The late 2Pac continues to leave a mark on American culture over 25 years after his death. Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur has the chance to win more than one Primetime Emmy Award this year.
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced the nominations for the 75th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Wednesday (July 12). Dear Mama landed in two categories.
Several Dear Mama producers, including director Allen Hughes, earned nominations in the Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series. Plus, Hughes and Lasse Järvi picked up nods for Outstanding Writing For A Nonfiction Program.
In addition to Dear Mama, the rest of the Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series category includes HBO’s 100 Foot Wave, Nat Geo’s Secrets of the Elephants, Hulu’s The 1619 Project, and PBS’s The U.S. and the Holocaust.
Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur debuted on the FX network in April. The five-episode docuseries explored the legacies of Hip Hop icon 2Pac and his political activist mother.
“Wherever possible, we tried to find archival footage that hadn’t been seen so there’s a lot that we have in the five parts,” said Allen Hughes back in January. “There’s also audio that’s never been heard.”
The veteran filmmaker added, “For Tupac superfans, I believe that two of the most important things in the project [are] the never seen before. But most importantly, you get to understand why he made certain decisions.”
Allen Hughes and Lasse Järvi previously received Emmy nominations for their work on HBO’s The Defiant Ones. That docuseries covered Beats Electronics co-founders Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. In addition, Hughes directed cult classic films such as Menace II Society and Dead Presidents with his brother Albert Hughes.