Plot summary

The film opens at the Clinton Correctional Facility in 1995. A documentary filmmaker (Hill Harper) shows up with his crew and equipment to sit down with Tupac Amaru Shakur (Demetrius Shipp, Jr.). The filmmaker wants to get the real story from the man himself.In 1971 New York City, Tupac's mother Afeni (Danai Gurira) is released from prison along with her fellow Black Panthers following her acquittal of several charges. She is pregnant with Tupac and she voices her complaints to a reporter over the unfair treatment of black individuals in the country from not only society, but the system sworn to protect its citizens.From an early age, Tupac is taught about black pride and is witness to multiple injustices in his East Harlem neighborhood involving racism and police brutally against African Americans. His stepfather Mutulu (Jamie Hector) is an Afrocentric Black revolutionary who has influenced Afeni, who in turn influences her son and Tupac's sister. Mutulu is wanted by the FBI for a robbery of an armored truck and the murder of two police officers and a guard. FBI agents follow Afeni and her children, despite her telling them to back off. Mutulu is eventually caught during a raid when cops burst into the Shakurs' apartment, with cops violently pinning Tupac and his sister to the ground.As Tupac gets older into his teens, he distances himself more and more from his mother's ideals and behavior. He eventually moves out on his own, along with his sister. At one point, Tupac catches Afeni outside his apartment purchasing drugs from a dealer. He punches the dealer and pulls his mother away, scolding her for being an addict. He later takes her to seek treatment, assuring her that she is strong enough to overcome her addiction.During his teen years, Tupac attends the Baltimore School for the Arts where he becomes close friends with Jada Pinkett (Kat Graham). She promises that they will always be friends. Tupac reads her a poem that he wrote for her and about her.Tupac's music career starts when he joins the Digital Underground record company for their hit "Same Song". Under his manager Leila Steinberg (Lauren Cohan), he begins to have hip-hop albums produced. Although his music is popular, he gets into hot water with record producers for songs like "Brenda's Got a Baby", which is about a young girl who is raped by her cousin, has a baby on the bathroom floor, turns to prostitution and selling drugs for money, and how she is ultimately murdered on the streets. Tupac argues that the song comes from real stories in the streets of the impoverished and how nobody is willing to help people like the subject of the song. He also points out that the song sounds good, and the producers agree on that. He is also criticized of misogynistic lyrics toward women, which some speculate is attributed to his feelings toward his mother. In response, Tupac releases "Keep Ya Head Up" as a tribute to black women.In 1991, Tupac also starts an acting career by appearing in movies such as "Juice", as well as collaborating with other rap artists like Biggie Smalls (Jamal Woolard), both performing to excited crowds at venues. He generates as much praise as he does controversy in what he does outside of music, such as donating money to poor black citizens. He is seen giving money to two women and a little girl.Outside of his performances, Tupac has frequent run-ins with the police when he is caught jaywalking and is beaten by two racist officers. On another occasion, he and one of his friends catch two white men assaulting a black man. When they try to intervene, one man pulls a gun on Tupac and tells him to get lost. He goes back to his limo and gets his own gun. It turns out the two men were off-duty cops, and Tupac is arrested for shooting at them.Another incident occurs when Tupac is performing at a music festival in 1992. Tupac and his guys are confronted by other guys looking to start talking trash. Tupac tells them off, but one of the guys tries attacking him. Tupac fights him off, and a brawl ensues. Someone fires their gun. In the ensuing chaos, a 6-year-old boy is shot and he dies in his mother's arms.Tupac becomes involved with a drug dealer named Nigel (Cory Hardrict), and they do business together in music. When things go sour, Tupac and Nigel have a falling out. Nigel's guys want to retaliate against Tupac, but Nigel says that nobody touches Tupac unless he says so. The other guys appear to go against Nigel's orders.In 1993, Tupac meets a young woman named Briana (Erica Pinkett). She seduces him in the club and gives him a blowjob among the crowd. They have sex, but Briana starts stalking and harassing Tupac with multiple phone calls. She is with Tupac and other men in a hotel room one night. Tupac receives a massage from her and he later falls asleep. Briana barges into his room hours later crying and screaming, indicating that the other men raped her. Tupac is later on trial for rape and harassment charges.On November 30, 1994, Tupac is attacked by three black men in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios. Tupac is shot five times before the men flee. Biggie and other guys in Tupac's entourage rush to him before he is taken to the hospital. When Biggie tries to visit Tupac, he is turned away for not being a family member. Tupac checks himself out of the hospital early against doctors' orders.The following day, Tupac's sentence is declared in his trial. He is found not guilty of rape, but is found guilty of illegal touching, and is thus sentenced to 18 months in prison. Tupac calls out the judge for not looking him once in the eye since the whole trial began, stating that the judge doesn't care about justice, and that Tupac's life is in God's hands. This is where the documentary filmmaker's work ends.While in prison, Tupac hears Biggie's song "Who Shot Ya?" and interprets it as a "diss track" bragging about Biggie's alleged involvement in his shooting. Tupac encounters Mutulu in there, who encourages him to work after he gets out. Mutulu later murders another inmate by stabbing him to death. Tupac is also assaulted by two guards while in prison.Following his release from prison after serving eight months of his 18 month sentence, Tupac signs a contract to Death Row Records under Suge Knight (Dominic L. Santana), and he collaborates with artists like Dr. Dre (Harold House Moore) and Snoop Dogg (Jarrett Ellis). Tupac and Dre work on the hit song "California Love". He releases the track "Hit Em Up" as a response to "Who Shot Ya?" in which Tupac brags about supposedly having an affair with Biggie's wife Faith Evans (Grace Gibson). This causes a rift between him and Jada when she confronts him about the song, but Tupac is rude to her and she turns her back on him.While working with Suge, Tupac is witness to much of Suge's brutalities. During a dinner party, Suge calls out a member of his group for stealing money from him. He force-feeds him the food off his plate and has his other guys beat the man up.Tupac meets Kidada Jones (Annie Ilonzeh), daughter of record producer Quincy Jones. She is angry at Tupac for comments he made about her father for going around having relationships with white women. Tupac defends his comments by saying that successful black men tend to go after white women instead of other black women, but he meant no disrespect by it. He tries to sweet-talk Kidada but she has none of it. Eventually, Kidada warms up to him and they start a relationship, which evolves into an engagement. Kidada meets Afeni, and Afeni tells Tupac she approves of Kidada.In Tupac's final months, he decides to split from Death Row Records to start his own company to produce more music, movies, and TV shows. Suge reminds Tupac that he is still in debt from other business dealings. Later, however, Suge offers Tupac a chance to become partners, with Suge taking over the west coast part of Death Row, and Tupac taking over the east coast. Tupac agrees to it.On September 7, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Tupac, Suge, and the rest of their guys are leaving the Mike Tyson/Bruce Seldon boxing fight at the MGM Grand. One of the Death Row guys alerts Tupac and Suge to a gang member that jumped him and stole his chain. Tupac and company confront the gang member, and Tupac punches him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Suge and his guys start assaulting the man as Tupac is pulled off of him.Tupac stops by his hotel to change his clothes. He tells Kidada about the situation. She tries to go with him but Tupac assures her he will only be gone for an hour.Tupac and Suge drive from the hotel with the rest of his guys following them. On the road, they are chatted up by two women pulling up next to them at a red light. On Tupac's side, another car pulls up with several unseen gang members inside. Tupac takes a look and a gun sticks out. Tupac is shot multiple times before the car flees the scene. Suge rushes Tupac away from there and drives about a mile before his tires blow out. Police officers on bikes try to stop Suge until the other guys show up and one of them shows the officers his badge. Suge desperately tries to save Tupac as others gather around him, but Tupac starts to lose consciousness.The ending text states that Tupac died six days later at a local hospital from his gunshot wounds. To this day, his murder remains unsolved. By the time of his death at age of 25, he released 15 albums, seven posthumous albums, sang and recorded 713 songs, and acted in seven movies.The film concludes with a clip of the real Tupac Shakur talking about people knowing the real him.