Rapper Tupac Shakur is nothing short of a legend in hip-hop circles. Shakur, or 2Pac as he was sometimes known, is one of the biggest-selling artists in history. Tupac sold over 75 million albums prior to his murder in 1996, and Shakur is frequently listed as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Rolling Stone lists Shakur at number 86 in its list of the greatest artists of all time and claims that every rapper from the 1990’s onwards owes something to Shakur. Tupac was one of a kind, something totally new, and he set the direction for hundreds to follow.
Now it seems that Tupac is reaching out from beyond the grave, and he could be set to make one lucky fan very wealthy indeed. According to TMZ , the lucky finder was looking to buy some baseball cards through Craigslist and discovered that the seller had some Shakur memorabilia for sale. Apparently, the sellers father had toured with Tupac as a roadie.
The Tupac memorabilia turned out to be three notebooks containing a bunch of Shakur’s handwritten ideas and lyrics and some CDs with unreleased tracks.
Tupac Shakur — Resurrected … Handwritten Notebooks And New Music Unearthed https://t.co/eo7eR3QYyi
— TMZ (@TMZ) March 7, 2016
According to Ace Showbiz , the notebooks have been authenticated by comparing them with a letter Shakur wrote while in prison which sold at auction for over $225 last October. The same auction site, Moments in Time, is selling these new Tupac items, and they too are expected to fetch considerable sums of money.
Shakur’s handwritten notes for the video of “Point the Finga” are expected to be sold at least $35,000 when they go on sale.
Fans eager to snap up a piece of Tupac memorabilia may be in for a disappointment, however, as it seems that Shakur’s family are aiming to stop the sale.
Hot New Hip-Hop reports, “Tupac Shakur’s mother Afeni has kept a strict policy of not allowing the sale of late son’s memorabilia, and will try to block this sale as well.”
Tupac fans with deep pockets may have to await the outcome of a legal process before they can bid for these latest Shakur items.
Shakur was a controversial figure who had frequent brushes with the law and faced charges of assault, sexual assault, and even shooting an off-duty cop in a fight over bad driving. In 1995, Shakur began a prison sentence for sexual assault, and shortly afterwards, Tupac released the album Me Against The World . The album was to make Tupac the first artist to have a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 while serving a prison term.
CRAZY! Tupac Shakur Handwritten Notebooks And Music Found On Craigslist Sale! https://t.co/rUyCZR3wml pic.twitter.com/927nNfsnK8
— BLKDMNDS (@THEBLKDMNDS) March 7, 2016
Shakur’s music was often described as violent, and he was accused of glorifying violence and, perhaps predictably, Tupac himself met a violent end. Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting that was thought to be as a result of a beef between east and west coast rappers. Tupac had attended a boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas with Suge Knight, and after leaving the fight, he was shot multiple times whilst in his car. Knight was also wounded.
No one has ever been charged with Tupac’s murder, and according to the Daily Mirror , New York-based rapper Biggie Smalls was murdered in a similar fashion.
According to the Sun , Tupac had predicted he would meet a violent end two years before his death. Award-winning New York Daily News journalist AJ Benza said Tupac had chillingly revealed that his days were numbered.
“Tupac told me he was going to die young.
“I remember being at his hospital bedside after the first shooting and he said ‘not this time, but it’s coming.’”
Shakur had been shot multiple times in a recording studio during an apparent robbery. Tupac never bought robbery as a motive for the attack because, although some jewelry was stolen, his expensive Rolex watch was not taken.
Tupac Shakur was a controversial figure who died a controversial death. This, combined with his preeminence in the hip-hop world, certainly makes any item of Shakur memorabilia valuable. It remains to be seen if the lucky finder of these Tupac items will be allowed to profit from his good fortune or not.
[Photo by Bebeto Matthews/AP]