The case dragged on for twenty-five months. While out on bail, Afeni courted two men - Legs, a straight-up gangster who sold drugs and did whatever he needed to bring in the money, and Billy, a member of the Party. She was earlier married to Lumumba Shakur, one of her codefendants who remained incarcerated. When he found out she was pregnant, he divorced her. When Afeni's bail was revoked in early 1971, she was at the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village, pregnant with Tupac. While defending herself in the Panther 21 case, she says she had to fight to receive "one egg and once glass of milk per day" for herself and her unborn son. Speaking of this today, Afeni still gets emotional, "I never thought he"d make it here alive." In May of 1971, Afeni and thirteen of her colleagues were acquitted of all charges. A month later, on June 16, Tupac was born. .
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Finding himself standing before a room full of teachers and administrators at the Marcus Garvey school in South Central Los Angeles, Tupac explains Thug Life. "It's a double finger when you see people dressing like this," he says, pointing to his sagging jeans, pushing them down for extra emphasis. "Thug Life" is what Tupac calls his mission for the black community - a support group, a rap act, and a philosophy. "But why be a thug?" was heard from a member of his audience. "Because if I don't, I"ll lose everything I have. Who else is going to love me but the thugs?" Tupac's raps are part screaming, part preaching, part talking of others. The music is dense and, at times, so loud it drowns out the lyrics. You cannot dance to it. Perhaps that is intentional. "My music is not for everyone. It's only for the strong-willed, the soldiers music. It's not like party music- I mean, you could gig to it, but it's spiritual. My music is spiritual. It's like Negro spirituals, except for the fact that I'm not saying 'We shall Overcome.
