Tupac: Resurrection, 1971-1996
Edited by Jacob Haye and Karolyn Ali Atria Books, October 2003 $29.95, ISBN 0-743-47434-1
Tupac Shakur is the hip-hop icon most frequently canonized in contemporary literature. There are at least a dozen books dedicated to his life or intellectual discussions about his work. Since his death in 1996, at age 25, all kinds of pundits have offered up views on his contributions to rap and pop culture.
What makes the book Tupac: Resurrection different, however is that it allows the deceased artist to tell his own story through his own words, thus removing the opportunity for the middle-media interpreter to color Tupac's story with personal bias. As a companion to the MTV documentary film by the same name, Tupac: Resurrection illuminates the young artist's idealistic vision with what is essentially a narrated scrapbook, replete with photographs and handwritten notes.
Gorgeously bound, the hardcover book is a beautiful, emotional and haunting portrait of the artist as a young prodigy who died too soon. Sensation and feeling pour throughout; the first-person quotes that accompany the images chronicle not just his life story, but the passion, the fury, the ambition and the noble sentiment that fueled his actions--many of which we remember as inexplicably macabre. Combined with Tupac's handwritten poems, ideas for screenplays and tirades against injustice, the book allows Tupac to exalt himself to legend, though it merely flirts with his own self--destruction. Still, his account of his own life, shown in images from beginning to end, rings with understated brilliance, fleeting joy and profound sadness, ensuring that Tupac: Resurrection will certainly remain the best book about him by any author.
by Malcolm Venable
Malcolm Venable is a writer in New York
COPYRIGHT 2004 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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