John Singleton Recalls Dissing 2pac's Rap Skills & Flirting With Janet Jackson

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The director shares some on-set anecdotes from "Poetic Justice."

After Boyz n the Hood came out, John Singleton sought to offer something new. His followup effort was successful to that end as he wrote a script for his friend Janet Jackson. The director revealed took a trip back in time to share some of the memories he made while filming Poetic Justice. One of these stories involved 2pac's talents. He also dished on the crew's flirting and on-set antics.

John Singleton Recalls Dissing 2pac's Rap Skills & Flirting With Janet Jackson
 “I’m the stupidest person in the world to be telling Pac [that],” he said with a chuckle. “When we were working initially, he wasn’t that good a rapper. I was like, ‘You a’ight, but you a better actor.’ He was like, ‘Fuck you, man. Hip-hop is my voice.’ Hip-hop, being a rapper—that’s like being a gunslinger, that’s your manhood. Can’t nobody take that from you. 
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“If you can spit 16 bars and take somebody down that’s like having a multiple weapon. I’m telling him, ‘That’s not your weapon—your weapon is the fact that you’re going to be a major star.’ He couldn’t see it. I’m stupid for saying it but also, he couldn’t see it. He couldn’t see how one thing could begat the other.

“Me and Pac didn’t know Janet was married so we both were flirting with her and stuff. We’re on the set joking, with Janet there and the whole cast, and I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want you kissing my actresses—I don’t know where your lips have been. We gonna do this love scene with y’all, we’re gonna have to get you a double. He was like, ‘Fuck doing that, [only] if we’re really fucking!’ We’re gonna have to get you an AIDS test for you to kiss my actress! And it became a joke. And then a joke turned into some publicity and he was the only one that was left out of the circle. He knew, but he went along with it. They were in on the joke. It was just the salt and sugar of us messing around on the set.”

Read the full interview here

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