‘Dear Mama’ Docuseries Explores Tupac And Afeni Shakur’s Relationship

Afeni Shakur, Tupac. Source: Bob Berg; Kevin Winter / Getty

A documentary about the loving relationship between Tupac and his mother, Afeni Shakur, is headed to FX. In spring 2023, Dear Mama: The Saga of Tupac And Afeni Shakur, is described as a love letter to Afeni Shakur from her only child.

“Told through the eyes of the people who knew them best, Dear Mama is an intimate wide-angle portrait of the most inspiring and dangerous mother-son duo in American history, whose unified message of freedom, equality, persecution and justice are more relevant today than ever,” read the description.

In the trailer, you hear Tupac speak proudly about his mother being a Black panther and how she inspired him. In one trailer, he shared that there was one quality he got from his mother: his arrogance. Afeni Shakur talks about teaching him how to “survive his reality.”

See the trailers below.

Dear Mama Wasn’t The Original Title

Director Allen Hughes initially had a different title for this five-part docuseries. It was titled Outlaw but he changed the name after realizing it didn’t represent the premise of the story.

“Afeni and Tupac’s journey together, the title Dear Mama means to me what they stood for,” Hughes told Deadline. “I wanted the audience to see why this is a timely, eternal struggle where, even when you get to the mountaintop, you have to stay vigilant to maintain the wins. Tupac’s song ‘Dear Mama’ just encapsulated this is about that woman’s struggle with those human rights. It’s all connected.”

Hughes described Dear Mama, which is also the name of his 1995 hit, as a “musical odyssey” that explores how his mother and his surroundings influenced his music.

“His thing was, ‘I gotta meet these people in the streets. I gotta meet these gangsters in the streets.’ His plan was to organize them, like the Panthers did. That was the plan. Before his life was cut short at 25, he would always say the thug life thing was about meeting these gangsters and street, the street elements, these young men he was not condescending to.”

Afeni Shakur died May 2, 2016 due to cardiac arrest. Tupac was shot and killed Sept. 7, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada.