Celebrating the life of Tupac Amaru Shakur - #Tupac40

 

How long will they mourn me?

Today, Tupac Shakur would have turned 40 years old.

How should he be remembered? 15 years after his untimely death, the legend of who he was greatly eclipses his humanity in the minds of most who think of him. Tupac was extremely charismatic, and the public persona he crafted was rooted in his personality, but it was not the totality of who he was as a man. In the wake of his 40th birthday, we should challenge ourselves to peel away the husk of mythos that has surrounded him since his death on September 13, 1996.

In remembrance, many tune into radio stations, watch any of the innumerable 2Pac documentaries, blast his entire discography through speakers, read old interview clips, or find a channel playing a music video marathon. It is ironic that the same media that one demonized him from his entry into the entertainment industry is the same one that plays a major role in how he is remembered publicly, the same media that profited greatly from engineering the image of an East Coast/West Coast war. When it isn t the media, it s a mixed bag of academics, friends, and most importantly his mother that discuss his legacy. Let's key in on that last word - legacy. It is seldom that we speak of the legacy of a deceased 25 year old. More often, that word is reserved for men and women twice that age, for aged leaders that pass or young leaders slain in their prime. Tupac is often treated with the tone of the latter. As he is elevated to the status of martyr, the myth of the man obscures his humanity. It is the voices of all that seek to dictate his legacy or control his image for the act of remembrance that distill him as an icon. This isn t positive, it isn t negative, but it is a point of fact.

Crafted in the spirit of Howard Zinn, it is the aim of the Tupac40 project to create a people s history of Tupac Shakur, a celebration of the man through collective memory. Zinn sought to capture history through the voices and experiences of the conquered and exploited as much as through those of the conquerors. From today, his 40th birthday, until November 12th, the 20th anniversary of his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, this website will share that collective memory through mixed media. We aim to explore, celebrate, and remember this multi-faceted, brilliant, talented, flawed human being through the eyes, voices, and memories of the people. In the weeks to come, articles, music, videos, and artwork will adorn this website. Hopefully, we can expose a fragment of the influence he has had on our culture and our lives. Tupac was a complex, conflicted brother, and we owe it to his memory and to ourselves to critically understand who he was and the weight of his contributions, positive, negative, and all that fall in-between.

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Timothy Prolific Jones

Curator

Tupac40.com

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Tomorrow, June 17, at 7pm, I will be on Rise Up Radio (WBAI 99.5 FM) discussing Tupac, his legacy, and the Tupac40 campaign. The show is broadcast online for all of you non-New Yorkers who want to tune in! You can keep up with the latest on the #Tupac40 campaign on on Tupac40.com.