In the 26 years since Tupac’s passing, there have been numerous documentaries and TV specials covering the life and legacy of the iconic rapper. However, director Allen Hughes believes that his latest project, the Tupac and Afeni Shakur FX docuseries Dear Mama, will be different from any other prior documentary.

Although some of the previous documentaries have been well-received, such as MTV’s Tupac: Resurrection, which was told by Tupac himself via various interviews, a deep dive into who Tupac was and what he became had not been fully explored. After initially hesitating to take on the project when he received the call from Tom Whalley, the trustee of the Tupac Estate, Hughes agreed to the project’s goal of understanding Tupac as best as possible.

“There have been a million pieces done on him, but none of them really did the trick as far as understanding completely that narrative and that human being and the complexities and the dualities,” Hughes tells Billboard. “You talk about the surface stuff, but there was never a deep dive. I wanted to understand.”

Hughes and his twin brother Albert started their careers with Tupac by directing his first three music videos and ultimately forming an intense personal friendship with the rapper. Unfortunately, things went south, and for this reason, Hughes received backlash for taking on the film due to his 1994 incident and fallout with Tupac. However, the director plans to confront the incident head-on in Dear Mama, turning the camera on himself at the end of the second episode.

Despite this, Hughes assures fans that his fallout with Tupac will not play a role in the outcome of the docuseries. “What kind of b**** a** s** would I be on to first off not be proud of the icon he’s become and why would I want to s*** on that. And if anything I took the job to understand him more. You go around the world. Africa, South America, Asia, Europe, you see that mural. You don’t see anyone around the world like that. I don’t give a f*** who it is,” said Allen Hughes in a recent Breakfast Club interview.

The director also focuses on the story being told with the help of those who knew Tupac best, such as family, close friends, and peers. “For all the alleged crimes he was caught up in or were litigated, if you weren’t a friend or family that was there, I’m not relitigating,” Hughes said to Billboard of his approach. “It’s only through the eyes of people who were there or close to him and how it dovetails back into the dynamic with his mother. It’s not a normal documentary in the way of ‘Let’s go explore.’”

Along with discovering how poor Tupac really was in his early life and Afeni’s facing and fighting off 100 plus years on her own, Hughes revealed the number one thing he learned from working on Dear Mama.

“The number one thing Allen learned about Tupac directing Dear Mama was Tupac’s artistic side. “The number one thing. Let’s set aside recording artist. Let’s set aside actor. Let’s set aside the poet. He’s a pure artist. He’s an artist first,” said Hughes on Sway In The Morning.

Dear Mama premiered with episodes one and two airing on FX at 10 p.m. ET/PT on April 21st 2023. Every week, a new episode will air on Friday as the series concludes on May 12th, two days before Mother’s Day. Along with exploring Tupac’s life and legacy, the series will also explore the life of his mother, Afeni Shakur. Overall, the docuseries promises to provide a unique and in-depth understanding of the iconic rapper that has never been seen before.