TUPAC Unseen is comprised of thirty-six portraits photographs Levinson made in 1993 and thirty-six original Artworks (one of each portrait, completed in 2014) each one an individual homage to Tupac, for a total of seventy-two original works, less than a half dozen of which received any type of publication. It is a remarkable collection of work and quite simply the collection of Tupac photographs that illuminates his serious, meditative and friendly personality, with depth.
In Levinson’s own words: I met Tupac in the summer of 1993. Upon introduction, Tupac greeted me with unguarded enthusiasm and a megawatt smile, that welcomed me to create photographs. To say, he lit up the room is both a cliché and a understatement. Tupac was an active collaborator, all Tupac needed was a phrase, an idea, he would open up, I felt that if you gained his trust, there was nothing he was afraid to show. Every request made was met with his full presence and a natural quality, encompassing both exuberance and introspection, that I‘ve found exceedingly rare, even among the most celebrated artists and celebrities at any age. The book was published 2014.
Me against Myself: The Words and Music of Tupac Shakur The legends of the music industry are consistently among the most revered celebrities in popular culture. We know everything about them - who they dated, where they played, and how they died. However, what they sought to tell us through their music often remains undiscovered or forgotten. The Praeger Singer-Songwriter Collection provides critical analysis and commentary on the work of such important artists as John Lennon, Carole King, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Bob Marley, Frank Zappa, Tupac Shakur, and David Bowie, and does so in the hope that, from behind such legendary faces, voices can again emerge. 1971, d. 1996) remains vibrantly alive in the minds of many Americans. Tupac was at once a poet and a gangster, a conscious leader and a gun-wielding menace, a feminist and a misogynist. As a ubiquitous figure of popular culture, he consistently resisted categorization. The book was published on November 2008.
Art Is My Life: The Streets, Tupac, Death Row Records, and Now reveals Riskie's struggle to develop as an artist and his ultimate triumph as the painter behind hip-hop's most iconic images. This book is a time capsule of one of the most important eras in American popular music.
You've seen his art on the album covers of hip-hop's most famous albums - Makaveli The Don Killuminati, Tha Doggfather, G-Funk Classics by Nate Dogg, and many more. Now learn the story of the artist: Ronald "Riskie" Brent and his rise from the fabled streets of Compton to the hallowed halls of Death Row Records, the most celebrated rap music label of its time.
What Pac Says: Tupac Shakur Speaks From The Other Side This book was channeled from Tupac Shakur to Kristine. In this book Tupac talks about his life on earth, his life on the other side, the situation with Biggie Smalls, his death and also gives advice he wishes he followed while he was on earth. He also wrote some new lyrics/poems. Kristine is a psychic medium and a figure skater. She has been in multiple car accidents and ended up bedridden for seven years. During this time her psychic medium abilities grew and grew over time. At first she didn't want to become a professional psychic medium but after doing readings for friends they kept telling that she really should. Now she does readings for people all over the world through her website: www.PsychicMediumReadingsByKristine.com.
She is grateful to be able to help others with her gift. Kristine was not a Tupac fan. When he came to her to ask to do this book for her she was shocked. She repeatedly told him no. She wasn't sure she wanted to take on this task. But after a while of him being persistent and her getting to know him she decided she would do it. She didn't want to hold him back from expressing himself and he wanted to express himself desperately. Over the years they became very close he would even show up for her during her surgeries and procedures and try to make her laugh to distract her. This book is Tupac's exact words he channeled to her with the dates and times that he came through. Other than the beginning which explains how this book came to be, everything is in Tupac's own words. The book was published November 2015.
Dana Lixenberg - Tupac Biggie This volume published 2018 presents a visual history of Dana Lixenbergs iconic photographs of the legendary artists Tupac and Biggie, broadly considered by many critics and fans to have been the best rappers of their time. These photographs, commissioned by Vibe magazine in 1993 and 1996, have been appropriated over the years by innumerable admirers around the world. Both shoots are shown here in their entirety for the first time, retracing the unforeseen trajectory and ubiquity of these images. The images are accompanied by an essay written by Robert Kenner and a poem by Kevin Powell, both renowned contributors to Vibe, while the book is designed by Mevis & van Deursen.
Tupac Shakur Uncategorized is a compilation of candid photos of Tupac Shakur taken by legendary documentary photographer Chi Modu. The photos span the period from Modu’s first meeting with Tupac in 1994 in Atlanta up until late 1995. Modu’s Uncategorized brand was born in NYC in 2013 as an outdoor installation of massive images of Tupac, Biggie, and Snoop that got the city talking. According to Modu, “The art world tends to be very exclusive and full of obstacles for both the artists and the public. The book was published in 2016.
Tupac 187: The Red Knight The powerful and compelling true story of corruption, coercion and murder surrounding the Tupac Shakur & Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace homicides brought to 2014. With contribution by former Los Angeles Police Detective Russell Poole, the original Wallace homicide investigator, Michael Douglas Carlin, Director of "American Federale" and Richard "RJ" Bond, director of the "Tupac Assassination" movies take you inside the 18 year odyssey of the derailed murder investigations. Tupac 187: The Red Knight" goes back to the beginning of the investigations-the original police files-and re-examines the people and evidence who have been previously corrupted or ignored. We decided to strip the Death Row Records disinformation machine of its fallacies, and re-paint the witness disparagement campaigns by the Los Angeles Times with the color of truth. When all is laid out raw and exposed under the book's harsh light, "187" clearly evidences the power of the media-both of 1996 and of today- to not only report news-but to make it.
Tupac Remebered Tupac Shakur's albums have sold more than 75 million copies and touched fans all over the world. In his lifetime, Tupac made personal connections with political leaders, serious actors, rap artists, and many others. Tupac Remembered presents these influential figures' candid and most cherished memories of "Pac," in their own words. Compiled with the participation and support of the Shakur family, contributors include Jada Pinkett-Smith, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Nikki Giovanni, Kevin Powell, Common, E40, Sonia Sanchez, and others. Personal snapshots and remembrances shed light on the many personas of Tupac, who even a decade after his death remains one of the music industry's most complicated and enduring artists. Author: Molly Monjauze worked closely with Tupac Shakur during his lifetime, and since his death has assisted the Shakur family with compiling unreleased Tupac materials. She lives in Los Angeles. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. The book was published in 2008.
Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon published in 2010 is a passionate, critically incisive cultural biography of hip-hop icon Tupac Shakur and an examination of the forces that shaped him. In 1996 Tupac Shakur, one of the most talented artists of his time, was murdered by an unknown gunman. Fred L. Johnson and Tayannah Lee McQuillar examine the theories surrounding his death and the story of Tupac's lost legacy in this definitive biography.
For millions, Shakur gave voice to their stories, but there was also another side to him, revealed as his life spun out of control, as the whispered warnings from friends went unheeded and the denunciations of critics grew louder. Disturbingly, he sang and wrote about his impending death. When it came, it brought the music industry to its knees and ended an era when American rappers were leaders in using their art to speak the truth to corporate, government, and judicial power. Authors: Tayannah Lee McQuillar, Freddie Lee Johnson
Original Gangstas: The Untold Story Ben Westhoff explores how this group of artists shifted the balance of hip-hop from New York to Los Angeles. He shows how N.W.A.'s shocking success lead to rivalries between members, record labels, and eventually a war between East Coast and West Coast factions. In the process, hip-hop burst into mainstream America at a time of immense social change, and became the most dominant musical movement of the last thirty years. At gangsta rap's peak, two of its biggest names--Tupac and Biggie Smalls--were murdered, leaving the surviving artists to forge peace before the genre annihilated itself. The book was published in 2016.
Tupac Shakur Legacy is an official interactive biography of Tupac Shakur released on August 16, 2006. The author of the book is Jamal Joseph, a friend of the Shakur family, Shakur's godfather, and a former Black Panther Party member, now a professor of film at Columbia University. The book is published by Atria Books a division of Simon & Schuster. It features unseen family photographs, intimate stories, and over 20 removable reproductions of his handwritten song lyrics, contracts, scripts, poetry, and other personal papers.
The book includes a 60-minute interview CD with Tupac along with many reproductions. The reproductions include replicas of Tupac's personal notebooks, letters and written plans, along with directions to where Tupac's ashes were said to be spread.
Murder Rap published in 2011. Two of the most notorious unsolved cases in the annals of American crime, the murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls have been the subject of exhaustive investigations, relentless speculation and a tangled web of rampant rumors, crackpot conspiracies and dark secrets. Now, for the first time, the truth behind these sensational cases is laid bare in Murder Rap, a raw and riveting account of how a dedicated and driven police detective spearheaded the task force that finally exposed the shocking facts behind the deaths of these two rap music icons. Told by Greg Kading, a much-decorated LAPD detective assigned to solve the homicides, Murder Rap unravels a twisted tale of music, money, and murder, finally answering the question of who killed Biggie and Tupac and why. With access to never-before-seen material, including the confessions of those directly involved in the killings, Kading’s spellbinding saga takes readers directly inside the four-year cold case investigation, introduces a cast of unforgettable characters and provides compelling new evidence for its explosive conclusions. A torn-from-the-headlines true crime blockbuster, the scathing revelations of Murder Rap are sure to make headlines all their own.
His Life Through My Eyes Gobi M. Rahimi spent Tupac Shakur's last eight months with him, serving as a co-producer and director for many of his music videos and short films. Along the way, he took behind-the-scenes photographs of Tupac in more relaxed, casual settings. Gobi's photos and words show a side of Tupac that is rarely seen, and humanizes a man who has since become a legend. The book was published in June 2015.
Compton Street Legend published in 2019. The infamous Suge Knight, former Death Row Records CEO, and I are the only living eyewitnesses to the deadly confrontation on the Las Vegas strip between the occupants of our two vehicles. A violent confrontation that led to the deaths of two of Hip-Hop’s biggest stars (Tupac Shakur & Christopher ‘Notorious B.I.G.’ Wallace) and changed Hip-Hop history forever.There’s a strict code on the streets. One that real street players live, kill, and die by. COMPTON STREET LEGEND reveals the street-level code violations and the explosive consequences when the powerful worlds of the streets, entertainment, and corrupt law enforcement collide.
More than twenty years after the premature deaths of Tupac and Biggie there have been numerous TV specials, documentaries, books, magazine and newspaper, and social media dedicated to the subject. But at the end of the day, none of the private investigators, retired police officers, informants, Hip-Hop heads, actors, or academics that have weighed in on the topic truly know what happened and the reasons behind it, because none of them were there.Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis, a native of Compton, California, admittedly lived most of his life as a gangster; a real gangster that did the shit that real gangsters do. He rose up the gang-banging ranks to become a shot-caller for the notorious Southside Compton Crips, while running a multi-million dollar, multi-state drug empire. Keffe D has been a central figure in both the Tupac Shakur and Biggie murders for the past 20 years. COMPTON STREET LEGEND will add valuable information about two of the biggest “unsolved” crimes in American history. It will serve as the missing piece of the puzzle that Hip-Hop Fans have been waiting for. On the surface COMPTON STREET LEGEND will look like a story based on violence and hate, it is actually a story about Love, Family, Brotherhood, Loyalty, Trust, and Honor.
Stranded on Deathrow Danny Boy grew up on one of the most influential record labels in the history of rap music. As the adopted son of Suge Knight, Danny rubbed elbows with the best of the best in the music industry. He sang for Teena Marie, collaborated with Lisa Left Eye Lopes, and formed a friendship with Jodeci members, K-Ci and JoJo. He witnessed both the rise and fall of Death Row Records, traveled with Suge and Tupac, and performed with some of the greatest musicians of all times. Danny is probably most widely known for “I Ain’t Mad at Cha,” the iconic song he recorded with the late Tupac Shakur. But there’s more to his story. In this autobiography, he shares his secrets, his heartaches, and loves; he takes the reader on a journey that is unforgettable. The book was published February 7, 2017.
Diary of a Madman From Geto Boys legend and renowned storyteller Scarface, comes a passionate memoir about how hip-hop changed the life of a kid from the south side of Houston, and how he rose to the top-and ushered in a new generation of rap dominance. Scarface is the celebrated rapper whose hits include "On My Block," "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" and "Damn It Feels Good to be a Gangsta" (made famous in the cult film Office Space). The former president of Def Jam South, he's collaborated with everyone from Kanye West, Ice Cube and Nas, and had many solo hits such as "Guess Who's Back" feat. Jay-Z and "Smile" feat. Tupac. But before that, he was a kid from Houston in love with rock-and-roll, listening to AC/DC and KISS.
In Diary of a Madman, Scarface shares how his world changed when he heard Run DMC for the first time; how he dropped out of school in the ninth grade and started selling crack; and how he began rapping as the new form of music made its way out of New York and across the country. It is the account of his rise to the heights of the rap world, as well as his battles with his own demons and depression. Passionately exploring and explaining the roots and influences of rap culture, Diary of a Madman is the story of hip-hop-the music, the business, the streets, and life on the south side Houston, Texas.
BOOKS RELATED TO TUPAC
Behind The Walls With Tupac Shakur I think people should know the real Tupac Shakur - not just thug life, but real life. We were behind the wall together. I watched him battle the conflict raging within him, between the revolutionary he was raised to be and the gangster the streets wanted him to be, between the push of his talent and the pull of his environment. That internal struggle is symbolic of an entire community. And that's why I wrote this book. Now more than ever, our young men and women are caught in a struggle: a struggle against the mismessaging of social media, the disturbing trend of overt sexuality, the lure of violence, the glorification of gang life, the push to conform to something and someone they were never intended to. Behind the Walls with Tupac Shakur, ironically, is more relevant now than ever before. It's an intimate look through the eyes of my friend, the legend, with a powerful message for the future of Black America. The book was released on June 2019.
How Long Will They Mourn Me? celebrates Tupac’s unforgettable life–his rise to fame; his tumultuous dark side marked by sex, drugs, and violence; and the indelible legacy he left behind. Although Tupac’s murder remains unsolved, the spirit of this legendary artist is far from forgotten. How long will we mourn him? Fans worldwide will grieve his untimely death for a long time to come. Candace Sandy was formerly general manager of WNYU 89.1 FM where she was a part of the groundbreaking and award-winning hip-hop show radio show, New York Live, with radio personalities DJ Mayhem, Martin Moore, and Sunset. She currently serves as the communications director for Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY), and continues to produce for radio and television. The book was published in 2006.
West Coast Hip Hop: A History In Pictures published in 2012. I was lucky to be in the inner circle of all the iconic rappers of the 90's. Photographing and documenting the "golden era of rap" artists in the book Tupac, Eazy E, Cypress Hill, NWA, Ice Cube, Snoop, Too $hort, Westside Connection, House Of Pain, all the artist were in front of my camera! My archives are deep. I hope you enjoy my stories that coincide with each photo. Thank You, Mike