May 1, 2023
Because she knew Tupac Shakur as a young man, author/screenwriter Robinson was asked by his mother to write this biography. What results, the first and only Estate-authorized biography of the legendary artist, draws on private notebooks, letters, unpublished lyrics, and forthright conversations to portray a man shaped equally by art and politics, prophetic in his outlook, wildly successful at a young age, and lost too soon. Prepub Alert.
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August 1, 2023
The long-awaited authorized biography of the iconic rapper. Robinson, a screenwriter and an executive producer on the FX series Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, met Tupac Shakur (1971-1996) while they were both in high school in Mill Valley, California, and they remained in contact until Shakur's murder--just days before Robinson was set to go to work with him. Years later, Shakur's mother, the activist Afeni Shakur, asked Robinson to write about her son, offering access to his family and personal papers. The numerous pictures of his handwritten lyrics, album track lists, and liner notes alone make this book a must-see for fans, and with the memories of so many from Shakur's inner circle, the author offers loads of colorful details about his life. He used to listen to Mariah Carey's "Vision of Love" when he felt sad. He wrote love poems to Jada Pinkett when they were in high school together. He started dating Madonna after they were introduced by Rosie Perez. However, Robinson provides few revelations about who killed Shakur in Las Vegas or why. She offers a bit more about him getting shot in New York and why that event ended his friendship with the Notorious B.I.G. and launched the East Coast-West Coast beef in hip-hop, though nothing definitive on who pulled the trigger. The author is at her best in her descriptions of Shakur's ambitions, intense work ethic, and dislike of authority, especially police, as well as his family life. The role of preparing food in his home was incredibly meaningful to Tupac," she writes. "Before [his cousin] Jamala's arrival at the Calabasas house, he had asked his mother to have home-cooked meals prepared for him at his Wilshire House condo so when he walked in the door, exhausted, the smell of his mother's cooking would greet him." This authorized biography of Shakur is intimate and personal, but it could use more gravitas.
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September 4, 2023
Robinson (Interceptions), a screenwriter and longtime friend of Tupac Shakur, traces the hip-hop star’s trials and triumphs in this riveting account. Inspired by his mother’s activism in the Black Panther movement, Tupac internalized a “revolutionary vigilance against a system complicit in keeping Black Americans powerless and poor,” a perspective that inspired the “compelling poetry and lyrics” he “share with the world” as he rocketed to stardom in the early 1990s. Robinson also delves into Tupac’s training as an actor alongside Jada Pinkett at Baltimore’s School for the Arts, and his dreams of writing, producing, and directing documentaries and films. Among other controversies, Robinson details an incident in which the album 2Pacalypse Now (1991) came in for criticism from Vice President Dan Quayle for its anti-police lyrics, causing Tupac to worry “he could no longer express himself in the raw and uncut way he wanted to—without the white man’s approval.” She ends the account in the Las Vegas hospital room where Tupac died in 1996. Avoiding speculation about the circumstances of his unsolved murder, Robinson instead sets out a faithful and detailed portrait of an artist dedicated to helping “others achieve freedom from oppression.” Enriched by invaluable excerpts from the rapper’s notebooks and sketch pads, this will have hip-hop devotees enthralled.
September 15, 2023
Rapper, poet, artist, and actor Tupac Shakur's geyser-like creativity, striking looks, and searing assaults on racial injustice made him an icon long before his assassination at age 25, and have ensured his immortality. Yet Tupac was also a son, brother, cousin, husband, friend, and colleague, and it is these relationships which form the core of Robinson's biography. Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, an ardent, outspoken Black Panther leader, plays nearly as large a role here as her son; the earlier chapters describe her arrest and trial for terrorism as one of the Panther 21, and her successful self-defense against all charges. Afeni's politics, and her stormy relationship with her son were clearly major influences on his life and art. We see the young Tupac grow from being the star of his performing-arts high school to rap stardom. All the major controversies are covered: "Thug Life," the shootings and rape accusation which landed him in jail, and his numerous "diss tracks" and beefs with fellow rappers, though Robinson tends to soften or excuse the most disturbing incidents. Ultimately, Tupac's outsized personality, his love of literature (he scribbled poetry throughout his trial and read Shakespere and Sun Yat-sen in jail), and dedication to Black liberation shine throughout this passionate portrait of a profoundly influential artist.
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