Tupac’s Father Speaks Out Against ‘Dear Mama’ Series: “I Didn’t Like It”

On May 12, Hulu and FX’s five-part docu-series Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni & Tupac Shakur put out its final episode. The show, which details the late rapper Tupac’s relationship with his mother, earned stellar reviews such as a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer, along with becoming the most-watched premiere episode for an unscripted FX series ever. However, one significant member of the show did not appreciate his portrayal.

Billy Garland, Tupac’s biological father who did not participate in his upbringing, was seen in two episodes of Dear Mama. But, in a new interview from this week conducted by The Art of Dialogue, Garland explained that the show’s executive producer, director, and writer Allen Hughes was not clear to him about how he would be portrayed in the series.

“After I saw the interview in the documentary, I was slightly disappointed… I didn’t like it, to be honest with you,” Garland noted. “I thought (the show) was more about something else than about Tupac if you know what I’m saying.”

Garland continued by saying he was not informed the series was also about Afeni Shakur and insisted that he may have still done the interview if he knew, but would not have been as willing to share personal information.

Elsewhere in his discussion with The Art of Dialogue, Garland asserted that Tupac was lied to about who Garland was, which became evident in Tupac’s 1995 hit “Dear Mama,” which peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and is certified 3x platinum by RIAA. In particular, Garland pointed out Tupac’s lyric about his father being “a coward” and “dead.”

“At first, I was upset because I’m trying to see you. But then it hit me,” he said. “For one, I ain’t dead and so you really didn’t know me. Because if you would have known me, you would have known that I wasn’t dead. So I knew there that someone had lied to him from that point. So later on when I found out that someone did lie to him, that song made perfectly good sense. I understood it totally.”

Even with his gripes with “Dear Mama” the song and show, Garland still expressed in his recent interview that he loves Tupac’s music, and thinks his deceased son was an incredible artist.

“I think [Tupac’s music] is absolutely beautiful,” he said. “I love all his music though. I listen to his music daily, every freaking day, and I like it. And then it hits me, he’s my son.”

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