28
2017
All Eyez on Me Review – Keep Ya Head Up
An article by 
What up movie goers…do people still go to movies? Are any of you out there still reading?
Well let’s just start shall we…
You know the song, the one that when it starts with the synthesized “California Love” a rush is sent through any hip hop, scratch that; any music loving fan of summer time. The top is down, the windows are down, your cruising, the volume is up 10 more notches and you are sent into a fun, head bopping frenzy. And then you start the conversation; 2Pac.
Now being raised in what was probably the most influential time in hip-hop it fills me with a sense of pride being part of a history that leads you to the Kendrick Lamars, Chance the Rappers, and Childish Gambinos of today’s music. But I am always conscience of where they came from.
The long awaited All Eyez on Me Tupac Amaru Shakur biopic was released little over a week ago and well, besides the fact that they plucked a young man from his retail job and put him into the weighted timberland’s because he is the spitting image of the late great rapper the movie was…alright.
I was underwhelmed and it could be because I saw Straight Outta Compton and I compared it. I compared the casting, the story, the flow, the way they alluded to his acting career, the music, – more like the lack of music. I mean small bits of Dear Mama, and Brenda’s Got a Baby are great but what about his actual writing process besides the fact that we know he was just handed a notebook at a young age; and oh! don’t get me started on the lip syncing…WTF was that! I compared everything. Which is probably my mistake. But for some reason I was under the impression that they were going to take the son on the throne right beside N.W.A and Dr. Dre and make him surpass them in every way, as the man Tupac would’ve have done if he had snuck out the back door and over the fence of Suge Knight’s grasps and before his untimely death in September 1996. – Which also leads into everyone’s conspiracy of the whole Death Row vs. Bad Boy rivalry. – A story for another day.
The one thing I did love about this I guess you have to call it version of Tupac Shakur’s biography is the story between he and his mother Afeni Shakur; who in her own very own right was a visionary and true leader. I mean only a Queen who is deep down the epitome of a Soldier could endure being incarcerated as a Black Panther in the 70’s while pregnant with the later hip hop legend.
Somewhere along the lines the “team” forgot that Tupac (2Pac) was a brilliant leader, legend, and icon in hip-hop and they made a movie for the sake of making a movie; not a phenomenon that needed to be told as a story of a visionary in music and true poet of life. Perhaps in five years they could try again but for now, folks if you want to see a really good Lifetime Network debut of All Eyez on Me the kind of story of Tupac Shakur it’s in theater’s near you.
– I am definitely looking forward to A&E’s documentary series “Who Killed Tupac” coming out later this year.
“My plan is to show you I understand; you are appreciated” -Dear Mama, 2Pac
Let me know your thoughts…
