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Michael "Mike D" Diamond of the Beastie Boys recently sat down for an exclusive interview with VanityFair.com to discuss the progression of violence in hip-hop, as well as giving his opinion on one of music's most admired artists. Diamond attributes Tupac's strong desire to be "authentic" as reasoning behind his death.

"Yeah, he was "Thug Life" and everything, but he was more of an artistic kid," said Mike D. "But basically he was so determined to be authentic, it ultimately killed him, which is a sad and tragic thing."

Diamond then went on to detail how violence and crime in hip-hop culture has escalated since the tragic death of Tupac and the The Notorious B.I.G.

“First, there was security,” Diamond recalls, “Then it was, like, you couldn’t have a hip-hop club without having a metal detector, to then, guns were kind of, like, everywhere, and you had to have a metal detector at the club, so at least people’s guns were in their cars and not inside the club.”

Watch the interview below on YouTube here.

[Vanity Fair]

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