Family
Until I looked around me
I saw nothing but family
straight up down for me
Panthers, Pimps, Pushers and Thugs
Hey yo, that’s my family tree
I got nothin but love– “Nothin but Love”
Tupac grew up in difficult circumstances: there were not only the dangerous neighbourhoods but also a rather unstable situation at home. But as for everyone else, his family was also important to him. And his family is not like most. No, his family tree is an impressive list of strong characters and leaders – some of them making name long before Tupac became famous.
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Afeni Shakur (Alice Faye Williams) – Mother
Apart from some time around the age of 17, when she was getting addicted again, Tupac was very close to his mother. She was a Black Panther Member involved in the famous Panther 21 incident where she and 20 others were convicted for allegedly plotting to blow up banks and department stores. She successfully defended herself during the trial and was released from prison just before giving birth to her first son. Tupac gave her tribute with the very moving song “Dear Mama”.
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William Garland – Biological father
Tupac’s birth father did little to raise Tupac. He saw Tupac sporadically up until the age of 5 and didn’t see him again until he saw Tupac in the movie “Juice” in 1992. He later visited him in the Bellevue hospital when Tupac was shot in 1994. Tupac thought his father was dead or didn’t want to see him and he showed him no respect when he recorded “Dear Mama”: “No Love for my daddy cause the coward wasn’t there/He passed away and I didn’t cry/Cause my anger wouldn’t let me feel for a stranger/And even though they say I’m heartless, all along I was looking for a father he was gone”. After Tupac passed away, Garland even took Afeni to court for half of Tupac’s estate. It ended up in a settlement of $540,000 plus legal fees, totaling just over $350,000.
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Dr. Mutulu Shakur (Jeral Wayne Williams) – Step-father
Father of Sekyiwa and Mopreme and adopted brother of Lumumba, Mutulu is best known for planning the infamous $1.6 million robbery of a Brinks armored truck in New York that left three persons dead in 1981. In the 1980s, he was arrested on RICO charges of bank robbery and aiding his sister, Assata Shakur, in her escape from prison. In 1982, he became the 380th person added by the F.B.I. to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. He is currently still incarcerated and is expected to be released from prison in 2016.
Together with Tupac, Mutulu described the Code of Thug Life. He also wrote two letters after both Tupac’s and Biggie’s killing. -
Lumumba Abdul Shakur – Ex-husband of Afeni
Lumumba Abdul Shakur, Mutulu’s brother by adoption, was Afeni’s first husband. He was a Black Panther member and the lead defendant in the Panther 21 case where he and 20 others, including Afeni, were convicted for allegedly plotting to blow up banks and department stores. He was found dead in Louisiana several days before Mutulu was arrested. Mutulu suspects that Lumumba was murdered by someone (perhaps a police informant) who learned of Mutulu’s whereabouts and decided to kill two birds with one stone.
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Elmer ‘Geronimo’ Pratt – Godfather
Geronimo ji-Jaga is a former high ranking member of the Black Panther Party. He was tried and convicted of the kidnap and murder of Caroline Olsen in 1972, and spent 27 years in prison, eight of which were in solitary confinement. Pratt was freed in 1997 when his conviction was vacated. He currently works as a human rights activist.
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Sekyiwa Shakur (Set) – Half-sister
Born in 1975 Seikiywa is Tupac half-sister, daughter of Afeni and Mutulu. She describes her childhood relationship with Tupac as a ‘typical brother-sister relationship’. When Tupac’s career took off, they spent less and less time together, but she was always the ‘baby sister’.
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Maurice Harding (Mopreme) – Step-brother
Son of Mutulu Shakur, Mopreme was a member of both Thug Life as well as the Outlaw Immortalz (under the alias Komani). He made his rap debut on Tony Toni Toné’s hit single “Feels Good” in the year 1990 and worked with Tupac for the first time on “Papaz Song”, which appeared on “Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z…”. He left the Outlawz and started his solo career with Mob Life Records.
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Katari Cox (Kastro) – Cousin
Known as K-Dog in the Young Thugs/Thoro Headz (later Dramacydal), Cox became best known as the Outlaw Immortalz’ Kastro.
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Assata Shakur (JoAnne Chesimard) – Aunt
Assata was also a known activist in the Black Panther Party. In 1973, she was allegedly involved in the shooting of New Jersey State Patrol officer Werner Foerster, who was killed with his own weapon. That same night, her companion Zayd Shakur was also killed. Although she still maintains her innocence today, she was convicted for murder. She escaped prison in 1979, fleeing to Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum and is still living nowadays. In her biography, “Assata: an autobiography”, she speaks about how the police beat and tortured her during her incarceration.
In 2005, her name was added to the F.B.I.’s Domestic Terrorist List, with a $1 million reward for assistance in her capture. -
Zayd Shakur – Uncle
Zayd was a brother to Lumumba and Mutulu. He was in the car with Assata in 1973 and was killed during the shootout which also killed New Jersey State Patrol officer Werner Foerster.
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Leggs – Father figure
Leggs was not related to Tupac but served as a father figure none the less. It is assumed that Leggs was once connected to the legendary New York drug kingpin Nicky Barnes. Tupac stated that the Thug in him came from Leggs. He was the person who introduced Afeni to crack, a drug she was haunted by for much of the 80’s. After Leggs was sent to prison for credit-card fraud in the mid-80’s, Afeni, tired of her struggles in New York, moved her family to Baltimore. She learned shortly after that Leggs had died of a crack-induced heart attack.
