it's inspired by the lyrics of famed rapper tupac shakur.uestion is will traditional broadway audiences buy it? vinita nair reports. ♪ >> reporter: the story line may sound familiar. ♪ >> reporter: but the music is not your typical broadway fair. there are 21 songs featured in "holler if ya hear me" written by one of the most successful and controversial rappers in america. >> it's a story told through the music of tupac shakur. >> reporter: tony award winner tony leon said he spent nearly a decade crafting a way to keep tupac's music alive. >> if you look at his music written on paper, it's like, wow, look at the phrasing of those words, look at the poetry. this is shakespearean. ♪ >> reporter: shakur's music reflects his own turbulent life, sometimes glorifying violence, sometimes pleading for it to end. ♪ >> reporter: 17 years old, he he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. ♪ >> reporter: the musical tackles topics like drugs, violence, and promiscui promiscuity. there was also use of the "n" word. leon says it gaves the same feel as g

on a broadway stage in the middle of times square the music of tupac shakur has been reinvented. ♪ 17> if you look at his music as written on paper, you go wow, look at the phrasing of those words, look at the poetry. this is shakespearean. >> reporter: using 21 songs that shakur wrote it shows an ex-con recently released from prison who wants to turn a new page but when he's gunned down he returns. >> it's the story of tupac shakur but not about his day-to-day life. >> i read two of them were not originally his song. >> "a rose in concrete" was not by tupac shakur. this is a kid who wrote every single day about the world in which he lives in and you put his lyrics in the context of a story where you care about the people, then the songs take on greater meaning. >> reporter: the idea of turning a commercial artist's music into a broadway musical is nothing new. "american idiot" featured green day. and this featured the who. but nobody has ever used gangster rap before. >> so the real hard core band that sounds like, wow, yeah i'm in that groove it's good for those people who are tradi

with a recent stage musical, holler if you hear me show cased in the music of the late rapper tupac shakurthe things i haven't done for broadway is a big musical, and so i've been working with tupac shakur's mother and actually we are working on a musical that is inspired by all of his music. it's not an auto biographical thing about his life or east coast-west coast, it's about the genius of tupac. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> why i didn't call you? please >> i think that it could really change the face of musical theater on broadway. >> and even if the critics don't understand a hip-hop musical, leon says broadway needs the diversity. >> people always talk to me about critics and reviews and what i found in this country, there are not enough african-american critics. there are not enough african-american writers and a lot of non-african-american writers or critics don't really understand what our stories are about. so most of the plays that i've done on broadway, most of the reviews have been mixed, but the shows have been packed because people come from places like memphis, tennessee and atlanta, georgia a

most successful and controversial rappers in america. >> it's a story told through the music of tupac shakureporter: tony award-winning director kenny leon said he spent close to a decade crafting a new way to keep shakur's music alive. >> if you look at his music, as written on paper, it's like, wow. look at the phrasing of those words. look at that poetry. you know, this is shakespearean. ♪ >> reporter: shakur's music reflected the contradictions in his own turbulent life. sometimes glorifying violence. ♪ >> reporter: sometimes pleading for it to end. ♪ >> reporter: 17 years ago, he was gunned down in a drive-by shooting. ♪ >> reporter: the musical tackles topics like drugs, violence and promiscuity. and the liberal use of the "n word." leon says it gives it the same gritty feel as gangster rap. but theater critic david cody fears the musical will not appeal to broadway audiences. >> the lowest common denominator doesn't mean necessarily bad quality. it just means it has broad appeal. yes, on broadway, we love to see poor people singing about how terrible their conditions are, but they hav

and by the way, today would have been tupac shakur's 43rd birthday, another reason to feel old.y, jamar. uh, well we are fine tuning these small cells that improve coverage, capacity and quality of the network. it means you'll be able t post from the breakroom. great! did it hurt? when you fell from heaven (awkward laugh) ...a little.. (laughs) im sorry, i have to go. at&t is building you a better network. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve. at humana, we believe if healthcare changes, if it becomes simpler... if frustration and paperwork decrease... if grandparents get to live at home instead of in a home... the gap begins to close. so let's simplify things. let's close the gap between people and care. ♪ >>> it's the blame game versus the end game in iraq. but the bottom line is the country's falling to terrorists and it's happening right before our eyes. special coverage starts right now in "the cycle." >>> good afternoon. thanks for being here. a new week in the war on terror. iraq is under attack by one of the groups we fought one of america's longest wars to

. >> if you look at the bulk of his work, a lot of people will think of tupac shakur and think of danof his reality, of a reality that is a vital force and a powerful force in american life was reflected in almost all of his work. >> in all of his work, especially considering the fact that his parents were direct subjects of -- his mother was a panther and she was imprisoned because of her activism and tupac was practically born in prison as a result of what happened there. he grew up really enlightened about the criminal justice system in america and ended up writing about it and about injustices in america and wanting to change that. he was a kid with a dream. like you had, he studied ballet, he was in theater, he grew up to do great films. he wrote prolifically and dreamt of broadway. he did "a risen in the sun" when he was 12 years old playing the role of travis. >> and he grew up listening to the "les mis" soundtrack. >> his brother told me his passion at home was to listen to the "les mis" soundtrack. >> so much for thug life. >> i dreamed a dream. >> families would love this. t