Kendrick Lamar honors Tupac Shakur in inspired note posted on Tupac's official website.
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On Sept. 13, 1996, hip-hop legend Tupac Shakur died from injuries due to gunshot wounds. He was only 25 years old at the time of his death, and his killer was never caught. For many, like Kendrick Lamar, Tupac lives on as an inspiration that fuels their current work.
Case in point: Lamar’s 2015 spring release To Pimp a Butterfly ends with a song called “Mortal Man.” The track features a posthumous conversation between Tupac and himself constructed from interview sound bites. The conversation is described by the Los Angeles Times as touching and at times melancholy.
Lamar strikes again in an action that shows continued love and respect for the late Shakur. "I was 8 yrs old when I first saw you," Lamar writes on Tupac's official website Sept. 13. "I couldn’t describe how I felt at that moment. So many emotions. Full of excitement. Full of joy and eagerness. 20 yrs later I understand exactly what that feeling was...INSPIRED.”
Lamar tells Rolling Stone that he witnessed Tupac and Dr. Dre film the video for the song “California Love”, which released in 1995 on the album All Eyez on Me. Lamar was sitting on his father’s shoulders when he saw his hero rolling in to the Compton Swap Meet to make the video. Lamar has since filmed a scene for his own video “King Kunta” at the same spot.
Lamar’s note comes 19 years after Tupac’s death. “The people that you touched on that small intersection changed lives forever,” Lamar writes. “I told myself I wanted to be a voice for man one day. Whoever knew I was speaking out loud for u to listen.”
Kendrick Lamar has gone on to acquire numerous awards from his hip-hop recordings. His newest release “Allright” from To Pimp a Butterfly reminds of Tupac Shakur’s 1993 release “Keep Ya Head Up.”
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