Afeni Shakur

“I read every agreement of every contract. Anything I put my signature on, I really do read them. And I find things.”

“I know that my son was an honest person and an honest artist, and what he gave from himself through his art was the depth of his humanity.”

“I have never one day been ashamed of my son. Even when he was not right, that's ok.”

“That's what Tupac and I got from my dad - the rebellion and the need to fight back and be recognized for being different.”

“All we ever wanted was for Tupac to have the opportunity to tell his story.”

“When I carried Tupac, when I was five months pregnant they put me back in jail, my bail was revoked. When my bail was revoked, I was not allowed to have my own food.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.”

“Even after his death, Tupac is as powerful as he was when he was living.”

“First of all, a lot of people, a lot of women and men, have lost their children. I'm not the only one. But I happen to be blessed that my son gave me all these things to work with so that I get to work out my grief in a way that other people are not able to. So I can't possibly be downtrodden about that.”

“I just need to do Pac's work. I just need to. Maybe because I'm a recovering addict, I'm obsessed like that.”

“Tupac loved to read! Books were a constant part of his life.”

“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.”

“People can like him or not like him individually. But I need for them to know that he was a person of substance, and he was worthy, and he was a good son and a good brother and a good participant in the community.”

“I'm grateful my son was - as any mother would say, I had a very good son.”

“That's what people are who have that impact on us. They are ahead of their time. They can't help it. They get put into a small, frail body, and they are given a light that is much too bright for that cavity.”

“We must recognize that anger only agitates and incites. It cannot squelch or satisfy the hunger for justice.”

“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 never wanted to he just a housewife. I was too restless.”

“Black history won't stop no bullets.”

“We cannot go anywhere with anger that we haven't already been.”

“I wasn't available to do the right things for my son. If not for the arts, my child would've been lost.”