Tupac Shakur exhibition opens in Los Angeles

A touring exhibition dedicated to American rapper and actor Tupac Shakur opened this Friday in Los Angeles.

The exhibition “Wake Me When I’m Free” explores the life and legacy of the artist considered to be amongst the most prolific in hip-hop of his generation.

Tupac Shakur died in 1996 at the age of 25 years old.

“We really wanted to be able to give context to who Tupac was, preconceived notions. Twenty five years of media, 30 years of media shows one side, as we know, as I speak to the media. But there’s such a deeper meaning in who he was. Not only his lyrics and his poetry, but who he was as a man and the things that he was speaking about both in writing poetry as a child, the poetry that become songs as a young man, and obviously his legacy since his passing 25 years ago. We built this space really as a way to honor him and what he means as a true revolutionary spirit”, said Arron Saxe, president of Kinfolk Management who is working with the Shakur estate.

The exhibition also features a space dedicated to Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, a former Black Panther who inspired the work of her son. She died in 2016.

“Yes, we’re hoping that people can walk his life in his shoes. You walk through his mother’s life, which again, when giving context to who he is, you have to explain who his mother was. So you walk through her gallery and you get to his childhood and you get to see the beginnings of where he starts to write his poetry. And you get to the chaos of two and a half years of the craziness of his career with not only the music, but the movies that he was in. Get a glimpse into his work in the studio and the music there. Get to see that creative process”, added Arron Saxe.

The exhibition contains hanwritten lyrics, poetry, music and clothing as well as items related to his campaigning as an activist.