Tupac Shakur’s Love of Don McLean’s Folk Classic “Vincent,” Explained by Allen Hughes
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The post Tupac Shakur’s Love of Don McLean’s Folk Classic “Vincent,” Explained by Allen Hughes appeared first on Consequence.
The world knows so much about the life of Tupac Shakur, but one element which has flown a bit under the radar is his love for the folk artist Don McLean. It’s something that director Allen Hughes explored in earnest with his Emmy-nominated docuseries Dear Mama, which features Shakur’s favorite McLean track “Vincent” in multiple ways — including people remembering Shakur’s love of the song going back to his school days, when he choreographed and performed a “movement piece” to the folk song for an assignment.
“Vincent” (which many, including this writer, might have mistakenly referred to as “Starry, Starry Night” over the years) is a tribute to the artist Vincent van Gogh, and the third track on Don McLean’s album American Pie. It’s a song which Shakur reportedly loved so much that his girlfriend is said to have played it on repeat while he was on his deathbed.
Hughes says he first learned of Shakur’s fascination with “Vincent” from the 2003 Oscar-nominated documentary Tupac: Resurrection, but he wasn’t familiar with the song at that point. “I’ll be frank,” he tells Consequence. “I heard [‘Vincent’] and I was like, God, this is corny as fuck. I didn’t like the feel of it. I didn’t want anything to do with this.”
However, when making Dear Mama, Hughes spoke with Donald Hicken, Shakur’s drama teacher from the Baltimore School of Performing Arts (“wow, what a poet himself,” Hughes notes), as well as Shakur’s friend John Cole — both of whom talked about what “Vincent” meant to both them as well as Shakur. “He said Vincent van Gogh was misunderstood, and he related to that, as an artist,” Hicken said in an interview with Hughes.
Thus, afterwards, Hughes says “I listened to it and we started playing around with it, and I was like, ‘Wow, this is powerful.’ I must admit, I was never a fan of poetry, but this journey has opened my eyes to the power of poetry and how beautiful it is.”
Shakur’s own poem about van Gogh, “Starry Night,” is also featured in Dear Mama — in addition, “Vincent” and what we assume about Shakur’s work led to one of Hughes’ favorite moments from the series, “when he’s doing that movement piece in the Baltimore Performing Arts School, and you see the transformation to ‘Hit Em Up’ at the House of Blues. You see him coming from the sweet, pure, artistic poet to gangster rapper — it was really rich.”
Emphasizing “Vincent” in the series, Hughes notes, allowed him to focus on Shakur’s life not just as an icon, but as an artist. “I think his greatest art outside of his poetry and his writing was — he’s a performance artist. I think that that’s also his self-destruction, because the lines between performance art and reality, I think he… There were no lines anymore. And ultimately, his greatest piece of art, he painted in his own blood, unfortunately.”
Says Hughes, “I’m a big fan of the song now. I gotta admit, I didn’t get it at first — and that’s why these guys and gals, that are these incredible artists, are so ahead of their time.”
FX’s Dear Mama is streaming now on Hulu. For more from Allen Hughes, read our full interview about his history with Shakur and the legacy of Menace II Society.
Tupac Shakur’s Love of Don McLean’s Folk Classic “Vincent,” Explained by Allen Hughes
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