2Pac is a West Coast legend and the city that adopted him will honor his growing legacy with a street named in his honor.
According to The Oaklandside, Oakland’s City Council is moving to vote on renaming a portion of MacArthur Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Van Buren Avenue as “Tupac Shakur Way.” The decision to rename the portion of the street was brought forth by Councilmember Carroll Fife.
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“Tupac Shakur’s legacy will continue through his contributions in art and social outreach, through his family and fans, touching countless lives of children and elders over the years while alive and after his death, taken too young by gun violence,” read the resolution for the street name change, which was presented by Fife.
Although 2Pac was born on the East Coast, his career started in Oakland when he was a roadie and background dancer for Digital Underground. He also created the majority of his legendary albums in California, including 1991’s 2Pacalypse Now, 1993’s Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z., 1995’s Me Against The World, and 1996’s All Eyez On Me.
The city of Oakland previously honored Too $hort with a street named in his honor in December 2022.
Also, as reported by The Oaklandside, Oakland declared June 16 “Tupac Shakur Day” back in 2016.
In other 2Pac news, director Allen Hughes said that if the rap icon wasn’t murdered, he would’ve given Denzel Washington a run for his money in Hollywood.
In an interview on The Rich Eisen Show last week, Hughes gave a hypothetical breakdown of where the late rapper’s acting career would’ve taken him if he were still alive.
“If he had been here, I think Denzel would have some stiff competition,” Hughes said. “He was that talented. Denzel and 2Pac share one thing in common, and I’ve seen them all. I’ve been with world-class pimps, charismatics all over the world, storytellers. The ‘it’ thing — you know, in streets or in the movie business — Denzel and 2Pac possessed.
“When they walk in a room, the emotional intelligence was off the charts, the social intelligence was off the charts. Genius level of social intelligence.”
He continued: “The difference is, Denzel is very wise and can control his emotions and 2Pac [couldn’t]. But 2Pac would’ve been one our greatest leading men, would’ve been a multiple Academy Award winner. And the music would’ve been secondary. I’m sure he would’ve still continued doing music, but he would be huge in the film world.”
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Allen Hughes is the director of the recent FX docuseries Dear Mama: The Saga of Afeni & Tupac Shakur. The series explored the dynamic mother-son relationship between Afeni Shakur, who was a revolutionary and a member of the Black Panther Party, and 2Pac, arguably one of the greatest rappers of all time.
2Pac was fatally shot on September 7, 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was only 25 years old. Prior to his death, ‘Pac was in an assortment of classic movies, including 1992’s Juice, 1993’s Poetic Justice and 1994’s Above The Rim.
