Meshaun Arnold Labrone
as Tupac Shakur |
IHe was hated and loved-- and his life ended tragically when he was gunned down in Las Vegas. Tupac Shakur touched millions with his music, and it continues to today. Some say he was misunderstood, and now his inner struggles have been turned into a stage play going on right here in South Florida.
Tupac Shakur lived his life on the edge. And that side of him often came across in front of the cameras. But to those that knew him and his fans, he was more than a rapper or actor. He was a poet- who delivered a message with the many lyrics he put together. Shakur died at the age of 25, but his music and his controversial life lives on.
Channeling the legacy of Tupac is Meshaun Labrone Arnold. He performs on a graffiti riddled stage that represents the mind of Tupac. Arnold gave CBS4's Jawan Strader a behind-the-scenes look at a side of Tupac we've never seen before.
"It's so unfocused, but it's so dark, it's so violent and that's what you have here," said Arnold.
Under the spotlight at Miami-Dade's Kendall Campus, Arnold becomes Tupac Shakur—from the tattoos, to the swagger. He becomes the rapper in the play "The Hate You Gave: The Tupac Shakur Story."
Arnold shows fans and critics a look at Shakur's battle within himself behind bars, from his jail cell at the Clinton correctional facility in 1995.
"What you're going to get is a man that's alone with his thoughts and his inner demons and himself," said Arnold.
Arnold wrote the play as part of his FIU senior thesis, and feels he and Shakur are similar in some ways.
"He's a freedom fighter; he's someone that wasn't afraid of the establishment, he wasn't afraid to speak his mind and to speak out against the wrong. And I feel the same way being an artist."
Arnold and his friend, artistic director Arturo Fernandez, know they're dealing with a controversial play.
"We've seen it already in the response," said Fernandez. " Some people are excited about it, and ready to see it. Others are against the thought of it being produced without even seeing the show."
And that's part of the reason the two created their own theater company two and half years ago, called Ground Up and Rising, to take on plays others might shy away from.
"Provocative material that might not have a place anywhere else but you can see it here." |
