Soulja Boy Talks “Juice” Remake Criticism: “I would never try to disrespect Tupac—ever.”

Folks seemed highly critical when word spread that rapper Soulja Boy confirmed that he was playing “Bishop” in the remake of the movie, ‘Juice.’ Directed by Ernest Dickerson, the movie was originally released in 1992 and starred the late Tupack Shakur and Omar Epps. Soulja spoke w/ the good folks @ Rap-Up.

About folks being critical about him playing Bishop: Man, I’m a Tupac fan. I respect Tupac. It’s nothing like that. I would never try to disrespect Tupac—ever. It was just an idea that I had for a mixtape. The movie is just a movie… You had Game who was in Belly 2. You had a lot of different rappers that were in a lot of different movies. I think they’re saying that just ’cause of who I am, it’s Soulja Boy

On how far along production is: We’ve been filming here in Atlanta. Waka Flocka’s gonna be in the movie. It’s gonna be crazy. He called, he reached out. We met up with the director. Now I’m almost to the stages where I just gotta finish these last three shoots and then I’ll be cool.

Why he put Waka in the movie: I think it was a good idea to bring him on board because the director was trying to get me to put some rappers in it, and he was naming a lot of different rappers. I just felt like if I was gonna put anybody in the movie, it should make sense and be somebody that I really got a relationship with in the rap game, for real. Peep the full interview here.