Despite being an actor growing in esteem, Tupac’s nephew has revealed why he wouldn’t play his legendary rapping uncle in an upcoming biopic.
Malik Shakur, whose mother Sekyiwa Shakur is Pac’s sister, spoke with HipHopDX about his connection to the rapper to coincide with the 25th anniversary of his death. Despite only being extremely young when he died, Malik has grown up with constant reminders of his uncle’s legacy all around him, but he still doesn’t believe he should play him on screen.
“It’s funny because there’s two pictures on my mother’s fridge in her house and one of them is me in Atlanta at a protest to the killing of Trayvon Martin, and the other is ‘Pac, a little bit over 18,” Malik explained.
“In the photo, I think he’s [Tupac] in Baltimore or something and he’s at a protest … yeah he’s protesting Apartheid, I think, and we look just alike. We’re making the same fist … I guess he gave me that bone in my body.
“When I hear stories like that about him being a card-carrying member of the communist party or I hear about him fighting apartheid before any celebrity … that’s really relatable to me now. These stories tell me what he felt was important to him back then.”
Malik has decided to follow the acting path rather than directly in his uncle’s footsteps. He’s starred in the short films Buck and Homegoing, but don’t expect him to play Tupac anytime soon.
“I think there’s a lot of talented actors that could do that,” he commented. “Well, at least a brother that looks a little bit more like him … but I would love to be a part of the process of writing that story. I think a huge thing me and my family talks about is being able to tell our own stories, especially when it comes to not only Pac but the Shakur family [as a whole].
“So yeah, I’d love to be a part of that process, I just don’t know if I’d be the actor, though.”
