While he maintained a thug image, Tupac was a man of contradictions, recording sentimental raps in support of black women, including "Brenda's Got A Baby," and "Keep Ya Head Up."

(From an interview, March 9, 1994)

TUPAC SHAKUR: Because I was raised by a woman half my life in the... streets, it's like I got the woman's side, then I got real rough, manly values, like, forced on me. TUPAC: If I have to go to jail, I don't even want to be living. I want to just cease to exist for however long they have me there, and then when I come out, I'll be reborn, you know what I'm saying? I'll be taking less problems, and that my mind would be sharper, and the venom would be more potent. So, they shouldn't send me there. They should really try to... It's like, you don't want to throw gasoline on a fire to put it out.

(From an interview with Tabitha Soren, October 27, 1995)

TUPAC: The situation with me is like, what comes around, goes around... karma, I believe in karma. I believe in all of that. I'm not worried about it. They missed. I'm not worried about it unless they come back.

TUPAC: It was a trip. Every time they used to say something bad to me, I'd go, "That's all right. I got the number one record in the country."

TUPAC: We are businessmen. We are not animals. It's not like we're going to see them and rush them and jump on them. If they see us and they want drama, we're goin' to definitely bring it like only Death Row can bring it...

ERNEST DICKERSON, Director, "Juice": I think that he's very introspective. I mean, when we were shooting "Juice," in between takes, he would spend a lot of time by himself, writing. You know, he thinks a lot. He thinks about what's going on in the world, he thinks about what's going on in the neighborhoods. He thinks about what's going on in this country and around the world, and he talks about it in his music. And the thing that I really got from Tupac was that he was always thinking, always at work. His mind was always going.