Death hasn’t silenced Tupac Shakur or legacy

By Rebecca LouieNew York Daily News (KRT)Though the multi-platinum rapper died from gunshot wounds in Las Vegas in 1996, six CDs of his original material have been issued since, alongside several compilation albums and a book of poetry. In “Tupac: Resurrection,” a documentary opening recently, Shakur tells his life story, alternating between rage and joy and proving startlingly prescient about his fate. Culled from hundreds of hours of taped interviews, his narration is like a troubled voice from the grave. This latest posthumous work helps to transform the way we remember Shakur. At the time of his death, the 25-year-old rap star was a controversial figure who had done jail time for sexual assault and was charged in the shooting of two off-duty police officers. His lyrics upset conservatives and fueled his longstanding beef with the rapper Notorious B.I.G. (who was killed six months after Shakur). However, Shakur’s haunting commentary in “Tupac: Resurrection” presents him less as a dangerous hoodlum than as a misunderstood prophet. “Tupac was vilified in life but when he died, God gave him what they call an extra portion,” says his mother, Afeni Shakur, who is an executive producer on the film and CEO of Amaru Entertainment/Amaru Records, which owns Shakur’s unreleased work. “It’s like God put a little paintbrush over him so the vilification stopped,” she says. “Tupac didn’t go any further down. He just got lifted up.” Shakur’s prolific afterlife creates the illusion that he is still in the studio, cranking out the tracks that moved a generation of hip-hop fans. Forbes.com recently named Shakur the eighth highest-earning dead celebrity. He pulled in $12 million between September 2002 and September 2003. “Today’s rappers still have to compete with Tupac,” says Mimi Valdes, editor in chief of Vibe magazine. “He’s released a new album almost every year, and they are all incredible. It makes you think, `He is way more talented than we ever got to see. Imagine what he could have done if he had lived.’ When people realized that he had all of that material, he got respect. It made him even bigger in death.” “Tupac: Resurrection – Music From and Inspired by the Motion Picture” features four previously unreleased tracks by Shakur. The album’s first single, “Runnin’ (Dying to Live),” features verses by Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. and is produced by Eminem. The song already ranks in the top 20 of Billboard’s R&B/Hip Hop charts. A companion book for the film will be released by Atria Books.Shakur’s unsolved murder has also been the source of rabid fascination. Sylvester Stallone is writing a film about the deaths of Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., tentatively titled “Rampart Scandal.” The “Rocky” star plans to direct the film and play the role of real-life LAPD Detective Russell Poole, who alleged that the LAPD’s Rampart division was linked to the murders of the two rappers. Poole was a key source for Nick Broomfield’s 2002 investigative documentary”Biggie and Tupac,” which explored various theories of the rappers’ deaths. Born Lesane Parish Crooks in New York, Shakur was the son of two Black Panthers. Reared in Maryland, he cultivated his creativity at the Baltimore School of the Arts before he settled in Marin City, Calif. His first professional gig was as a dancer and rapper in the playful rap group Digital Underground.However, it was the 1991 release of his first solo album, “2Pacalypse Now” (Interscope), that earned Tupac widespread recognition and the wrath of then-Vice President Dan Quayle. The album was a gritty portrait of what Shakur would come to describe as “Thug Life.” “When Tupac was alive, he represented this whole soldier mentality that young black men responded to,” says Valdes. “There wasn’t anybody (before him) who talked about their pain, their problems with police or issues with their moms. Tupac’s whole approach was so poetic.” “His story is about an experience in America,” saysLauren Lazin, MTV vice president and director of “Tupac: Resurrection.” “When he was alive, so much of his public persona was about controversy. A lot of who he was got lost in the hubbub. … Only now are (we) ready to hear him and listen.”