Out for Tupac: out attorney Dina LaPolt safeguards the estate of Tupac Shakur, producing projects like his new CD and bonding with his mother

"The music industry is like the Roach Motel," says lesbian attorney Dina LaPolt. "Once you check in, you don't check out." She's earned the right to make that joke: By the time she was 30, LaPolt had worked in almost every aspect of the music business--guitar teacher, member of a rock band (her current band is called Trophy Girl), manager, concert promoter, booking agent. At that point she was ready for something new, but what?

What else should I be doing in the music industry? she remembers asking herself. Oh, the lawyers--they always get paid, and they never leave the office. And they have health benefits. That idea started LaPolt toward her current job as the day-to-day legal and business affairs executive for Amaru Entertainment and for its founder, Afeni Shakur--mother of the most prominent artist in rap history, the late Tupac Shakur. Amaru handles all of Tupac's matters, artistic and financial.

What's a white lesbian attorney with a rock-and-roll background doing working in a world as homophobic and misogynistic as hip-hop? A lot. There's Tupac's newest spoken word CD, The Rose, Volume 2 (a follow-up to his The Rose That Grew From Concrete), released in September by Koch Entertainment and executive-produced by Afeni Shakur. The CD features such artists as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Outlawz, Memphis Bleek, and Lyfe Jennings, who have augmented various choruses or verses from Tupac's writings with their own lyrics and music. Proceeds will go toward the $3 million needed to complete construction of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Aside from being a driving force in creating Tupac's multimillion-dollar empire, LaPolt has also helped Afeni Shakur launch the national "Keep the Youth Alive" campaign. "Afeni started it because of all the violence," says LaPolt. "She wants an alternative means deal with conflict resolution where urban youths sit down and discuss things instead of fighting with guns and knives."

What's more, LaPolt coproduced the documentary feature Tupac: Resurrection, which to her great surprise was nominated for a 2005 Oscar. "The amazing thing is that I didn't even know what a producer did," she says. "I know that Afeni has a vision, and I'm the 'point A to point Z' person."

LaPolt first met Afeni Shakur in 1998 at the law firm where LaPolt was employed. Hearing Shakur referencing key 12-step phrases like "One day at a time," LaPolt stood up amid dozens of lawyers and blurted excitedly, "I'm 92 days sober!" The two immediately bonded, not just because they were both in recovery--Shakur has been in recovery for 14 years--but because each of them burns with the drive to right wrongs. Shakur, a former member of the Black Panther party, now devotes her life to carrying on her son's messages of peace and hope.

LaPolt, meanwhile, has evolved into a veritable music-industry Erin Brockovich. "I'm an artist-lawyer, so I'm an advocate for artists' rights," she says. "I'm part of the Recording Artists' Coalition started by Sheryl Crow and Don Henley; I helped reform health benefits for AFTRA [the union for vocalists with major labels. I think having an actual artist representing other artists makes all the difference in the world to everyone concerned."

Sadly, LaPolt never got to meet Tupac. But she knows that her sexual identity wouldn't have been an issue with him. As proof, she brings out a letter addressed to Afeni from David LaChapelle. The prominent fashion photographer writes how Tupac and his posse of friends showed up three hours early for a noon photo shoot. Tupac walked into the hotel suite's bedroom where LaChapelle was in bed with his boyfriend, sat down next to the bed, and, totally unfazed by what he saw, proceeded to discuss the day's plans. LaChapelle goes on to write, "The experience of working with your son was so unique, I have always used it as a barometer to which I measure other people. I have been on photo shoots where the stars and their posses made gay jokes right in front of me. Experiences like that make me think about ... how different he really was."

Tupac's family and close friends insist that the rapper would have loved her. "They all said that Tupac was looking for me his whole life," marvels LaPolt. "I'm part of their family. They're so trusting of me, and their biggest drama had always been that I was single. They always said, 'You need to have a nice girl.'" Now she does: LaPolt's been happily partnered for nearly eight months.

Asked if she was drawn to the Tupac phenomenon before entering the world of law, LaPott passionately responds, "No--it's Afeni. I'm in the business of Afeni Shakur. I'm in love with Afeni Shakur! Tupac was nonjudgmental, passionate, always lived life to his fullest, and Afeni is persistent, tenacious, a true warrior. She's someone who, when people tell her she can't do something, that's all she needs to hear." LaPolt smiles. "That's my motivation too. She's forever telling me, 'Dina, you can do anything if you put your mind to it and yon stay sober. You can do anything.'"



by Carol Rosenthal

Rosenthal, a commercial casting director, wrote and performed on In Living Color.
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