September 13th is the 20th anniversary of the death of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur, and the day brings with it a new trailer for All Eyez On Me, the icon’s biopic starring Demetrius Shipp Jr. The hopes of including his story more in a potential Straight Outta Compton sequel seem dashed (or, at least, on hold) for now, but here we get an in-depth look at his life and struggles.

The imagery alone is powerful with our current cultural and political climates surrounding police brutality, especially against African-Americans. One of the first scenes in the new trailer is of cops roughing up a black man, while Shipp’s Shakur says, “Cops kill innocent black folk every day.” The rest cuts through moments from his life, his family, and his career.

Watch the trailer below.


A premiere date has yet to be announced, but the film is finally getting made after the rights were held up by lawsuits — one in which Morgan Creek sued Tupac’s mother for the music rights, and the other in which producers sued Morgan Creek for moving ahead with casting without their approval.

All Eyez On Me is directed by Benny Boom, who worked with artists like 50 Cent, Nas, Ciara, and Waka Flocka Flame on various videos. Now he helms a cast that also includes The Walking Dead and Marvel’s Black Panther star Danai Gurira as Shakur’s mother, Dominic L. Santana as Suge Knight, Jamal Woolard as Biggie Smalls (a role he played in Notorious), Harold House Moor as Dr. Dre, and Kat Graham as Jada Pinkett.

Shakur was fatally gunned down in 1996, which will be explored by actor Johnny Depp in a new film, Labyrinth, in which he plays the L.A. detective who developed a theory that it was set up by Suge Knight.


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