Unseen moments of Tupac Shakur’s life emerge in ‘Dear Mama’

“That symbiotic relationship was key to who they both were,” he says. Even before he was born, Tupac was immersed in his family’s political endeavors.

His mother, Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party, represented herself in the Panther 21 trial when she was pregnant with Tupac. “I don’t think there was any man that Afeni loved the way she loved Tupac or any woman that Tupac loved the way he loved his mother.”

Their relationship – and clues to the choices they made – are dissected in the five-part docuseries, “Dear Mama.” Directed by Allen Hughes, it goes into Afeni’s background and the kind of path she blazed for her son.

“Afeni was that person who could be cussing you out one minute and in tears the next in the same conversation about the same person,” Joseph says.

Similarly, “Tupac didn’t run away from the truth,” Hughes says. “He would get big at times and he would get grand. But, then, in the next hour, you would see the very sober, compassionate individual. When you tell these stories…it still becomes mythical because it’s so ridiculous. That’s the one thing about this kid – he was not quiet.”

Considered one of the most influential rappers of the 20th century, Tupac used his music to address social issues. He was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio, served eight months on sexual abuse charges and died as the result of a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25.

During his time as an artist, Tupac produced a string of hit albums, starred in several films and served as the subject of more than a dozen documentaries.

“Dear Mama,” Hughes says, features archival footage that hasn’t been seen and vocals that haven’t been heard.

“For anyone who is a super fan of Tupac, there’s going to be a bunch of stuff you haven’t seen from him or of him,” Hughes says. “More importantly, you get to understand why he made certain decisions. As a friend for the brief time I was tight with him, I saw him becoming famous, outspoken and somewhat erratic, but I didn’t understand what that all was. Was it pressure from the fame? I didn’t know. And when you look back to his childhood and what he was birthed into, there were expectations that his mother and his uncles had for him.”

Tupac, Joseph says, was royalty among members of the Black Panther Party. “He was the firstborn – what we call ‘Panther cub’ because of who his mother was. He wrestled with this his whole life. There was never a period in his life when Tupac was completely at rest or comfortable with who he was or what was going on in life.”

Abandonment issues were real, particularly since men in the Panthers were often killed or imprisoned, Joseph says. “None of it makes sense when you’re a kid, when you’re firstborn and you’re at these celebrations and rallies. And by the time you’re 8, 9, 10 years old, you’re living in an unheated apartment in Baltimore where the lights have been cut off because mom couldn’t pay the ConEd bill.

“That tension comes up in his music, respecting the strength of freedom fighters, but, at the same time, that disappointment where, in a song like ‘Dear Mama,’ he refers to his father as a coward. All of that was true for him. All of that pure honesty came out in his music.”

The five-part series addresses Tupac’s father as well, suggesting the person he thought was his father wasn’t.

The Tupac most fans didn’t know also emerges.

“He was completely available to whatever emotion he was in,” Hughes says. “If that was rage, if that was joy, if that was love, if that was violence. Whatever it was, he accessed it instantly. And that was a bit why he’s so misunderstood. He was in touch with his feminine side and his softer side and he was unafraid to express that. That’s what makes him singular, even as a rock star.”

“Dear Mama” airs on FX and Hulu.