Allen Hughes defended his involvement in the upcoming FX documentary series Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur.
Hughes discussed his past issues with Tupac and the decision to direct Dear Mama while promoting the show. The director denied any resentment for Tupac, who attacked Hughes after getting fired from the movie Menace II Society.
“What kind of b#### ass s### would I be on to first of all not be proud of the icon he’s become?” Hughes said. “And why would I want to s### on that? If anything, the reason why I took the job was I want to understand him more.”
He continued, “I’m trying to understand—you go around the world, Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, you see that mural. You don’t see anyone around the world like that. I don’t give a f### who it is. You don’t see ‘em in Africa like Tupac … He’s the strange, paradoxical 20th century figure that you can project anything you want to: lover, fighter, saint, sinner, poet, philosopher, violence. Whatever you want to see, you’ll see in Tupac.”
Hughes believed he was able to explore Tupac’s life on a deeper level than other filmmakers. The director aimed to figure out who the late rapper truly was.
“My only confidence in this whole journey was like I just don’t feel his story was ever done justice in the documentaries and the features,” Hughes said. “I just feel like it was always surface stuff. Not to knock anyone because there were some docs and stuff that were decent.”
FX’s Dear Mama premieres on April 21. The documentary series will be available to stream on Hulu.
