Tupac’s ‘Poetic Justice’ Struggles, Janet Jackson Drama: Book Excerpt

In the aftermath of his breakout performance as Bishop in the film Juice , a young Tupac Shakur was plucked by director John Singleton to star as a postman named Lucky in Poetic Justice . The movie shot over a three-month span in California, and co-starred Janet Jackson , at the time one of the world’s biggest pop stars. The experience was, politely stated, a rocky one.

The following is an advanced excerpt from Jeff Pearlman’s Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur (Oct. 21, 2025 — Mariner).

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In the aftermath of his breakout performance as Bishop in the film Juice , a young Tupac Shakur was plucked by director John Singleton to star as a postman named Lucky in Poetic Justice . The movie shot over a three-month span in California, and co-starred Jan