TUPAC SHAKUR - SHAKUR'S CHILLING LAST INTERVIEW TO AIR

Rap icon TUPAC SHAKUR's final TV interview is to air in its entirety for the first time next week (beg31OCT05) - as part of US cable channel BET's 25th anniversary celebrations.

In the chilling 1996 chat with newsreader ED GORDON, Shakur talks about his need to carry guns because he was always afraid of being shot.

The rapper died just weeks after the interview when he was shot in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Shakur said, "The press and the media make you think that a black man arming himself is illegal; it's just about surviving.

"I've had a gun pulled on me by my limo driver, by the police, by everybody... For me to be out here saying, 'Put your guns down...' that's hypocritical.