Radio Hall of Famer Angie Martinez is finally sharing previously unreleased portions of a 1996 interview with Tupac Shakur in “The Tupac Tapes With Angie Martinez,” a four-episode video podcast event premiering Nov. 27.
Angie Martinez interviewed Tupac Shakur three months before his death. She’s finally sharing her interview with the world in THE TUPAC TAPES WITH ANGIE MARTINEZ, a four-episode video podcast event, premiering on November 27.
Joining her to reflect on Tupac’s life, legacy, and… pic.twitter.com/9TIMpejDvA
— Netflix (@netflix) November 11, 2026
Martinez recorded the conversation three months before Shakur’s death, according to Netflix, which is releasing the series on its service that day. In a post Wednesday, the company also released a trailer and said she will be joined by guests reflecting on Shakur’s life, legacy and lasting impact, including Matt Barnes, Big Boy, Bootleg Kev, Joe Budden, Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Hed, E.D.I. Mean, Erica Ford, Dream Hampton, Lil’ Cease, Monie Love, Ed Lover, Aiyisha T. Obafemi, Wallo and RZA.
Martinez said in an accompanying interview that the sit-down grew out of Shakur reaching out about her appearing in his “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” video. She said she was not comfortable doing that, given the tension surrounding him in New York at the time, but that he explained his issues were not with all of New York and invited her to Los Angeles to interview him at his home. She recalled that he had New York pizza waiting when she arrived and that he was “passionate, emotional, funny, angry, brilliant, sometimes all within the same conversation.”
She said she long held back more of the tapes because some of what was said “could have hurt people, damaged relationships, and added fuel to an already dangerous situation.” She did air portions that she felt represented his message, particularly that he was not at war with an entire coast, but she chose not to release the more inflammatory parts. After he died, she said, “I felt a responsibility to protect something that was never meant to become his final statement.”
Almost 30 years later, she said, the recordings are “a piece of hip-hop history” that should not “just sit in my possession forever,” and she wanted to share them with context rather than “just play the most explosive moments and let people react.” The four-episode format, she said, also left room for what was happening in hip-hop, the media and her own position then as a young woman in radio “sitting with information that could have serious consequences.” Shakur’s life has already been dramatized on screen, including in the 2017 biopic “All Eyez on Me”.
Martinez said she was on the radio the day Shakur died and had to tell listeners the news, calling it “one of the most emotional moments of my career.” She said he was only 25, and she hoped the series would help audiences see him “not as a saint, not as a villain, but as a brilliant, flawed, deeply human young man whose life and work still have so much to teach us,” including recordings from his catalog that have continued to be revisited over the years.
