‘Dear Mama’ director Allen Hughes: Tupac ‘inherited trauma from his mother’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

“Tupac was born into a struggle,” says “Dear Mama” director Allen Hughes, who helmed the FX docuseries about the life and legacy of Tupac Shakur and his mother, the Black Panther activist Afeni Shakur. “I discovered along the way he was also born into a tremendous amount of trauma, inherited trauma from his mother and the movement. And I think that he was aware that he was being tested.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

Hughes was nominated for an Emmy for “The Defiant Ones” in 2018. His filmmaking career has included “Menace II Society” (1993), “The Book of Eli” (2010) and “Broken City” (2013). Hughes, who directed several music videos for Tupac, felt compelled to his story through the lens of the late rapper’s relationship with his mother.

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“I can relate to being raised by a single mother, one in poverty too,” Hughes explains. “My mother was also an activist in the women’s rights movement, so I felt I could discover Tupac’s journey through his mother’s journey. There’s this saying, ‘the sins of the father will visit the son,’ or whatever the saying is. What about the actions and thoughts of the single mother and her children?”

“I know how my mother’s activism, radical activism, affected my brother and I,” he continues. “I think Afeni’s story was just a fresh revelation as well. A lot of women get erased from history, especially women of color. And we discovered along the way there was a lot of stuff that she was actively involved in, in the Panther movement. And even when she went to trial, the famous Panther 21 case, defending herself, which was a bold decision. A lot of this stuff has been erased from the history books, and I just was not aware. So it was quite the revelation for this narrative.”

“Dear Mama” premiered April 21 on FX. The five-part docuseries is available to stream on Hulu.

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