Niamh Shackleton
On the 27th anniversary of his death, Tupac Shakur's friend and Outlawz bandmate E.D.I Mean has revealed that the late rapper wanted to go into politics.
Shakur sadly passed away on September 7, 1996, at the age of 25 after being shot.
The rapper made waves in the music industry with his hit songs like 'Changes', 'All Eyez On Me' and 'California Love', and apparently he wanted to make waves in politics too.
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E.D.I Mean, real name Malcom Greenidge, shared the unexpected revelation about his late friend in a rare media interview.
Greenidge, 49, thinks Shakur would have made a 'significant' impact in politics - just like he did with his music.
“He spoke about his desire to eventually go into politics, or in that field in some regard," Greenidge told the Mirror.
"He had all of the ingredients for any good politician: charisma, intelligence, a good orator. Pac had all these qualities.”
When asked what Tupac would have brought to the political world, E.D.I said: “I think his impact would have been equal to the impact his music had on the world and continues to have on the world."
At the age of 25, Shakur apparently had US, diversity, racism and equality 'on his mind', and Greenidge thinks the hitmaker would be surprised that 'not much has changed' nearly 30 years on from his passing.
He said: "I’m surprised in a sad kind of way, because not much has changed. I often think about what Pac would think about [Barack] Obama and the fact that we did have a Black president."
As to what kind of politician he think's Shakur would have made, Greenidge insisted that he 'had all of the ingredients' to make a good one.
Greenidge and Shakur sparked up a friendship after both being part of the group Outlawz, which was founded by Shakur just a year before his death.
Greenidge was part of Shakur's entourage on the night of the then-25-year-old's murder and was travelling in the car behind him.
Compton gang member Orlando Anderson reportedly shot several rounds into the BMW that Shakur was in, ultimately killing the rapper.
It was never proven that Anderson was Shakur's killer, however, and police are still investigating his murder.
Anderson himself was shot dead in a shootout two years after the rapper's passing.
Shakur and his friends were on their back from a Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas when he was shot.
Tyson and Shakur were friends, with the Changes hitmaker visiting Tyson during his prison stint.
The former boxer recalled getting a call from Tupac's mum, Afeni Shakur. Afeni is said to have told Tyson that she knew him through her son, who had previously met Tyson on a night out in a club.
Tyson told Drink Champs last year: "She explains... that he wants to come and visit me. I said great, OK.”
When Shakur came to see him, apparently Tyson's fellow inmates 'started clapping'.
Shakur was just one of a host of famous faces who went to see Tyson behind bars. Other celebs included B.B. King, James Brown, Whitney Houston and Florence Henderson, according to the boxer.