Tupac
The official life story of slain rap legend Tupac Shakur is heading to bookstores, more than 14 years after his tragic murder.
Author Kevin Powell has won the approval from the star's mother, Afeni Shakur, to study Tupac's rise to fame and fortune in the first authorised work about the late icon since he was fatally shot in September 1996.
Powell reveals he will have lots of memories to draw from for Tupac Shakur: The Authorised Biography because he had formed a close bond with the Changes lyricist in the years before his tragic death.
In a statement, he says, "It is an honour to write what will be the definitive biography on the life and times of Tupac Shakur, one of the greatest icons in hip-hop and pop culture history. Our relationship began when I documented his journey while at Vibe (magazine) in the 1990s. And I will never forget being there at that Las Vegas hospital when Tupac's death was announced.
"He remains, all these years later, one of the most dynamic and complicated humans I've ever encountered. I will present Tupac as the very whole and multi-layered being he was, as I remember well his asking me, quite prophetically, to be (writer) Alex Haley to his Malcolm X."
Afeni Shakur, Tupac's estate executor, adds: "Kevin Powell is doing this Tupac Shakur biography with my full blessings. I trust him and his history of documenting my son's life, and I know he will do the book from his heart."
A release date for the book, to be published by Simon & Schuster, had yet to be announced as we went to press.
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