Mariah Carey Admits She Wishes She Dated 2Pac, Recalls 1996 AMAs Encounter

Mariah Carey is opening up about a moment that still makes her smile nearly three decades later. During a recent appearance on Power 106’s Brown Bag Mornings (Aug. 26), the Songbird Supreme confessed she wished she had dated the late rap legend Tupac Shakur.

The five-time Grammy winner reflected on their brief but unforgettable encounter at the 1996 American Music Awards, where she was hosting. “Well, he said it like, ‘Hi, Mariah,’ and I was like [ahhh],” Carey laughed, recalling how Pac stepped out of a white Rolls-Royce and instantly gave her butterflies.

“I was hosting the AMAs that year so I had to keep going back and forth, but I wanted to keep going back and forth because that happened,” she said. “I love hip-hop and I love the moments that we’re talking about, especially ‘Hi, Mariah.’ So yeah, it was a pretty major moment for me to say the least.”

Carey admitted she would have loved to collaborate with 2Pac, and when co-host Letty Peniche suggested that she and Pac would’ve been an ultimate celebrity power couple, Mariah didn’t hesitate: “I wish.”

While the two never had the chance to record together before 2Pac’s tragic death in September 1996, Mariah paid homage to him three years later by interpolating his “Me and My Girlfriend” on her 1999 track “How Much.”

Mariah’s Big September

The legendary singer has plenty to look forward to in the coming weeks. Carey will be honored with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards, recognizing her groundbreaking impact on music videos and pop culture.

On top of that, Mariah Carey‘s gearing up to release her highly anticipated album, Here For It All, arriving September 26, 2025. The project is said to blend her signature ballads with modern R&B and hip-hop influences—proof that Carey’s love for the genre she once dreamed of sharing with 2Pac is still very much alive.