Publishing house Simon & Schuster has reached an agreement with Hip-Hop political activist Kevin Powell for the first authorized biography on Tupac Shakur.
Since his death 14 years ago, every book on Tupac Shakur’s life and music have been made without the consent his mother Afeni Shakur, who controls the rapper’s estate. Because of Powell’s track record in documenting Hip-Hop culture as a 90’s journalist with Vibe, and recent political work in New York, Afeni Shakur felt confident giving the project her blessing.
“Kevin Powell is doing this Tupac Shakur biography with my full blessings,” she stated in a prepared statement. “I trust him and his history of documenting my son’s life, and I know he will do the book from his heart.”
Powell has written 10 books on the topics of race, politics, Hip-Hop and poetry. The Shakur project will be his first biography, and he believes it will become the most important book written on the slain legend.
“It is an honor to write what will be the definitive biography on the life and times of Tupac Shakur, one of the greatest icons in hip-hop and pop culture history,” Powell told XXL Magazine.
At press time, a release date has not been finalized for the project.
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