Exclusive Interview with Leila Steinberg Part 1 of 1
Assemblies in Motion
Interview Date 10:00 a.m., April 4, 2002

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Interviewee: AIM……………………… Leila Steinberg
Interviewer: HitEmUp.com Founder………………… JON PETERS
Transcription: Courtesy of JOCKA, Jon Peters, Della AMARU Delgadillo

Leila Steinberg: Sports therapy, I used to work as an athletic trainer

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Oh really?

Leila Steinberg: with track and field athletes

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I didn’t know that

Leila Steinberg: But I was always in music, I’ve performed since I was a child and my grandfather was a Latin salsa dance teacher, my family’s full of musicians and dancers and my mom.. You want me to just keep telling you? (laughs lightly)

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Sure

Leila Steinberg: my moms family are like from Turkey and Mexico, their middle eastern and Latin 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Uh huh

Leila Steinberg: so I grew up doing middle eastern and Latin dancing with my moms side of the family and my dads side are like …. Polish and German, Jews …

Jon - HitEmUp.com: .. and where were you born?

Leila Steinberg: L.A.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: You were born in L.A. .. How did you meet up with Tupac?

Leila Steinberg: How did I meet up with Tupac .. really in terms of how we met and why we were supposed to connect has to do with my background in music and growing up in black schools, no being black

Jon - HitEmUp.com: uh huh

Leila Steinberg: and just being connected to black music tremendously, that was just an incredible point of growth for me as a child, going to black schools and being so influenced by Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder and all the voices that came out during the Vietnam war, the power of artists to mobilize people. Artists were really responsible for stopping the war…you know 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: uh huh

Leila Steinberg: I think that my upbringing and my influences and my connections to the music industry and then touring, I did a lot of touring. I was in a number of bands ..and my teen years through college .. I moved from L.A. , I lived over seas, I traveled a lot and then I ended up moving with my kids to Sonoma County and I moved there in 87’, I moved to Sonoma County and my husband at the time was a DJ in L.A. and then in Sonoma County he did a lot of the college parties 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: yeah

Leila Steinberg: we started doing a lot of promotions, we had EPMD and Tone Loc and JJ Fad, like all the early groups, we did a lot of stuff with Too Short. All the young groups that starting to take off..

Jon - HitEmUp.com: uh huh

Leila Steinberg: and he’s the DJ of the club and then I worked at a cultural center and I put on concerts all the time to raise money for the programs that I get, so we have like really strong names in Sonoma County 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: yeah
Leila Steinberg: and anybody that was trying to break into the rap industry and I got to know that we were here 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: uh huh

Leila Steinberg: So that is initially how Tupac heard about me, he was in high school and he just moved here from Baltimore and he wanted to meet people that was in the business and I was doing programs where I would take big artists and have young artists that weren’t known that I worked with closely..

Jon - HitEmUp.com: uh huh

Leila Steinberg: and have them open for bigger artists and then come and do my high school tours with me.. and Ray Love was a high school student in Santa Rosa at the time. Do you know who Ray Love is?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: yeah, from Strictly Dope

Leila Steinberg: Right. So Ray is Cap Callaway's friend and very talented and used to do all my high school programs with me and Ray would always say “You would make a great manager. Instead of being an artist, you should be a business women in this industry.” And I had kids and it was making it a lot harder for me to tour and to actually do what I wanted to do as an artist

Jon - HitEmUp.com: right

Leila Steinberg: so Ray kept bugging me and convinced me that I could probably do a lot for people wanting to break into the industry and manage. Then people kept telling, the night we had a performance group we used to meet a couple of times a week writing pieces together and then go out and do our little tours of the Bay area and the high schools and the foster facilities and people kept saying “Ah, there’s this new kid that just moved from Ruin City, he should be in your group, he’s so awesome!”

Jon - HitEmUp.com: yeah

Leila Steinberg: and I was teaching, I’m not a teacher but when you have an area of specialty, anytime people hire you to come in and teach anyway

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Yeah, it just kind of happens.

Leila Steinberg: Yeah, so I had done a lot in the arts and multicultural programs and I always thought I should be an educator for the educators because I felt that our teachers had failed us and our Educational system is so jacked up that I started writing my ideas for different ways we could teach history and tell the truth and I found myself doing workshops and teaching without a prudential. People would ask me to come in and do workshops. I kind of created a new niche in a program where I was teaching academic subjects creatively. He asked to come in during black history month and teach black history with the artists that I work with or women’s history or examine social structures, whether its anarchy or socialism and I would do my teaching work with the artists that I developed and worked with and that’s how “pac” ended up hearing about our program and people were telling me like “Oh my gosh, he’s this incredible young man. He has such a strong voice. He’d be perfect for your program.” And so I was in Ruin City going to do a workshop at Bayside Elementary one day and I met “Pac” and I just happened to meet him on the grass. He just came up and talked to me because of the book I was reading and he saw I was reading a “Louie Mandela” book and he just out of the blue, walked up and started talking to me. I had heard about him for a long time and he had heard about me but he had no idea that I was the person that he came up to talk to.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: really?

Leila Steinberg: So we started talking about the book and then after talking for five minutes he was like “So, what’s your name?” and I said “Leila” and it was just a funny thing because we ended up meeting on that afternoon after knowing that we were supposed to meet for about three months.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Definitely sounds like fait doesn’t it?
Leila Steinberg: Yeah, well defiantly, well we knew that and from that day on, we knew we were supposed to meet. 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: True.

Leila Steinberg: Definitely part of our destiny. 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: So from there how did you end up hooking him up with “Digital Underground” and so forth?

Leila Steinberg: Well what happened was, I knew a lot of people in the industry from the concerts that I had in my old day work that I had been doing. I brought “Pac” over to my place and introduced him to the group. To the different writers and artists that I had been working with. I told him about my program and the work that I wanted to do and we had a lot in common. From the very first day, he defiantly wanted to use his art for social change. He wanted to be a voice, not a star. He wanted to be one of those powerful voices. So we stayed up probably until three in the morning that very first day that we met, talking about what we found in terms of our visions, for the planet, for people, for healing prejudice, for understanding black struggle, native American struggle, Latin struggle, women struggle, and just our commitment to fight for oppressed people. That would be ours which to vehicle. 
Him and Ray instantly connected. They just had an immediate brotherhood. So I told “Pac” that Ray wanted me to represent him and I wasn’t really interested in representing anyone but I’d introduce them both to people and “Pac” was like “Oh, that’s not going to be that easy with me. I could see why he wanted you and you are defiantly representing me.” He kind of appointed me. I always felt like I’ll do what I can to help them and I love them soul and mentally but I wasn’t really interested in managing. So I just went out in a mission to get them connected to people in the industry. I knew Etran from NWA days and he was on the road with JJ Fad and we had worked together pretty closely and he always said “If you ever need any help call me.” So I called him and said that I found some artists that needed deals and I need him to help me. Etran lived in L.A. and Digital was recording in the bay, they were working on their album and I knew that I could help Etran because none of those guys had cars, everyone was living in a one room place in Oakland, Shock and his little band. They did this little single with Louis, their hood manager at the time. So basically I took “Pac” to Oakland to meet Shock and I introduced them. I knew that he’d love Tupac.  Then Pac and Ray, since I couldn't decide who to help first, they decided that they would form a group, and we would work on both of their careers jointly.  Then eventually they would go their own way, so that's kinda how we started.  They formed a group and I would drive them to Oakland every day, and I would drive the guys in Shock's group to the studio a lot, but they were working on their album, and I was trying to help Pac and Ray with their group record, and I was probably the only one with a car and a legit license plate at the time, so I would like chauffeur, the person who did all the hands on work while Etran sat in LA, you know, guiding in LA.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Yeah.

Leila Steinberg: And that's how we started.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: A lot of Tupac's music was really political and for social change and that was something that really grasped me about his music and something that I enjoyed.  But then there was also that side of him that was you know, a lot, wild, and how did you see that split in Tupac?

Leila Steinberg:  I saw that Tupac was a boy, and you know, boys go through a process in becoming a man.  And they have to explore the part of themselves that people like and people don't like.  You know, becoming a woman or a man is a process.  Nature is duality you know, it's interesting that Tupac was a Gemini and that's the sign of duality so it's a little bit intensified in Tupac.  Pac was just becoming a man when he died, so, part of him that was out of control and really wild and, and understanding what it means to go from poverty and nothing to you know, Bentley's and big homes, at you know 22 and 23 that's a huge responsibility with no guidance.  He didn't have a mother who graduated from College who ever had the luxury of education that was whole, you know she had to educate herself, and um, she was obviously a political activist when Tupac was born, you know, trying to make a difference for her culture, for her community, so it was like with Tupac, he had to teach himself to become a man, teach himself to become a black man, and he also, was a child, that suddenly got toys that were larger than life, with no guidance.  So I saw him as, you know, struggling to navigate through a world with no guidance, and just, all the issues, in this country, in the last 20 years and the dialogues that have taken place, you know, the panthers, and what the panthers attempted to do, you know they did some incredible things, and they also fell apart, as an organization and so, I saw Tupac coming into territory that had never been mapped out before, and making a lot of mistakes, you know, I didn't condone a lot of Tupac's behavior.  He did a lot of things that were not ok, but that was all in the process of becoming a man, and that's the tragedy, is that nobody got to see him be a man, and really be able to set outside all the drama, and translate finally what all his learning and education brought him, so that's kind of what we're all doing now.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Exactly, it seemed like he was right on the door step, just ready to make so many changes.

Leila Steinberg: That's right, exactly.  It's like he went through all these lessons, and got the world watching, gave us all his material, his pain, his love, his irresponsibility, his passion, and then he died.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: It's pretty sad too, because it seems that so many who really want to make a difference, somebody who really has the ability, they always seem to die in violence, it's frustrating. violence.

Leila Steinberg: Well it's true, that has been the history of voices, social and political voices, but there are many who haven't died, that are still around, Mia Angelo is a great example, just an amazing voice, she is you know, in her older age now, she is a very, very powerful woman, Oprah, very powerful woman, and they're still here, and they are women of color, who have made an amazing difference.  And there are many men who've made incredible differences, who are still here.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Right.

Leila Steinberg: Um, so we, we don't pay as much attention to those that stick around, but I always knew Pac, that when you allow yourself, he got caught up in the system.  He got caught up in the lie that you have to go out like that, and so, he believed it, and he helped create it, and the sad thing is, you know, not only do you not get to see the fruits of your labor, but you can't continue the work, and that's a tragedy, but you know, he left us a lot to work with, he absolutely left as an incredible body of work, and opened the door for immeasurable amounts of dialogue.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Tupac said, I won't change the world, but I'll spark the brain of the person who will.  And I think he really did that just by creating so much knowledge for so many people that wouldn't have normally had it, and really, a lot of people he has access to, to who he voiced the oppression, and gave them a better understanding of what it means ...

Leila Steinberg: He absolutely did that, beyond a shadow of a doubt.  I mean, you know I have this non-profit educational agency that I had, that I started when Pac worked with me, and, just the work that we've done, you know we've reached hundreds of thousands of kids, in the last 8 years especially, and my programs are all over and Pac inspired me to really do that, to really take what I knew I wanted to do and not be afraid to go get it, and um, you know I was 10 years older than Pac, or really 9 years, but he was an amazing teacher to me, just even forcing me to come into the industry and be a woman in this business.  And to follow me dreams as far as helping to heal the planet, and not be afraid to be a voice, and I definitely credit him for so much motivation and strength that he gave me, and you know, who's work is really happening and he motivated a lot of that, my background, you know, my background is really mixed and then I'm parents of bi-racial children, you know, I have 4 kids, father is black, Tupac completely influenced me as a woman raising black children, I parent my children differently I educate them differently, I make sure they have access to information and things that I don't think I would have if Pac hadn't been in my life.  You know, and I'm a much better mother because of Pac, and hopefully I'll really raise children that contribute to the solution and not the problem.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Definitely.

Leila Steinberg: And that's a lot to say, I know a lot of people who are much better parents because they listened to his voice.  And a lot of people who appreciate their children more, because of him.  The song Dear Mama changed a generation of young people.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Yeah, definitely that was the song, as I mentioned in the interview with QD3 that I really related to more than any other Tupac song because of how I grew up and with my mom, I mean I just listen to that song and it's just unbelievable.

Leila Steinberg: Yeah, that's major when a song can transform an entire country, of young people, and there are, you know a whole generation of adults who have been transformed by that song.  And when an artist ad the ability to transform minds on the level that he did, you know, then people connect with what it is to be in your art, and he was right there.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Can we talk a bit about the programs and curriculums that are being developed around Tupac?

Leila Steinberg: Well, you probably know about the course that Arvon started, that I helped him with at the UC of Berkeley.  Right?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Yep.

Leila Steinberg: And that was in the history department, and then Philippe took it over and it moved to Ethnic studies department.  And then I did some work with Suzanne McClarie at UCLA, I went and you know, did a number of lectures on Tupac with her, and so, UC Berkeley, UCLA, John Hoffkins, Arvon is at Hoffkins now, in the trauma unit at the hospital he's in Medical school, and he does a lot in Baltimore with Tupac and the curriculum that he developed.  And, I get asked to travel all over the country, to different colleges, to different universities, so that's just an example of how, you know, I said when Tupac was first recording, that um, he would be studied in every high school and college across the country in a matter of 10 years.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Really.

Leila Steinberg: And uh, it’s happening you know? And uh, do you have the poetry book?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Oh ya.

Leila Steinberg: Well, all those poems were written when he was in our workshop. You know, he was seventeen when he wrote all those poems and that to me is an amazing example of just how incredible he was at such a young age. I mean, I think every high school in the country should have that poetry book. And it should be used in the language arts curriculum at every high school and junior high school. And hopefully enough young people will agree with me and they’ll go get the book and bring it to their teacher.  I just had an argument actually yesterday that is so funny. You know, have you seen the documentary we just did.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I haven’t seen it yet. I tried to pick it up and uh, the store over here is not carrying it so I’m gonna have to wait for QD3 to send it over.

Leila Steinberg: Wow, they should be carrying it there.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I know.

Leila Steinberg: Well, when you see it, um, I really--- there’s that interview with Tupac when he was seventeen, in there. The whole interview is awesome. But um--- so I was in a coffee shop in Oakland yesterday and I was passing out flyers for the documentary because I was quiet for a long time and I helped produce the documentary and I finally decided it was time to really pay tribute to his work you know? And so, I went back to my old days when I was handing out flyers myself, and you know what, I believe so much in this project you know, I’m not above going everywhere and handing stuff out.
It’s pretty exciting to be able to do that. So I’m handing out flyers in the coffee shop and this older black man saw me and he was like; "what is this garbage", and I said it’s the new Tupac documentary.
And he as a teacher, started yelling at me, and he said I had nerve to be palpitating young minds and it figures that I would be the one doing it because black people should know better. I was listening to him and I said well I dispute what your saying and he’s an older black teacher, activist, you know, and definitely, probably is an amazing man, you know, very passionate and committed to his students.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Right.

Leila Steinberg: But he just started talking about how furious it’s made him to have young people to gravitate towards Tupac. Tupac was a thug and he went on a whole rampage and I said you obviously really haven’t given him a chance and you’ve never listened to him and I said that’s the problem with our generation is that you’re not willing to listen and I said that’s something I credit him for and that
makes me a different parent because I was willing to listen to the young voices that spoke to me. And I said, it’s a shame that as a teacher he wasn’t actually willing to listen and angry that I was passing that out. And I feel like even more that I need to pass it out and pass more stuff out to combat people like him who are not even willing to listen and have the dialog. And I said when you have an artist that has sold millions and you’re a teacher, it’s your obligation to listen, it’s your obligation to go buy that poetry book and to get his CD’s and his records so that you know, because if you’re putting yourself in a position to teach and to educate, you can’t do that without hearing. And that to me is the downfall of our educational system and our leadership of our politicians. Everyone has an agenda, you know. Tupac says in this documentary that two ears and one mouth should listen twice as hard before you speak and that came out of a seventeen year old and he said adults need to go back to school again to learn how to listen. And I so agree with him.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: There was actually, I think it was last month at a school there was a mural of the beetles and Jimmy Hendrix and the students added Tupac and Biggie to it and the school made them take it off.

Leila Steinberg: You serious?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Ya.

Leila Steinberg: Because they didn’t want him to be looked at as leadership (social) figure.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Or not that they didn’t want it but couldn’t grasp the fact that
he could be seen that way.

Leila Steinberg: That he could be a role model.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Right. I mean and the Beetles and Hendrix and the things that they did, you know.

Leila Steinberg: I mean I can absolutely pin-point the area that, you know, when one calls him a role model, you know? I mean he was a model to like be a conscious parent. To understand the impact of color in our society and how that has to be healed. Um, you know, to like follow one’s dreams to not be afraid to speak. There were so many areas in which he modeled for young people. And you have to really look at his analogy of the word dog and N-I-G-G-A and Dyson's book will probably help with that. Have you read Mike Dyson's book?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Holla if you hear me?

Leila Steinberg: Uh-huh.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: No, I haven’t had a chance to read that one yet.

Leila Steinberg: I mean especially since you have a site that would be an important thing. It would be good for you, just as a black, P.H.D., reverend, minister, who, out of everything that he could be doing that he thought Tupac was important enough to dedicate a portion of his life to study and write a book on. That’s a statement in and of itself, ya know? 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Uh-huh.

Leila Steinberg: That’s major. The programs and education is just the beginning. But the tip of the iceberg, Tupac will be planted in our library’s and our school’s and our system and he will be respected as the role model that he is, both positive and negative. You know when someone has the power to grab a generations ears, you know, they have the ability to model and he modeled mostly positive but there are negative things that he did that he modeled also. And that’s why it’s so important to talk about it now and uh, you know, young people can understand the power of writing script when they realize to script that Tupac wrote. And they realize that he wrote his self out at twenty-five.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Uh, huh.

Leila Steinberg: And it didn’t have to be that way.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I just wanted to talk a little bit about your trip to South Africa and what that was like and all. Tupac’s got a huge fan base down there.

Leila Steinberg: How'd you know I went?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I stalk you, naa, *laughing*, it was mentioned on the DVD but I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet but I’ve been listening to what other people have been saying about it, so.

Leila Steinberg: It was awesome. Our trip to South Africa was really really--- what a learning experience that was for me. I went as a delegate to the international woman's convention and my goal in my workshop was on the power of art in education and any time I do a workshop I can’t talk about the power of art without talking about him. So I knew he always wanted to go because of the uprising that happened in Soweto happened the same day of his birthday, do you know that?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: No I didn’t know that.

Leila Steinberg: It’s like it’s a square in Soweto June 16th is a very important day in South Africa. And it’s when the uprising happened and a lot of kids got killed and so there is a memorial in the square in Soweto with pictures of all the dead children and graphic, painful pictures. The whole square is a memorial for the children and a statement about the politics and the need for change and Tupac always wanted to go and there and to visit the square and the children. And so I just felt like this need to go and where he didn’t get to go.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Uh-huh.

Leila Steinberg: And so we went to the convention and decided to go with my kids and take a bus into Soweto. So I brought, I had some artists that I brought with me and my kids and my mom, we all went together to do the workshop and we got on a bus and so we are on our way to Soweto and there’s a young girl that sits next to us we got on the subject of what we were doing and because we were an interesting looking group and she was like, where you guys going and I told her who we were and where we were going and she was like, her name was Dimpho and she said, "oh my goodness I’ll just take you to the square but you have to come with me somewhere", and I was like, "where" and she said "it’s very important, especially if you’re who you say you are, you have to come with me", and so we go to the square and there’s kids everywhere and its very powerful and I see all these pictures and I see the memorial and all the tribute and all the--- you know, I have all this on film and one day--- we videotaped all of it so one day I gotta do something with all of it cause it’s so powerful and so, here we are in the square and suddenly we are surrounded by South African children and I’m with my little short Latin mother and my mixed kids and we are an interesting looking group and all of a sudden we are surrounded by all the kids that love Tupac and they are rapping and talking and I ask one of the kids, is Tupac really that important to you, you know, and he say’s "what", he’s more important than Mandela.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Really?

Leila Steinberg: And I said "ok", and so Dimpho decides it’s time for us to go on this journey so here we are walking through Soweto and like serious neighborhoods and people are all honking at me and like what is this woman walking through the ghetto’s of Soweto for and she takes us to a phone bank and I have my video camera, you know, we’re videoing cause I’m like ok, I gotta get this on tape cause I can’t figure out where we’re going and we walk into the phone bank. They have phone banks because most people don’t have phones. You know what a phone bank is right?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I’m assuming its paying to use the telephone?

Leila Steinberg: Ya. It’s like a room where they have all paid telephones for everyone that needs to use the phones, they go to the phone bank.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Ya.

Leila Steinberg: And I walk in the door and it’s like a wall-to-wall memorial of Tupac. And the poem from my workshop, the one’s that I read on the radio when he died, I read five poems on the air and they ended up on the internet and so the kids ended up, it was her brother, he worked at the phone bank and he had the poems blown up on the wall and then poems from the kids in South Africa and uh, where they lived, they had poems that they had written to him and candles burning and I’m just standing there and I’m like, blown away, you know? I’m like, how are these poems in my journal that I have get on the walls here. And then just every picture you could imagine that they were able to get of Tupac, album covers and poems from them to him and all these candles, and I was like, oh my gosh. So I’m talking to her brother and his name is ? and I’m like whoa, you know, this is incredible. And he’s telling me that, you know, it’s no accident that I showed up there. He called for me. *laughing*

Jon - HitEmUp.com: *Laughing*

Leila Steinberg: It’s like, OK. He goes, no, spiritually I did; I knew I was suppose to meet those that were close to him because I’m gonna be teaching for you guys here. He said, I’m your--- I’m your South African arm and we really understand who Tupac’s voice and his message was. So the funny thing was I told him how I came to do this workshop in Johannesburg and I brought all this footage I had and I always show the footage of Tupac when he was seventeen and he’s like, "I have to be there", and I said "ya, I think you’re right, you do. So um, the next day we’re in Johannesburg, this is so crazy but, all of a sudden, you know, all of these kids from Soweto were hopping in cabs and everything, there was like forty kids that came and showed up at our hotel and we had such a big scene, the hotel manager was tripping out, they all came with all their instruments and greeted us. It was like this big commotion and they did like the whole dance and drum greeting for us and then the hotel manager just had to go ahead and give us a conference room and I did a whole workshop with all of these kids that came and with the kids that came with us from the US and some of the kids that were there from all over the world with their parents, participated in the conference. It was so deep, you can’t even imagine. One day you have to see this footage cause it was just us bonding with these kids in South Africa and it was so deep. Anyway, the woman that gave us the grant, she’s from Marine County; Margaret. She really believed in our work, this was all to my non-profit that I went. She so believed in our work that the next summer she ended up flying these kids from South Africa out here to California to see us and she got them computers and got them all online so they could be totally network. So now we have an extension of our team in Soweto doing work with us, isn’t that deep?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Ya, that’s awesome.

Leila Steinberg: It’s so incredible so ya, that’s just like in a nutshell, our trip. But there was so much that happened. Just some amazing, amazing bonding. You know? 

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Uh-huh.

Leila Steinberg: And we have like, in Nigeria, one of the women I used to tour with that was in the band with me and lived with me when Pac came to stay with us. She’s one of the main air personalities, her name is Latoya. She’s in OJ ecomotives and Nigerian bound. Tupac used to jam with us before he ever recorded and so there in Nigeria she’s doing a lot with Tupac’s material over there. So, and in the Netherlands I have another, you know, very close friend that does a lot with his material in the Netherlands. So I’m just trying to get you to understand the scope, internationally.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Oh definitely, especially with our website there's people everywhere so I try to interact with people internationally all the time.

Leila Steinberg: The people that I’m talking about are in key positions, you know, and they’re my age and older and so, just to understand the magnitude and uh, you know, that arena is an amazing thing cause we already know he has the youth, so when you have people from the state legislature that view him positively and uh, you know, educators and politicians, it’s awesome and it kind of erases the C. Deloris Tucker’s ... and then it’ll be really nice that Ray Love and Mac Mall have new albums coming out after this documentary and that Ray will finally be heard because Ray was a tremendous influence also on Tupac’s and people don’t really know that. But even his style, and I think that was why it was hard for Ray to have a voice while Tupac was around cause they were so close when they were younger and Pac was always this amazing voice but he was searching for his style as a rapper and he was always very short winded and Ray used to coach him and work with him, oh my gosh, I just remember when we were all, just thirteen years ago, before anyone had been in the studio, just watching them work together and practice and, you know, Ray was an amazing contribution to Tupac’s style and voice and so it’ll be nice to see all the projects that come out now and all Pac’s friends that came together to do the Thug Angel Documentary, it was great to see everyone together again and that was the first time that everyone came together. And all of them have songs on the soundtrack and great songs and I love the Outlawz song, Storm it’s so fucking amazing, she’s awesome and Money B is on there and Richie Rich.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Oh, Richiey Rich has a track on there too?

Leila Steinberg: Ya.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: That’s gonna be good too.

Leila Steinberg: With Roscoe.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: And then uh, Young Dre and Mack 10 have a song too, right?

Leila Steinberg: Oh ya, and the song Young Dre did, I love. It’s great. And then, I have new artists on there and an artist named Kumasi who’s father was actually a panther, very active. And um, he ended up being in my class, it’s funny you know, how all these years and it comes full circle. But Kumasi is a new artist that I’m working with that was on the sound track. He has a song with a singer named Hope, called Soldier. Oh my goodness, wait til you hear it. It’s so amazing so, that’s really exciting, you know to have that combination of new young voices with these older voices who are all connected to Pac in all these different ways. So you’ll love it when you see it. We worked really hard on it.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Who else is on the soundtrack?

Leila Steinberg: Um, let’s see, who did I say. Shock should be on it. Um, Mack 10 is on there. Kurupt, um, who else; Rich, Money B, Mac Mall, Ray.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Outlawz, Storm.

Leila Steinberg: I’m trying to visualize everybody that was in the documentary that gave a song. Oh, Treach. Gosh, Treach was so awesome. His interview is so good too.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: People were saying that Treach’s interview was really good and yours was good as well.

Leila Steinberg: It’s really good. You know every time I watch it and every time I get to his part, in the end the last thing that he says, I always cry. I always think I’m not going to anymore and then like when it’s finished it’s like there’s no more tears and like it’s so funny cause it’s so hard for me to watch it but I’ve watched it four times now and every time I get to Treach’s part, I do the same thing and I can’t believe myself, you know, it’s so stupid but I do, I can’t help it, it’s at the very end of the documentary, he’s at the memorial service and he’s crying and I start to look at him and I listen and oh my gosh, it’s like it just happened for me. It’s really crazy. But I do have a non-profit organization called AIM and I really want to be able to take my non-profit on tour and really let like kids see our work, we’re in LA and the Bay area and that we do a lot in the juvenile system, like we go into these jails and the foster and the group homes and we are really doing some amazing work and people throw away our children and you know the kids are--- the system is set up for the kids of color to like to get locked up in jail, we haven’t changed it and I think our organization and Pac’s contribution to it, I really think we’re making a difference and I hope to be able to internationally. You know, we’ve traveled overseas and nationally some but I sure hope our work can be like a household name and that we can get backing and really be able to take it out there so maybe one day we can come see you in Canada.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: So, what is your favorite Tupac song?

Leila Steinberg: Oh, everyone asks me that all the time. I don’t have an answer for you on that. I have favorite song depending on my mood, like, I, you know, God, I love all of his stuff. Still I Rise, will be a favorite with this mood. Um, Dear Mr. President when I’m in another mood. Fuck the World when I’m in another one.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Definitely.

Leila Steinberg: Dear Mama, Brenda’s Got A Baby or Papas Song, you know what I’m saying? I have--- every song of his is my favorite.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: What’s your favorite album?

Leila Steinberg: Oh, I don’t know.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: You can tell a lot about a person by the album they pick.

Leila Steinberg: Well, I love "Me Against The World". I love "Makaveli". I think you know, I don’t know that I can answer that. It’s too hard for me. "Me Against The World" was definitely an album that took him to another level and I was very excited at that time because I felt like the world finally got it. You know what I’m saying?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Ya, that’s my favorite album is "Me Against The World".

Leila Steinberg: I don’t know if it’s my favorite but it’s one of my favorites. It’s pretty much like it’s the album for me, that let the world know what I already knew and so it’s a really special time with me for that album, it was like we were still having fun, you know? And everyone was happy. After that, it was like this mad rush to get everything out but there was a lot of pain attached to that. After that period, shit got messed up. Do you understand?

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Oh ya.

Leila Steinberg: Like, that was the transition point. Those were the happiest times during that album. Before that album it was still kinda crazy and we were still not quiet there. And after that album it was fucked up. But during that album, we were having so much fun and that was probably the happiest time. So, that’s the best memory.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Um, this state was talking about a Tupac tribute album a long time ago. Um, I believe you’re involved in that. Is that gonna come to light or---

Leila Steinberg: I don’t know, that’s why I was just---- I actually relocated to (work city estate). I gave up my job in the Bay area and I walked away from everything that I had built for years. I even left my non-profit work for a while cause I just wanted to dedicate myself to Afeni and the work and it was just really weird and they acted like they were interested and then they kinda left me hanging and it really hurt my feelings. I’m still recuperating. I had to start all over from scratch. Everything we talked about they left hanging it’s just one thing after another and I think that’s what happens when you get a lot of lawyers involved who didn’t know Tupac and don’t really give a shit.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: I hear that a lot .

Leila Steinberg: And uh, one lawyer; Dena Lapolt, treated me very badly. She’s got no sence of Tupac, his voice or anything and it’s so strange that she wouldn’t want to work with me but she didn’t seem to like me very much so I don’t know. That’s weird.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Ya. It seems like there is a lot on hold like the Tupac tribute was suppose to come out, that Rose that Grew From Concrete part 2, um, that’s suppose to come out still and we are still waiting on that album and I’m not sure what’s going on.

Leila Steinberg: It’s a mess over there. A really sad mess and nobody that was close to Tupac is involved in anything over there anymore.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Then I heard that Interscope was not going to do any promotion for any Tupac work and they are gonna take a big cut of everything.

Leila Steinberg: Ya, that’s what I heard too.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Ya, it’s pretty brutal and it’s unfortunate.

Leila Steinberg: That’s what I heard. It’s very weird.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Uh-huh.

Leila Steinberg: You know they call me still when they need something but they don’t include me in anything so I hope they appreciate our documentary. I think they’ll have to. I think they’ll appreciate it cause we worked hard and we did it from our hearts and I think it’s the best tribute to Tupac since he past.

Jon - HitEmUp.com: Thanks for your time. I know you have a pretty hectic schedule so---

Leila Steinberg: No problem. I’m glad your doing what you’re doing, I appreciate it.