,
18:29
which is 13th and Joan
18:32
.com or they can go to my Instagram
18:35
page, Aisha The Blessed, A I Y I S H A
18:40
T H E Blessed.
18:43
And they can order link in my bio.
18:45
Okay, let's continue this conversation.
18:47
We're celebrating the birthday of Tupac
18:49
Shakur, turned 50 today. Happy Bornday,
18:52
King. Rest in power. 888-742
18:56
3345.
18:57
Call us now.
19:00
Hey, yo. Right now I'm chilling with
19:01
Tupac. Bay Area's home right here.
19:04
What's up, Pac? How you doing, brother?
19:05
What's popping? What's pop?
19:08
First off, I want to congratulate you on
19:10
all your success, man, cuz I kind of
19:11
watched you evolve. And you know, and
19:14
even though, you know, I think most
19:16
people from the Bay Area, even though we
19:17
couldn't be be there by your side, we
19:19
kind of felt like every episode you went
19:21
through in your life that we could only
19:22
see through the media, we was right
19:24
there. You know, brothers got a lot of
19:26
love for you in the Bay. Want to know
19:27
when you coming back for a minute. I'm
19:29
coming back for sure and I love the Bay
19:31
and everywhere I go and every episode
19:33
I've been through, I always felt like I
19:35
was sharing it the good times and the
19:37
bad with the Bay cuz you know, they
19:38
they're the one I felt like whatever I
19:40
am, the Bay Area had something to do
19:42
with making me. So if I'm bad, then they
19:44
had something to do with making me. If
19:45
I'm good, then they had something to do
19:46
with making me. Between the East Coast,
19:48
the Bay Area and LA and Baltimore, those
19:52
places made me. You know what I mean?
19:54
Made me who I am, and what I am, and
19:56
made me stand out, and I
19:57
I owe them everything. It's not like
19:59
saying I got love for one block. I got
20:01
love for those communities, those areas,
20:03
because everything about those areas
20:04
made me who I am. And the people, from
20:06
the little the littlest, you know,
20:08
crackhead to the biggest ballers, to the
20:10
teachers, to the principals of school,
20:12
to the police that that pulled me by the
20:14
arm, everybody, to the mamas on the
20:16
block, everybody that helped raise me,
20:17
and I appreciate it, cuz without a
20:19
family they let me put my family back
20:21
together. Just by all my fans making me
20:22
who I am. Now I got a family again. When
20:24
I started rapping, I was talking about
20:25
broken homes and [ __ ] Now everybody all
20:27
right again, you know what I mean? Just
20:28
because of my fans being behind me, you
20:30
know what I mean? And making it more
20:31
than just a fan artist thing, making it
20:33
more like that's our homeboy, and we
20:35
supporting him, and and I appreciated
20:36
that going to jail, and them making me
20:38
number one. The people made me number
20:39
one, you know what I mean? And I
20:40
appreciated that, and I appreciate them
20:42
sticking up for me when everybody be
20:43
kicking me in the in when I'm down and
20:45
everything. That's love, and I never
20:47
trade that.
20:49
Wow.
20:51
Wow.
20:52
King.
20:53
Come on, that was in 1996.
20:57
Woo. Man, Tupac Shakur, we got Aisha
21:00
Obafemi with us right now. She's the
21:03
author of the book A Light on the on the
21:05
Hill, also Tupac's cousin, and she's a
21:07
pillar in this music business. She done
21:09
made a ton of people millions of
21:11
dollars. Have to be
21:13
Aisha done made them all rich.
21:15
What's up with Ludacris? How's Luda
21:17
doing?
21:18
He's good. He's working. He's working.
21:20
Think they got the big movie coming?
21:23
Yep. You could just say that at any
21:25
time. Yeah, any time. I don't even know
21:27
if there's a movie coming, but you could
21:28
you could say you know he's got a big
21:29
movie coming.
21:30
movie coming. There's always a movie
21:31
coming. Uh HB, you want to jump in? I
21:34
do, man. Aisha, thanks again, man, just
21:37
for calling and sharing your energy and
21:39
your experiences. And I I kind of want
21:41
to tap on that a little bit, cuz I think
21:43
it's strange enough when we see people
21:46
like just just rise, and just God just
21:50
kind of just shows and out and shines on
21:52
them. But with Pac, I think too, it
21:55
almost
21:56
it was like cultish, and it and it still
21:59
is. Like if you ever in a hip-hop
22:00
conversation, it could be a quiet dude
22:03
in the corner, but the minute you say
22:05
something about Pac, his energy changes,
22:08
everything. He will fight you to the end
22:10
about Pac. What do you think it was or
22:12
is, Aisha, to this day, that he had that
22:16
there was just this massive massive
22:20
love and and following that he had that
22:23
to me was like no other by both male and
22:25
female celebrities, non-celebrities. It
22:28
It's just mind-blowing, Aisha, to me.
22:31
Yeah, I think it was just cuz he was
22:33
very charismatic,
22:35
very endearing, and and and he had a
22:39
light.
22:40
And it's so interesting. I had to really
22:42
admit that,
22:43
you know, I guess he had something,
22:45
because we would have these
22:46
conversations that he would talk about
22:47
how how everybody thought he was cute,
22:49
right?
22:51
They they think I'm cute. They you know,
22:53
they like my eyes. And I was like, you
22:54
ain't cute. Like there's nothing sexy
22:56
about you.
23:00
But
23:01
over the years, I'm watching, and if I'm
23:04
with him, you know, if I be out with
23:05
him, and the people, the reaction, I'm
23:07
just like, wow. He really does have
23:09
something. But he always was that. Like
23:12
he just always was so lovable, and even
23:15
as a child, like people wanted to be
23:19
around him, because he would just bring
23:20
you in. He was just engaging, and I
23:22
think it was his truth, and the way he
23:25
wasn't perfect, he knew he wasn't
23:27
perfect, but he was out here living his
23:28
life out loud in front of everyone.
23:31
And any mistakes that he made, where a
23:33
regular person could do it, and nobody's
23:36
saying anything, and they get to, you
23:37
know, go and grow, he wasn't given that
23:40
opportunity, you know? People wanted to
23:43
come down on him, and you know, say
23:46
things, and you know, condemn him. This
23:49
man wasn't 25.
23:51
You know what I mean? What were you
23:52
doing in your 20s that you might not
23:55
want people to know that he had to live
23:57
out loud in front of the world?
23:59
So I think it was his realness, too,
24:02
that, you know, really
24:04
captured people's hearts.
24:06
Yeah, man, that part was the Bay Area.
24:09
Um all right.
24:11
He said he said all parts. He said all
24:13
blocks.
24:15
I'M JUST SAYING.
24:18
I HEARD THAT, AISHA. ALL RIGHT, uh we
24:20
got Holly on the We got Holly on the
24:22
line from Toledo. Holly, grand risings.
24:24
Hey, Holly.
24:25
Hey, Holly. Hey. Hi, Holly.
24:29
Hi, Aisha.
24:31
Hi, how are you?
24:33
I am doing pretty good. I just wanted to
24:36
say thank you for your cousin's music.
24:39
Um
24:40
I'm a white female. Uh his music not
24:42
only touched the black community, but it
24:44
also touched the white community. And
24:47
like you said, how he has thousands of
24:49
children,
24:50
I am proud to say I am one of them. Hey.
24:53
All right.
24:55
It's amazing.
24:56
Thank you for that.
24:59
Not a problem, darling. I I was only 11
25:02
years old when he passed away, so I
25:05
don't know his, you know, I had to
25:08
learn his stuff after the fact.
25:11
So, but I still rock it all day long,
25:14
irrelevant, all day long. There you go.
25:17
Hey, Holly,
25:18
um you would be the This is how you stay
25:20
in the family, since you wanted the
25:22
kids. The book is A Light on the Hill.
25:25
It's available for pre-order right now,
25:27
and the proceeds are going to benefit
25:29
the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. So
25:32
Right on. Look at that pre-order, okay?
25:36
Yes, sir. And I do have Tupac's poetry
25:39
book, The Rose That Grew from the
25:41
Concrete. Yep. Me, too.
25:43
Okay. Back in Back in my freshman years,
25:46
I did a 13-page
25:49
essay on Tupac.
25:51
Damn. Okay.
25:54
Man.
25:55
We might have to borrow some of that
25:56
essay for your book, Aisha.
26:02
Okay. Hey, Holly, thank you, okay? We
26:05
appreciate you. You're a citizen, okay?
26:07
And follow Aisha at
26:09
Aisha the blessed. Aisha the blessed.
26:12
All right, send her something. Sancho
26:15
Send Sancho is in the A. What up,
26:16
Sancho? Hey, Sancho.
26:19
Hey, what's up, y'all? Aisha, it's
26:21
Sancho, actually. My bad.
26:23
I'm living in Atlanta, but I grew up in
26:25
Berkeley, California. I'm I'm 45 years
26:27
old. I came up right behind y'all, Sway.
26:29
Okay.
26:30
man, we I just remember when Pac first
26:32
hit, man, it was so positive, and
26:34
everything he was saying, it was so
26:36
riveting. And um
26:38
and as he progressed,
26:40
you know, like by the time we got to All
26:42
Eyez on Me, like a lot of the songs were
26:45
just kind of
26:46
they weren't quite as positive. Um and I
26:49
don't mean to disrespect, Aisha, but
26:51
y'all said ask any question we wanted
26:53
to, and I just wanted to try and get an
26:55
idea
26:56
of
26:57
where Pac was when he was making the
27:00
songs that that degraded the same women
27:02
that he uplifted when he wrote Keep Ya
27:05
Head Up, and and just like when he was
27:07
talking about murdering people, and
27:09
and and all of that, like I just want to
27:11
know what the end goal was, because we
27:13
loved Pac so much, we rode with him good
27:15
or bad, and I I see like even myself,
27:18
like a lot of my friends, we just we was
27:20
riding so hard that whichever way he was
27:22
going,
27:23
you know, we weren't riding nobody's
27:25
job, but we was riding with Pac. So if
27:26
he was going negative, then we were
27:28
going negative, too. So I just wanted to
27:29
try and get some insight as to what the
27:32
end goal was.
27:34
Well, I don't feel like he was defaming
27:37
women. I feel that there are two sides
27:40
to every coin, and emotionally, if
27:44
you're going through certain things at
27:45
certain times, it's going to come out.
27:48
And it came out to him in his music.
27:50
And I don't feel that
27:54
he was trying to make people, you know,
27:57
be a certain way. He was just trying to
27:59
express his feelings.
28:02
And bringing it back to the core essence
28:05
of who he truly is.
28:08
Mm. Okay. Do what?
28:10
Thank you very much, Sway. Just like I
28:12
got you on the line, man, just want to
28:14
tell you how much we love you, man. We
28:15
be riding with you all the time, Sway.
28:17
You You're a hero, baby. Thanks, boss.
28:20
Man, just had to check in with G. What's
28:22
up, y'all? Listening to y'all every day.
28:23
We love y'all. Big love. Big love,
28:26
Sancho. You gave me goosebumps. You
28:27
You're my hero, Sancho. Thank you for
28:29
riding with us. You're a citizen,
28:30
brother, super citizen. And great
28:32
question. Great question.
28:35
Okay,
28:36
Norika in South Carolina, you want to
28:38
tap tap in? Tap in?
28:41
Yeah, what's up? I just wanted to pay
28:43
homage,
28:44
cuz when you talking about Pac, I can't
28:46
not say how much I love him. When I
28:48
heard him talking like the energy he
28:50
took too real, had me in tears all over
28:53
again, like they said he died. Yeah.
28:55
Like the energy never dies. That's just
28:58
how real
28:59
Pac was, and he
29:02
Absolutely, Norika. Thank you. You're a
29:04
citizen. I appreciate your call. Make
29:06
sure you
29:07
pre-order that book, though. A Light on
29:09
the Hill. You could pre-order it today,
29:11
citizens. Tracy, you want to jump in?
29:12
Absolutely, Aisha. I'm so happy to hear
29:15
your voice this morning. Um for giving
29:17
us all the details of your own legacy,
29:19
and of course for being such a big part
29:22
of the continued legacy of Pac. I'm
29:25
curious, now that Pac is an ancestor of
29:29
sorts, how you communicate with him? Do
29:31
you communicate with him in this new
29:33
role? It made me think of Swizz, um and
29:36
when he was on stage at Barclays doing a
29:39
tribute for X, and
29:41
he he said on our show he felt like DMX
29:44
told him specifically, you know, in his
29:47
transition, Yo, make sure you tell the
29:49
people this and I wonder if you
29:50
communicate with Pac just as an
29:52
ancestor.
29:54
Oh, definitely. And Tracy G, that is an
29:56
amazing question you asked because
29:59
unbeknownst to you, my mother,
30:02
God rest her soul, Iya Loja Ifalani
30:04
Nandi Suni, a leading priestess.
30:06
And she passed a month and a half
30:10
after my aunt Afeni and actually
30:13
the day after Pac's birthday, which is
30:15
tomorrow, will be the fifth anniversary
30:16
of her passing. Wow. And I prayed as my
30:20
mother was transitioning that if she
30:22
wouldn't transition on June 16th.
30:25
And so June 17th, she did. So, I'm very
30:28
spiritual and and
30:31
definitely communicate with my
30:32
ancestors.
30:33
And like I said, I feel like it was Pac
30:36
who told me to do this book.
30:38
So, I talk to him often, get messages, I
30:41
ask for guidance,
30:42
and he's with me all the time. I
30:45
definitely know that I have the
30:46
blessings of my ancestors for this
30:48
project and for all that we're doing to
30:51
keep building the foundation, to keep
30:54
his name alive and positive.
30:56
And just,
30:58
you know, paying respect to how we were
31:00
raised as the children of Black Panthers
31:03
and black nationalists and you know,
31:05
what we did in the community as children
31:07
and how we were taught. So, he's with
31:10
me. He walks with me every day.
31:12
Amen.
31:12
Amen. All right. Rich Nice, you want to
31:14
jump in?
31:16
Habari. Habari. Habari.
31:19
Greetings, Rich Nice.
31:21
Long live the great Tupac Shakur. Long
31:24
live the great Tupac Shakur.
31:27
Um I want people to know how important
31:29
and powerful this book is because it's
31:31
from a place of love. And most books
31:33
aren't written from a place of love. So,
31:35
when Afeni called me about it, it was
31:37
strictly from a position of love and it
31:39
was no way that I could say no. And um I
31:42
I think, you know, you probably one of
31:45
Pac's favorite cousins. Um I'm going to
31:47
share this. I remember when he was
31:49
incarcerated, Afeni would be going to
31:51
see him and she was trying to get me on
31:52
the visitors list and she would take my
31:54
messages to Pac and we would communicate
31:57
communicate that way cuz
31:59
I couldn't get to him. So, it was kind
32:00
of cool and I want to thank you for
32:02
that, Afeni, cuz I never got to thank
32:03
you for that.
32:04
Of course.
32:06
Um
32:07
let me ask you this. So, it's so
32:09
difficult when it comes to Pac because
32:11
he's so multi-layered. Um are you
32:14
planning on creating a curriculum for
32:17
school-based uh use
32:19
um just on his thoughts and his process
32:22
and his works cuz there's so many layers
32:24
to him and I think in the school system
32:26
um
32:27
um his ideologies would work well.
32:31
Now, that is something that
32:33
we've been discussing. So, my cousin
32:35
Setora, his his sister,
32:37
um
32:38
who is the president of the foundation,
32:40
you know, is working on some different
32:42
things and talking to universities and
32:44
I know it's something that
32:46
is a possibility.
32:48
But I won't say definitively that we're
32:50
actually doing it right now because
32:51
we're not, but definitely a possibility.
32:56
Okay. That's what's up. Um
32:59
That sound cryptic, but you know, that's
33:00
what's up, man. We you know,
33:06
Oh, no. What Afeni just say right there?
33:08
There you go, Heather. You see what he's
33:09
doing, Heather? You see? Hey, Afeni,
33:11
that's why I just be quiet sometimes,
33:12
Afeni. Thank you. Thank you for
33:14
understanding the sister the sister.
33:16
He's a wild boy. He's a wild boy.
33:21
Hey, Carl, what up? We got Carl in Vegas
33:24
on the line. Carl, grand risings. How
33:25
you doing, Carl?
33:26
Carl?
33:27
Hey, Afeni. Sway, what's going on,
33:29
y'all? Hey, how you doing?
33:32
I'm doing good. God bless you and your
33:34
family for, you know, living this this
33:36
life without without such a beautiful
33:38
soul in Pac and uh
33:40
I wanted to just
33:41
tell a story.
33:42
Yeah, I wanted to tell a little story
33:44
where I was in high school.
33:45
Um
33:47
I'm from Vegas, but of course I was born
33:48
and raised in Vegas. And I feel like I
33:50
got a connection with Tupac Shakur cuz
33:51
my my my roots is from Oakland, but uh
33:53
Okay. Yeah, we connected.
33:55
Yeah, we connected just a tad. But man,
33:57
when when when Pac got shot, my whole
34:00
high school,
34:01
we had no cell phones at that time. We
34:03
would call on the on the school phone to
34:06
check his status. And I mean, we would
34:08
call every period. And uh it was so
34:12
it affected our generation so much cuz
34:14
I'm 40.
34:15
And it affected our generation so much.
34:17
So,
34:18
Sway, you asked the question already
34:20
that I wanted to ask, like how was he
34:22
with family? How was he in in in hol- on
34:25
holidays? And and and knowing that there
34:27
ain't no social media now, you know, we
34:29
feel like we missed out on so much to
34:31
get to know Pac more. So, basically, his
34:34
relationship with his family and his
34:35
relationship with his cousins and his
34:37
brothers, I know it was genuine, but do
34:39
you have any story that you can kind of
34:40
just just throw at us that'll let us
34:43
know that, you know, around holidays he
34:44
was this type of person?
34:47
I mean, there's a lot of stories like I
34:48
said with the children. The children
34:50
were very important to him.
34:52
His cousins, yes, he loved his cousins,
34:54
his his siblings, you know, aunts,
34:57
uncles, family, but it was all about the
35:00
children. Like he really loved showing
35:03
them love and making sure that they felt
35:05
love during holiday seasons, that they
35:08
got gifts and it wasn't even about
35:10
spending a lot of money on gifts,
35:12
but just showering them with that love
35:15
of gifts
35:16
so that you could see the happiness of a
35:18
child opening, you know, a toy
35:20
on Christmas, you know, celebrating a
35:23
birthday. Things like he did when he
35:25
took that young lady to her prom. You
35:27
know, those were the things that showed
35:29
you who he was and and
35:31
you know, showed you his heart and how
35:33
much love he had for people and not just
35:36
his family, but for people.
35:38
Yeah, and that's that story, Carl. It
35:40
was a young lady who didn't have a date
35:42
for the prom and wrote Pac and
35:45
Pac came by their house by himself
35:47
unannounced, sat down, talked with her
35:49
parents and the family that day and
35:52
later on that night took that young lady
35:53
to her prom. And you can see the
35:55
pictures all online. He didn't know her.
35:57
He just did it out of the kindness of
35:59
his heart. When while he was Pac Pac.
36:02
You know,
36:03
yeah, man. But Carl Carl, pre-order the
36:06
book, bro. Trust me. Pre-order
36:08
all the citizens. Pre-order the book, A
36:11
Light on a Hill. Okay? You can get it
36:14
right now. A Light on a Hill. It's the
36:16
first of many. I guarantee you that.
36:17
Carl, you're a citizen. All right?
36:19
I appreciate
36:20
Thank you, guys. Thank you, brother. And
36:21
listen, Tyro the Maestro in Austin, um
36:25
Flex in Alabama, Myron in Louisiana,
36:27
Patrick in North Carolina, Joseph in
36:29
Texas, Prissy in Georgia, Abc in
36:31
Georgia, AJ in Yonkers. Afeni, can you
36:34
give I want you all to hit her directly
36:36
and ask her questions on her social
36:37
media. Afeni, one one more time, can you
36:39
give out your social?
36:41
Okay. IG is Afeni the blessed. A I Y I S
36:46
H A T H E blessed.
36:50
Okay.
36:52
And I say we do more conversations about
36:55
this.
36:56
Okay? We should. And actually, if I can
36:58
mention, I have a conversation tonight
37:01
Yes. that I'm moderating on Clubhouse at
37:03
6:30
37:05
with some people from the book, Ed
37:06
Lover, April Walker.
37:09
Okay.
37:09
And uh
37:10
you know, couple of others and we're
37:12
going to talk all things Pac. This will
37:14
happen in end before the Versuz.
37:17
Yeah, you might Yeah, I was going to
37:19
tell you Yeah, you might want to get
37:20
that done. Now, okay, that's tonight on
37:22
Yeah, and hit up Afeni on her Instagram
37:24
to find out the information. She'll be
37:26
posting it. Thank you, Afeni, for the
37:28
opportunity. You know, and
37:30
guys, so much.
37:31
Thank you, Afeni.
37:32
Yes. Absolutely. I love you, guys. Thank
37:34
Love you, too. Okay, and happy born day
37:37
to Tupac Shakur. Turns fifth will be 50
37:40
years of age today.
37:42
Crazy. As we celebrating his legacy with
37:44
Afeni Obafemi and a new book, A Light on
37:47
a Hill, will be available in September.
37:50
Pre-order it now. Tell his sister we
37:52
send our love and regards. Okay, Afeni?
37:55
I definitely will. All right, Rich Nice,
37:57
thank you for being on today. Appreciate
37:58
you, Rich Nice.
38:00
Much much love and respect. Happy
38:02
birthday to the great Tupac Shakur.
38:04
Okay. Let's play this
38:06
We're going to play this and be right
38:07
back. Sway in the Morning, Shade 45.
#Arts & Entertainment