Los Angeles, CA

With Tupac biopic All Eyez On Me set to drop this Friday (June 16), all eyes are truly on Demetrius Shipp Jr., who’s playing the Hip Hop legend.

DX caught up with Shipp, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Shakur, to hear what it was like playing one of Hip Hop’s most iconic musicians.

“We were trying to bring the best every day. Me learning, and trying to embody [Tupac] to the best of my ability … It was just a thrill man,” the actor says. “We knew that we couldn’t put together a half-good movie … We couldn’t make it just whatever. We had to bring the best.”

As for what’s next for the actor, he says he thinks he’ll be able to move forward without being too closely linked with his debut role.

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“I don’t feel that I’m gonna be pigeonholed to Tupac … Now I feel that I have the freedom to not necessarily have to embody somebody else — I get to step into a character and make them who I want them to be,” he explained.

Check out the trailer above.