By Jessica Mansfield
This morning it was announced by the Shakur Estate and Amaru Entertainment (the company created by Afeni Shakur to release her son’s posthumous projects) that they would be teaming up with White Horse Pictures to produce a fully authorised documentary on the life of acclaimed hi-hop artist, writer and poet Tupac Shakur, directed by none other than 12 Years a Slave director Steve McQueen.
This is not the first time the British-born McQueen has been tapped to direct a musician’s biopic – in 2009, he was announced as director for the biopic Fela, about Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, and again in 2014 as the director for Paul Robeson’s biopic – but neither of these came to fruition for him, his small feature filmography remaining at a concise three (Hunger, Shame and 12 Years a Slave). Of course, his career as a visual artist is equally impressive, and hopefully he’ll bring some of that striking imagery to this film about one of hip-hop’s most popular yet tragic artists, Tupac Shakur.
“I am extremely moved and excited to be exploring the life and times of this legendary artist,” McQueen says. “I attended NYU film school in 1993 and can remember the unfolding hip-hop world and mine overlapping with Tupac’s through a mutual friend in a small way. Few, if any shined brighter than Tupac Shakur. I look forward to working closely with his family to tell the unvarnished story of this talented man.”
Though his short career has since been remembered by its tragic end, Tupac is one of the most popular and enduring artists in music today; having sold over 75 million records worldwide, his life and legacy continues to impact and influence culture today. “Our goal has always been to tell the true story, which has never been done before in such a complete way,” Shakur’s aunt Gloria Cox, sister of Afeni Shakur, says. “My sister always said to me, ‘We are not in the business of defending Tupac. Our job is to allow him to be seen in the most complete way, so his actions, his choices, and his words will allow him to speak for himself. I believe this film will do exactly that.”
This is not the only upcoming Tupac project, though – All Eyez on Me by Next Day Air director Benny Boom is also inbound. We get the feeling McQueen’s might be the better of the two, somehow, but we could be wrong.
