Inside A Thug's Heart - Hardcover

Ardis, Angela

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0758207891 ISBN 13: 9780758207890

Publisher: Kensington, 2004

Synopsis

Rikers Island is the centerpiece of the New York City Department of Corrections, a sprawling prison city of concrete and steel with housing for more than 16,000 inmates. Early in 1995, it was also the temporary home of legendary rapper and actor Tupac Shakur, incarcerated for a crime he swore he did not commit. And it was there that Angela Ardis, acting on a late-night wager among her friends and coworkers, sent a letter, along with a photo and her phone number. To her utter delight and amazement, Angela's phone rang a short while later. Tupac Shakur was on the line.

Over the next several months, Angela and Tupac shared a near-daily exchange of letters, poems and phone calls, and their the relationship quickly grew into something neither of them could quite define, a kinship of souls that touched each in unexpected ways. Those original poems and letters, many of them written after Tupac's transfer from Rikers to Dannemora State Prison, are presented here, along with the increasingly passionate and personal phone calls that touched on every subject imaginable. Far from the media spotlight, Tupac was by turns playful, sensual and serious, offering sharp observations on prison, music and the uncertainties of life. His letters to Angela reflect how he felt about being shot five times and left for dead one terrible night in New York in 1994, and his heartfelt verse encapsulates his dreams for the future--a future that would be so tragically cut short just over eighteen months after their correspondence began.

Tupac Shakur was shot on September 7th, 1996 and died a week later from his injuries. His murder remains unsolved, an ending as enigmatic as his life. But while Tupac may be gone, his words live on here, giving every fan a rare glimpse inside the mind and unbroken spirit of a passionate and unpredictable musical icon.

Angela Ardis is an author, screenwriter, actress and model.

About this title

Reviews

As deceased gangsta rapper Shakur closes in on Jimi Hendrix as the most prolific posthumous recording artist, new books about him proliferate. Ardis, his girlfriend, offers a more-intimate-than-usual perspective, though the acknowledgments may be sounding a note of warning by thanking Tupac's mother, former Black Panther Afeni Shakur, for "allowing this book to see the light of day." Given her efforts to control her son's legacy, this suggests that the contents of this peek inside Tupac's emotional life may be somewhat constrained, and its judgments, softened. Ardis is breezy and competent, and Tupac's letters and poems to her, presented as facsimiles of the originals, show that, even when writing a loved one, his style was much like his lyrics. The book delivers insight into Tupac's private thoughts and evidence that even a successful rapper with "thug life" tattooed on his body had gentle and introspective feelings as well as smoldering resentment and rage. Good fan stuff, a primary resource for things 2pak, and a likely circulation builder for hip-hop-intensive collections. Mike Tribby
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Kensington
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0758207891
• ISBN 13: 9780758207890
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 241