Perhaps a testament to his fans and the legacy of the late-Tupac Shakur, FX's Dear Mama launched with huge numbers. Debuting on the network on April 21 and then becoming available to streamers via Hulu the next day, the total viewership has surpassed that of every other FX unscripted show's premiere in the history of the network. This includes Ryan Reynolds' popular sports docuseries Welcome to Wrexham.
In some more good news for Dear Mama director Allen Hughes, as of April 28, the documentary is being widely celebrated by critics with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 100%. The Hollywood Reporter commends the series for having "some real insights into the intersection of Black activism and popular music in the late 20th century," while Variety calls it a "poignant, passionate portrait of Tupac and Afeni Shakur."
Now for those that haven't yet caught wind of the docuseries, it follows the riveting stories of Tupac and his mother Afeni Shakur. While the world may know the former as one of the best rappers of all time with hits like "Keep Ya Head Up," "All Eyez on Me" and "Changes," not as many people are aware that his mother was a political activist and Black Panther. Although their chosen career paths on the surface may seem completely different, the documentary highlights they were more alike than one would think with Tupac's own commitment to social activism both in song and deed.
So far in the series' five-episode run, both the first and second episodes titled "Panther Power" and "Changes" respectively have aired and highlight family life for the mother-son as Tupac was growing up, and show what it was like for him as his career started to take and her work with the Black Panthers caught the attention of law enforcement.
Episode 3, "So Many Tears," airs live on FX on April 28, and portrays both Shakurs navigating their own legal situations while trying not to lose their voice. (By the way, if you've yet to catch on, all the episode titles for the documentary do in fact happen to be the name of Tupac tracks.)
You can check out for yourself why critics seem to be following in love with Dear Mama, Fridays on FX. Or you can stream episodes the next day on Hulu.
