YG Talks About Tupac Shakur's Influence On Him & The West Coast

During an intimate panel discussion at the the GRAMMY Museum (in Los Angeles), YG opened up about Tupac Shakur‘s influence on him as an emcee, being inspired to go after his high school degree, Pac‘s influence on the west, and Kendrick Lamar.

YG was the only millennial born rapper given the grace to sit on the stage. When asked about Pac‘s contributions, the west cost rapper said:

“He was reading all these books, his raps were like poetry and all that, it makes you want to be better–at every level. Because I didn’t graduate high school, but now it’s like I want to go back to school. [*applause*] I was six when Tupac passed. My momma, she’s from Compton, so I grew up off of West coast music. So, Tupac– I’ve been hearing about Tupac, Snoop Dogg, and everybody but, it was like after he passed, I started seeing more of like the posters and all that… When I got older, and started really listening to it [Tupac], it was like ‘oh, he’s really talking about stuff that I relate to’. He’s really talking about the black culture, you feel me? Not even about the west coast… Some people don’t have no father figures in their life, some people look at Tupac as their father figure, and they apply that to their life…”

When asked about if he believes the millennial generation is contributing enough socially with their music like Tupac did, here’s what YG had to say:

“It comes naturally. You’ve got artists like Kendrick Lamar, and that’s just what he do. It’s gotta come from the heart. If it’s not you, it’s not you. That was really Pac.”

Well said, YG… Other panelists included John Singleton, Mopreme Shakur (Tupac‘s brother), Chuck D, Ray Luv, Money-B, Paul Rodriguez, and more. While other members of Shakur‘s family, including his mother Afeni Shakur, cousins, and more were all in attendance.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t record the whole panel, but you can listen to YG‘s part of the discussion, below.