Afeni Shakur
The mother of the late rapper, Tupac Shakur,
passed away on May 2, 2016. Afeni Shakur, born Alice Faye
Williams, had a suspected heart attack in her Sausalito,
California home. She was transported to a local hospital
where she was pronounced dead an hour later. Shakur was
69-years-old. In her youth, Shakur was a member of the Black
Panther party. Shakur and other members of the Black
Panthers were incarcerated for plotting to bomb landmarks.
Shakur was acquitted while in jail and gave birth to Tupac
one month later.
Tupac was killed in a drive by shooting in
Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 25. The rapper left behind a
sizeable catalog of unreleased music. His mother fought
Death Row Records in court, for control of his music and the
$20,000,000 in royalties owed to his estate. Wrestling
control of Tupac's estate was not easy for his mother. There
were threats from parties at Death Row, as the label's CEO,
Suge Knight, has repeatedly ripped off artists in well
documented incidents, via using strong arm tactics and
violence.
Tupac Shakur
In 1997 Vanity Fair published an article
stating Knight was funneling money from Tupac's sales and
royalties to the Italian-American mafia, namely the Genovese
crime family and the rapper resented the theft of his funds
(he was killed while initiating proceedings to leave Death
Row Records). Similar claims were made about Tupac's rival,
the Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), having being
approached by the Genovese mafia. The U.S. entertainment
industry is run by organized crime and deranged cults.
Shakur later won her case and Death Row was
forced to fork over unreleased Tupac songs and the royalties
owed. Afeni Shakur has since released eight Tupac albums on
the label she named Amaru, which is the rapper's middle
name. She has also executive produced a Broadway play about
Tupac and a forthcoming biopic that recently wrapped
shooting.
Tupac Shakur
The company Knight once bragged about on
television as having grossed $1 billion dollars, had
spectacularly fallen by 2007. The United States Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) moved in on Knight for tax evasion.
Knight hired an attorney to file for bankruptcy on behalf of
Death Row Records. All assets were seized and liquidated to
pay off the company's debts. Knight also lost his mansion to
foreclosure. He is currently incarcerated, while on trial
for murder and attempted murder, after stalking the cast and
crew of the 2015 movie "Straight Outta Compton."
Shakur was embroiled in a messy, acrimonious
divorce when she died that was filed in North Carolina,
though she lived in California, where martial assets are
community property (split in half). Her husband of 12-years,
Gust Davis, was demanding $10,000 per month, which is half
of the income she receives from her role in Tupac's estate.
Most of the money from the Tupac estate, which makes an
estimated $900,000 per year, has been going to the charity
foundation Shakur created in Tupac's memory.
Afeni Shakur (left) and Gust Davis (right)
Her husband was also inexcusably demanding
half of Tupac's songs. Overall, he demanded half of Tupac's
estate in divorce papers (houseboats, 50 acre North Carolina
ranch, millions in cash, $10,000 per month for life and his
Jaguar). They had no prenuptial agreement. Now she's dead.
People in the entertainment industry with valuable
copyrights have been passing away at a frequent rate.
Tupac has a sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, who has
two children. Tupac's sister should be the one to inherit
his estate that was passed to their mother upon his death.
She would do a better job regarding his legacy, as the
conduct her stepfather has been exhibiting is and was not in
the best interest of her mother.
