Artist Statement: 
 
I get to work on subjects I think are remarkably gifted with this series, so here I am with another musician regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time.
 
The first (and only other) time I made a portrait of Tupac was in art class when I was 14.  I made it for my best friend.  He died at 25, but she still thinks he is alive.  
 
I’ve seen no better explanation of Tupac Shakur’s global impact on music than that from LA Times writer Chuck Phillips:
 
“The slaying silenced one of modern music’s most eloquent voices—a ghetto poet whose tales of urban alienation captivated young people of all races and backgrounds. The 25-year-old Shakur had helped elevate rap from a crude street fad to a complex art form, setting the stage for the current global hip-hop phenomenon.”
 
“Pac” made a fashion statement with this bandana on his head.  He loved Shakespeare and his mama. He collaborated, acted in movies, and sold 75 million plus records.
 
As a West Coast Death Row artist, his rivalry with East Coast Bad Boy Records’ Notorious B.I.G. was legendary. Tupac’s diss track for Biggie, “Hit ‘Em Up”, is arguably the best of all time (until Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”). Did it kill him? No one knows.   
 
Though he lived a controversial self-proclaimed “thug life,” there is no doubt he was a profound social and political activist with an abundance of California love – an absolute expert in his craft which is exactly why I wanted to make this.