Boosie Badazz is using his personal experience with the pitfalls of street life to help troubled youth see that there is more to live for. The Louisiana native says that he recognizes that the influence he has as a celebrity can be a significant example to those who look up to him. Reflecting on his youth, he believes that arguably one of the greatest rappers of all time could have helped him make better decisions to avoid legal trouble and jail time.

“If I would have met Tupac in ’94 or ’95 and he would’ve told me to change, you know — I was crazy about him — I probably would’ve changed,” he told TMZ in a new interview. “I probably never would’ve, you know… I think about that — how much influence someone had over me. And if somebody would’ve talked to me, I probably would’ve been thinking a different way, but I didn’t have that; I had the streets to learn from.”

Tupac famously passed away at the age of 25 after being shot in Las Vegas in 1996. Boosie was on the rise in the southern rap scene in the mid-to-early 2000s when he was sentenced to four years in prison in connection with gun and drug charges in 2009. The following year, he was indicted on a murder charge but was found not guilty in 2012. When speaking with the youth, he shares his life stories as a cautionary tale. “Don’t think you gone get lucky like me. You know, I had to explain to them [that] I done lost over 12 friends to homicide [and have] uncles in prison,” he noted.

These days, he hopes his lifestyle and the growth shown in his music prove to the younger generation that he has evolved from his For My Thugz days. “It’s an uphill battle, but if you listen to my music now, it has changed … I don’t rap about what I used to rap about, you know, ‘cause I’m not doing it,” explained Boosie. “I’m not rapping about that young s**t anymore … It’s gone be an uphill battle with what the other guys is rapping about, but you know we can save some lives.”

As previously reported by REVOLT in August, the “Wipe Me Down” artist began taking anger management classes to address the root of his temper and to take accountability for his shortcomings. In the interview with TMZ, he said that he has learned a lot about managing the expectations of others, something that he also hopes to impart to the youth.