EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jai White Recalls Friendship w/ Tupac – He Was Like 2 Different People

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jai White – Tupac Was Like 2 Different People

It’s been more than 20 years since Tupac Shakur’s tragic death, but his memory still lives on with his music and memories from those who were close to him. theJasmineBRAND recently caught up with Michael Jai White at The Forgiven premiere, where the actor recalled his friendship with the legendary rapper. In fact, White says that there were two sides of ‘Pac that the public didn’t see. He explains,

I used to hang out with Tupac we used to play pool together a lot. He wasn’t that good (laughs) but we used to play. People that really knew him [know that] he was like two different people. He could turn on the street persona in a second like a switch but the guy I knew wasn’t that. People used to say all the time when they would meet him with me because he would let down his guard, people would always say ‘you know your friend looks a lot like Tupac.’ They never thought it was him because he was way sillier than you would think, he spoke very much like he came from the suburbs and he behaved that way.

Tupac Shakur (circa 1996)

He continued,

It was tantamount to Al Pacino going into the Scarface persona at the drop of a dime. He would just flip right into a different character and those people that know him very well know this to be true. I got to know a different person than a lot of people knew. The last time we hung out I think we were all at this place called the Hollywood Athletic Club where we used to always meet up, play pool and eat. I knew a different dude and a number of people I know also knew that guy.

In totally unrelated news, you can catch White in the upcoming film, The Outlaw Johnny Black, a Western parody starring and written by White. See the teaser below.

By –Jake Rohn