Allen Hughes promises his documentary series examining the relationship between the late Tupac Shakur and Afeni Shakur, his mother, will feature never-before-seen or heard footage and audio. On Friday (Jan. 13), Deadline reported the project “Dear Mama” was given an April 21 premiere date on FX; it will also stream on Hulu.
“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 Hughes, who serves as director for “Dear Mama,” on Thursday (Jan. 12) at the FX TCA presentation. The longtime filmmaker revealed that fans can expect more than just unheard records from the rapper. He noted the audio is “not just some of his acapellas and vocals. There is a lot of stuff of Tupac from his baby years that had never been seen.”
He continued, “For Tupac superfans, I believe that two of the most important things in the project is the never seen before. But most importantly, you get to understand why he made certain decisions.” The latest trailer dropped on Christmas. In it, the All Eyez on Me artist speaks about his mother’s impact on his life.
Hulu described the series as an “intimate wide-angle portrait of the most inspiring and dangerous mother-son duo (Tupac and Afeni Shakur) in American history, whose unified message of freedom, equality, persecution and justice are more relevant today than ever.”
In a previous interview, Hughes said he believed the West Coast rap icon’s untimely demise was partly caused by his public persona as a gangster. “To be a great artist, to be in the arts, period, it comes with delusions… Two-thirds of it is bulls**t, and I think we saw two-thirds of Tupac’s delusions that weren’t the art,” he explained on the “Hell and High Water” podcast.
View the “Dear Mama” trailer below.