Tupac Amaru Shakur: 1971-1996 - Hardcover

Vibe Magazine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0609600729 ISBN 13: 9780609600726

Publisher: Crown Publishers, 1997

Synopsis

Tupac Shakur was one of music's most successful, controversial, and enigmatic artists.  His untimely passing, however, left many questions unanswered about his life;  the line between the image and the reality of his "thug" lifestyle remains blurred at best to this day.  Yet, the mark that Shakur left on hip-hop culture is indelible, and the popularity among his fans is unquestionable.        

From the editors of VIBE magazine comes Tupac Shakura compelling tribute to one of music's most profound talents.  Published in time to commemorate the anniversary of Shakur's death (September 13, 1996), Tupac Shakurtraces the pivotal moments in the artist's short but brilliant life from his tough-love upbringing as the son of a former Black Panther and introduction to rap as a backup dancer and roadie, to his meteoric rise to the top of the rap world and  a turbulent movie career.
        
Told through VIBE'S most poignant and often prophetic articles on and interviews with Tupac along with more than 100 full-color photographs, Tupac Shakur is a telling portrait of Shakur's mercurial life.  In the book, readers will find extensive interviews with Tupac following his arrests in New York and Atlanta in 1994; a world-exclusive interview from Rikers Island in April 1995; another after his release from prison and being signed to Death Row Records in February 1996; and a final conversation conducted just two weeks before his death in September 1996.  Also published for the first time, is an extremely candid interview VIBEonline conducted with Shakur in June 1996.  With an introduction by Editor-in-Chief, Danyel Smith, memorial tributes from directors John Singleton and Ernest Dickerson, and rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy, and a foreword by Quincy Jones, Tupac Shakur offers an insider's perspective on one of music's most mythological talents from many in the entertainment industry who knew him the best.   Tupac Shakur is a lasting testament to the many faces of this young artist a man who was built, even in death, to last.

About this title

From the Publisher:

"To invoke Public Enemy, when it comes to Tupac Shakur's life, 'Don't believe the hype.' Read the book."
--Booklist

"A fascinating view of a vibrant and deeply disturbing part of popular culture. Shakur's fans will find the book a useful overview of a short, intensely controversial, and ultimately self-destructive life and career."
--Kirkus Reviews

About the Author:

This is VIBE's first venture into book publishing, and the subject could not be more appropriate. There is no other artist we have covered as extensively as Tupac Shakur-he has appeared on our cover four times in this young magazines life span. But the reason was never, as Mobb Deep suggested in one single, that VIBE magazine on some love shit. No other individual touched our readers like Tupac. There was no one else we consistently received so many letters about-some supporting him, some attacking him; but all full of such intense passion and feeling, so much love, so much anger.

The overwhelming response made it clear that Tupac had come to embody all the contradictions and confusion that have grown up around hip hop. He was a lightning rod, a screen onto which millions of people projected their feelings about rap, about race, and about the young black man in America today. Tupac may be a legend now, but hes hardly a hero. Many young people may have looked up to him, but he himself often seemed to be searching for a leader.

Laugh Now, Cry Later was tattooed on Tupacs back, but there is no later, no time for crying when youre dead at 25, and not much time to laugh, either. The real story behind his murder may or may not ever emerge, but nothing will change the end result: One more young black man is dead for no good reason, one more young life is ended long before its time. And it is incumbent on all of us in and around the hip hop community to remember that this death is no triumphant, blaze-of-glory exit but just another senseless murder. We need to do everything in our power to help stop the killing.

When I spoke to a longtime family friend of the Shakurs the day after his death, she said, I know hes in heaven, I just hope hes not giving the angels too hard a time.  Our thoughts are with Tupacs family and the fans who identified with him so strongly.

May Tupac Shakur rest in peace, and may the rest of us live in it.

Alan Light
Editor-in-Chief, VIBE magazine

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown Publishers
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0609600729
• ISBN 13: 9780609600726
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 144