Iowa Government Official Was Obsessed With Tupac, Documents Say

The former director of Iowa’s Department of Human Services — a white man in his mid-60s — sent hundreds of pages of emails about the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Per KCCI, 66-year-old Jerry Foxhoven frequently e-mailed co-workers about the rapper and his music. He quoted Shakur’s lyrics on Valentine’s Day, emailed coworkers to commemorate the anniversary of the rapper’s death and distributed Tupac-themed cookies in the office to celebrate his own 65th birthday.

Foxhoven also hosted “Tupac Fridays” at the office, which included playing the rapper’s music, per The Daily Beast.

In all, The Associated Press obtained emails numbering 350 pages from Foxhoven that mentioned the name “Tupac” over the course of his two years in the position.

It was after Foxhoven emailed the department’s more than 4,000 employees to acknowledge the deceased rapper’s birthday, June 16, that the governor of Iowa, Kim Reynolds, asked for his resignation. However, the reason for his departure was due to “a lot of factors,” the governor told KCCI last month. Foxhoven ran the agency from 2017 until earlier this year.

While at least one employee complained about the official’s apparent Tupac obsession, another told the station, “I truly don’t believe the Tupac thing had anything to do with Jerry’s departure.”

Foxhoven’s enthusiasm for the life and work of the rapper, who died in 1996, appears to go back to previous jobs he has held, including when he ran a law clinic at Drake University, also in Iowa.

“It was well known among Drake students and staff that he was a fan of Tupac,” a former student told KCCI of Foxhoven.

He told colleagues he was inspired by lyrics that included: “It’s time for us as a people to start makin’ some changes.”https://t.co/6Xszm8frdC

— Tim Mak (@timkmak) July 17, 2019

Per an interview he gave to The Chronicle of Social Change upon taking the job in July, 2017, Foxhoven is an attorney who spent six years leading the Iowa Child Advocacy Board prior to his most recent position. He did not mention Tupac in that interview.

Tupac Shakur was one of the most important rappers in the history of the music genre, even though he was only an active performer for about six years, before he was gunned down in Las Vegas in September, 1996, and died a few days later at the age of 25. The rapper, however, left behind an extensive catalog of unreleased music, which appeared over the course of the years following his death.

In addition to his music, Tupac was known as an actor, appearing in such movies as Above The Rim, Juice, Gang Related and Poetic Justice.