You can also see the in studio portion of the interview here.
I don’t think I ever thought I would be interested in journalism before this interview, and even afterward, I wasn’t sure. Or maybe I just didn’t realize that this too was journalism. I mean here you had a casually-dressed woman, walking and talking to Tupac Shakur on the Venice Beach Boardwalk, a place that I’d visited so many times before, and this was her job? It wasn’t long before I thought, I want to do that.
Not only did I want to do that, but I wanted to do it as a part of the MTV News crew as opposed to say one of the networks. This was in the 90s after all, before the internet as we know it now, or Google (Netscape Navigator anyone?), or social media, making MTV the ultimate destination for all things pop-culture. And they did it in a style and a voice that not only drew in, but also validated the youth they targeted.
While concerned parents and politicians were busy smashing CDs and making laws that required them to have explicit lyrics stickers, MTV was busy showcasing the artists who created the lyrics they were desperately trying to ban. And thus you have Tabitha Soren doing an interview with Tupac right when he was “out on bail, fresh out of jail,” no need for California dreamin’, this was her reality, and my envy.
Since then there has been some criticism of that interview. Some folks say Tabitha was condescending, some say she was hitting on him. She’s actually said he was hitting on her (I’ll have to find that and link it later). But for me, back in the day when I watched the interview for the first time as a teen, I was just fascinated to hear Tupac talk, just be regular, and that it was somebody’s job to do that with him.
But if video killed the radio star, social media took out MTV. I don’t even know if there is an MTV News anymore. If there is, it’s probably primarily online. Nevertheless, what an endearing impact it’s had, that helped define a generation and influence others to come.
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