Tupac Thug Angel Life of An Outlaw

Tupac Shakur was as much angel as outlaw. Unlike some of the other profiles made in the wake of his passing, Thug Angel doesn't focus only on the first few days of his career or the last few days before his death, but on his entire life. That makes it valuable as much for the fan as for the merely curious. The production was backed by friends and associates and includes never-before-seen material. It's surprisingly evenhanded, juxtaposing footage of Tupac at 17, for example--sounding mature beyond his years--with an interview conducted years later on a shooting range. Passion was still in full effect, but idealism had been replaced by paranoia. Peter Spirer's film is a documentary, not a music video, and contains only snippets of Tupac's work. At its best, Thug Angel makes a compelling case for his continued relevance as an artist and activist. --Kathleen C. Fennessy


In the $3 billion dollar industry of hip-hop music, no one has touched as many lives with a microphone as Tupac Shakur. In this never-before-seen footage, see Tupac at seventeen, a young man at the edge of his destiny, speaking out about injustice on the streets of Oakland. See him at the brink of his stardom, kickin' freestyles with Treach, Biggie and Grand Puba. See him at the shooting range, at home, at the highs and lows of his career, as a man constantly plagued by and provoking the media. See Tupac as never seen before, as the people closest to him knew him. See him as Thug Angel. Directed by Academy Award nominee Peter Spirer (Rhyme and Reason), "Thug Angel" takes you beyond the drama of Tupac's notoriety in the press through all-new interviews with friends, collaborators and scholars as they look back on Tupac and define his legacy today.