The James Altucher Show

A Note from JamesTupac Shakur—one of the greatest rap artists ever—was shot and killed almost two decades ago. What else is there left to say about him? What new things can be said?Well, Jeff Pearlman’s new book, Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur, takes on that challenge. In our conversation, we talk about what Jeff uncovered in his research, why he wanted to write another Tupac book, and what made this one different.But first, a little story. Back in the ’90s, I was running a company that built websites. Around 1997 or ’98, Tupac’s mom wanted to release a new album of his music and build a website around it. I went in to pitch the project—$90,000, which would’ve covered payroll for another month. I needed that deal.So I show up, ready to impress. Tupac’s manager says, “Okay, here’s my computer. Show me what you’ve got.” And I realize—I’ve never used a Windows machine in my life. I’d only ever used Macs. I couldn’t even figure out how to turn it on.I had a computer science degree. I was a