Grapes, Water, Tupac, & John Singleton

People have asked me why I decided to name my recent project, . I’ve only revealed the reason to a few up until this moment. But the answer I feel requires a little bit of backstory first.

I remember freestyling with my friends in middle school and high school, as someone would beatbox or make a beat on a wall, trash can, or lunch table. At the time it felt like these moments would last forever. It was our dream to be rappers, even if we didn’t divulge them aloud to one another. We wanted to be able to do this for life, this thing we call hip hop. But it wasn’t just the rapping aspect of hip hop that we loved, it was the culture as a whole.

Hip hop appeared to be a vehicle that offered a young black male everything he wanted in life. Money, fame, women, power, and respect. We grew up in the era of the black mogul, when Jay Z and Diddy were doing things that hadn’t been done, and everybody was trying to follow in their footsteps. The generation that was still influenced by the force that was Tupac Shakur, whom had represented so much more than just hip hop. Tupac dead was just as influential to us as he was alive. This made us see that even in death hip hop can help you transcend space and time, hip hop could make you immortal.

On the subject of Tupac, I remember asking my middle school drama teacher if she thought I could play Tupac in a movie about his life one day. She looked at me for a second and very candidly replied, “Yes.”

Now fast forward many years later, with me still holding onto dreams of hip hop grandeur that included not only Grammy’s, but dreams of acting in films that reflected the culture that sparked my young mind.

I had met Tupac’s first manager, Leila Steinberg, in the Fall of 2010. She was facilitating a private course in Los Angeles on the study of Tupac’s life and work titled, The Mind Makaveli. Around this same time it had been announced that they were looking for an unknown artist to portray Tupac in an upcoming biopic.

I began working with Leila in her Microphone Sessions, that helped cultivate artist by providing them with a space to workshop new pieces on a weekly topic. These are the same Mic Sessions she started with Tupac in her living room when he lived in Marin City. I developed my lyricism in these sessions, and also began developing the depth of the character that would be required to portray Tupac on film. But like many things in the entertainment industry the project was derailed and I moved on to other aspects of my life.

A couple of years had gone by and I was at a very self reflective period in my life. So I began planning a 3 months trek through Africa, starting in Egypt. During this planning I got the opportunity to meet John Singleton, who was now attached as the new director with the Tupac film. We exchanged contact information and kept in touch with each other for some time.

A day before I left to Egypt, Mr. Singleton had invited me to his yacht. He gave me the opportunity to read a portion of the script for Tupac and told me the rough date of when auditions would be held. Based on that timeline, I cut my trip significantly short. But even though I came back early, the audition that I had been preparing for never came to fruition. However that meeting with John Singleton provided me with a clarity towards my own art and music.

While sitting down, reading the script, Mr. Singleton asked if I would like anything to eat or drink.

“Sure,” I replied, thinking in my head, that this is the most surreal moment I’ve ever experienced.

Here I am, with award winning director, John Singleton, and he’s showing me hospitality. He goes to his bar and says that he has grapes and water as he begins to bring them over. The meeting ended shortly after and I went home to finish packing and catch my flight. At the time I felt that I may have potentially had the most life changing meeting of my life and a real shot at portraying a cultural icon on screen. I called my mom to tell her how the meeting went and could hear her smiling as she said, “So you got to hang out with John Singleton and he offered you grapes and water.”

A few days later I’m sitting on the Pyramids of Giza, reflecting and writing, for sure thinking that I was going to come back to the US and my life was going to be changed forever. I finished writing my project while in Egypt and decided to title it, , as a reminder of how far I’ve come and how much further I wanted to go. This project is a reflection of self more than anything. A reflection on a moment in time of my soul’s deepest dreams. I hope provides your soul with the same nutrition that it provided me while creating it.

One Love.

Grapes & Water available 01.13.15