Troy Ave, who recovered from multiple gun shots last year, says he often feels like “the second coming” of Tupac Shakur.
The Brooklyn MC said he feels this way due to the way people respond to him these days. “I go in the motherfuckin’ clubs and ni**as is going crazy,” he told “The Breakfast Club.” “In the clubs, in the streets where they’re playing all the fucking trap music and all types of shit, ni**as go crazy, ‘Oh shit, that’s Troy Ave. Ni**a, it’s the second coming of Tupac. It’s new Pac.’ I go do shows, everything’s different. The handshakes is different. Women suck a ni**a’s dick different. Everything is different.”
Pressed about his comparison to ‘Pac, Troy elaborated his point. “I didn’t say I’m the new ‘Pac,” he explained. “I said the feeling is on some Tupac shit, the new Pac. This is what people are saying to me. Don’t get it twisted. I never wanna be no other man. I only want to be me.”
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This was a point that Troy made multiple times during the interview. “I never want to be another man,” he continued. “I never want to be Tupac or never want to be 50 Cent, these peoples whose music I like and I listen to them, and I give it up.”
He added: “I would never say I’m Tupac. I like Tupac’s music and shit like that, but ni**a, Tupac is dead. Ain’t nobody trying to be no Tupac, at all, but the feeling when you come through the spot — I remember ‘Pac saying in an interview, one year, he was in the club, couldn’t get a dance at all, from a chick. He blew up, women were falling out, ‘Oh my God, ‘Pac!’ Ni**a, I come through, they fall out. They touch a ni**a different. It’s a different type of love, ni**a.”
When asked about how he plans on avoiding ‘Pac’s tragic demise, Troy said he hopes to live a much longer life by being cautious. “I take precaution and make provisions,” he said. “God willing, I don’t go out like ‘Pac and I lived a good life, I’m blessed, and my kids are taken care of, everybody I love know I love ’em, and I did a lot for my people while I was here. But the plan is to die old in a nice, big California King sized bed. That’s the goal. That’s what I’m on right now.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Troy discussed the Irving Plaza shooting, his Christmas Eve shooting, and why he has a newfound respect for Kendrick Lamar for reaching out to him while he was in a negative space. Watch the full Q&A below.