Demetrius Shipp, Jr.

I vowed to never be on camera down-talking another black man.

This is really honest: I have to remind myself not to look another black man as a threat.

Everybody has the Tupac that they admire. Certain people love the hip-hop person, the rapper. Strictly just the rapper. A lot of people, the newfound Tupac fans... they're into Death Row-era Tupac. But that was only nine months!

Music is my passion. I've always been musically driven and musically inclined. I play the keyboard a little bit. I love listening to music and discovering music. That's my love, but I'm not a rapper at all.

I want to be a part of bringing people together and sharing that love.

Tupac was a person who was all about love. I feel like that's me, too; that's who I've always been.

My father's relationship with Pac was something I was proud of.

I want to impact some lives down the road, one by one, and I want people to look at my story and my life as an inspiration.

I want to inspire people to do whatever they desire in life.

I submerged myself in his life. Before I went to sleep at night, that's what I was watching. The videos would literally be going on while I was sleep; that's what I was hearing in my sleep. I woke up in the morning, Tupac.

I just have to remember that everybody has their time.

I was working - just a regular working-class guy - but, at the same time, always aspired to do music.