Netflix has officially announced The Tupac Tapes with Angie Martinez, a four-episode video podcast event premiering November 27, 2026. The project will feature previously unreleased recordings from Martinez’s extensive 1996 conversation with Tupac, which took place approximately three months before the rapper was fatally shot in Las Vegas.
For years, fans have questioned why Martinez never released the complete conversation, especially considering Tupac’s outspoken personality and the explosive tensions surrounding hip-hop during the final months of his life.
Now, she’s ready to revisit the recording that she once believed was too dangerous to share.
Martinez was building her career at New York’s Hot 97 when Tupac contacted her about appearing in his music video for “I Ain’t Mad at Cha.” She declined because of the hostility surrounding his relationship with the East Coast rap scene. However, Tupac insisted his disagreements weren’t with everyone in New York. Martinez wanted listeners to hear that distinction, and he invited her to interview him at his Los Angeles home.
The meeting was personal from the beginning. Martinez recalled that Tupac had New York pizza waiting when she arrived, an unexpected gesture from an artist associated with the West Coast rivalry. What followed was a candid conversation that ran for roughly two hours, including anger, humor, frustration, and pointed comments about other industry figures.
Only 12 minutes made it onto the air.
Martinez made that decision herself, concerned that airing certain accusations and confrontational remarks could intensify an already volatile situation. Speaking about the interview in 2016, she described Tupac as “aggressive and poetic,” explaining that he had specific grievances he wanted the public to hear. She was weighing a major exclusive against the potential consequences of broadcasting it.
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The stakes were high in 1996. Tupac had joined Death Row Records after surviving a 1994 shooting at a Manhattan recording studio. His conflict with The Notorious B.I.G. and Bad Boy Records had become one of rap’s most closely watched rivalries, with the diss track “Hit ‘Em Up” adding to the hostility. Tupac was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and died six days later at age 25. Biggie was killed in March 1997.
In her new interview with Netflix, Martinez explains that she withheld portions of the tapes because she believed their contents could damage relationships and potentially put people at risk. After Tupac’s death, the decision became more complicated. She did not want one highly charged conversation to become his defining final statement.
But the material never disappeared. Martinez recounted in 2019 that the tapes had spent years in boxes in her laundry room until Jay-Z urged her to protect them. During a Roc Nation meeting about her archive, he warned that a flood or fire could destroy the recordings. She subsequently had the audio digitized and placed the original tapes in a secure vault.
Her reluctance persisted for decades. As recently as late 2025, Martinez discussed concerns about releasing comments involving people who had since died, arguing that Tupac’s anger needed to be understood within the circumstances of the time.
“They’re a piece of hip-hop history,” she told Netflix. The series will provide context rather than simply spotlight controversial sound bites.
The four episodes will include perspectives from Charlamagne Tha God, Joe Budden, Big Boy, Dream Hampton, RZA and Wallo. Their discussions will examine Tupac’s life, the media environment surrounding the East Coast-West Coast conflict, and Martinez’s responsibility as the interviewer who controlled what listeners heard.
Martinez also revisits physically editing the original recording with a razor blade, deciding which segments could responsibly air. She says revisiting the interview reveals a young man wrestling with hurt and betrayal beneath his public bravado. The series also examines how one editorial choice shaped her own career.
