Like, the interviewer is seriously getting served and looks like he’s about to blow a kidney or something.

Now, I’ve seen this interview before. My final year dissertation was titled  “Black Power: from rhetoric to reality”, covering the period in the 60s to mid-70s where the concept of black power evolved from an emotionally-charged buzzword to real political activity. It started with looking at the Malcolm X legacy and the way it inspired the dawn of the Black Panther Party –  but the essay kinda stopped at the emergence of politicians like Jesse Jackson and didn’t really go beyond that, like anywhere near the 80s or 90s (there’s only so much you can do with 10,000 words, you know), otherwise I probably would’ve dedicated an entire chapter to Tupac Shakur.

Looking back at my teen-hood, I was here for Tupac  in as much as I liked the songs Keep Ya Head Up, I Ain’t Mad At Cha, California Love, All Eyez on Me and his breakout starring role in the film Juice. And yea, I’m not gonna lie, I appreciated the fact he was easy on the eyes. Shout out to Black Beat and those Thug Life posters.

Maybe that was enough to claim fan-dom back them. Like, how much did I need to know about gangbanging and bitches? Nor was I really trying to pretend to relate to it in any shape or form. But what I did clock was that when Tupac wasn’t spitting tales of that thug life, he was also coming from a place of black consciousness (and in a strange way, doing both at the same time). And of course he was – his mom was a black Panther. And on the interwebs, you’ll even find a speech he gave as a 20-year-old at a Malcolm X grassroots movement dinner in ATL, amongst many others engaging vids where he’s talking about issues within the black community with the same fervour and enlightenment as the man like Malcolm.

Tupac Shakur was totally THAT dude.

But if you’re not necessarily a hip-hop head and wanted to know more about that side of the legend, Rich Mix has got the best thing happening this weekend. It’s an afternoon of music, spoken word, discussions and lectures dedicated to the man himself, to mark the 20th anniversary (!) of his death on September 13, 1996. Dwell on that for a moment.  Tupac Shakur died 20 YEARS AGO. Twenty. Two. Zero. Where in the blazes did the time go?!? And why is his murder still unsolved? #thingsthatmakeyougohmmmm

Anywho, the event is being run by a group called the  Malcolm X movement which is devoted to celebrating the life of Tupac and Afeni Shakur, his mom,  so the aim of the day is to talk all things Tupac and explore his relevance today.

It’s just a fiver to go along and there’s not gonna be any freaky holograms or anything like that, so you can find out more about the event here.

Until then, I leave you with another  TUPAC CLASSIC that’ll get you all up in your feelings and make you call your mom today, guaranteed:

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In the world of entertainment, light-hearted generally trumps serious-minded every time. But sometimes you want a night out that makes you think hard, something that opens up your mind to new ways of seeing and new challenges. Of course, you can normally get all the cod-philosophy you like down the local pub, but it’s generally pot luck as to what intellectual gems you’ll emerge with and there’s always the danger that what started as an amicable airing of opposing opinions will descend into a beer-goggled mire of incoherent squabbling and point-scoring. No one’s the winner here.

Well if you’re looking for a night of intellectual enlightenment and horizon-expansion (minus the air of cocky pretentiousness that sometimes accompanies these things) then what you want is 5×15. It’s like a physical version of Radio 4’s In Our Time, except without the unifying theme; five speakers, usually from wildly differing arenas, talk for fifteen minutes on whatever subject they choose, and the only rule being there’s no scripts. Set in the Tabernacle in Notting Hill, the best thing is the calibre of the speakers and the diverse range of subjects – past guests have included writer Will Self, campaigner Camila Batmanghelidjh and pyschologist Simon Baron Cohen (yep, brother of Sacha) with talks on subjects such as evil, the importance free of speech and the future of theatre. On April’s billing will be Nigerian writer Ben Okri (pictured) and neuroscientist and journalist Jonah Lehrer in a session that’s sure to be as passionate and informative as their respective works. (Words: Jane Duru) 

5×15 takes place on April 16th and April 30th. For more info visit  www.5x15stories.com

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