Michael Darragh MacAuley has spoken of the massive influence rapper Tupac Shakur has had on his life.

Dublin's five-time All-Ireland winner and former Footballer of the Year was one of Jim Carroll's guests at Banter's 'Culture & Me' event in Dublin Castle last weekend and he discussed his boyhood admiration for the late US rapper:

"I was very influenced by black culture when I was younger. I started playing basketball when I was really young. My bedroom wall, all I had was pictures of big black men everywhere. If you weren't in the NBA or a rapper, you weren't getting on my wall. I wish I could say I had some Dublin footballers up there but they didn't make the cut.

"I distinctly remember being ten years old, walking to school with a discman and I had Tupac's greatest hits on it. I knew every single word on that album off by heart.

"I was discussing this with my friend who also grew up in middle-class suburbia. Why we were so drawn to Tupac? We didn't grow up in those socio-economic conditions. My parents weren't fighting for welfare and stuff.

"We never really got to bottom of why it appealed to us so much. They weren't talking about cars and nonsense, they were talking about real life issues like what they were seeing in front of them and trying to change it. That was what really made an impact on me.

"Tupac was one of my biggest teachers growing up. Although he was from a different background, many a life lesson I got from that man. Even how he treated everything, how he treated women, how he dealt with his mam. My mam died when I was in primary school and he had very emotional songs about his mam."

Tupac, Damo & the Dubs: All-Ireland winner @MDMA_9 talks Culture & Me for @hellobanter & @RTE_Culture https://t.co/jcfnMWEA0t pic.twitter.com/mHMiWk32wm

- Jim Carroll (@byjimcarroll) October 2, 2017

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