ASSOCIATED PRESS

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Move over, Shakespeare. College students here are lining up to study the poems of slain rapper Tupac Shakur.

The class drew more than 100 people when it was offered at the University of California at Berkeley this semester.

“He’s the Bob Dylan of our day,” said Arvand Elihu, a junior who will teach the class for full credit with the university’s approval. The only grades for the course are pass or fail.

Shakur died Sept. 13, 1996, six days after he was shot on the Las Vegas strip. At 25, he left behind unreleased material and a collection of poetry.

Leila Steinberg, who said she was Shakur’s first manager, will help with the class.

“He had a phenomenal gift,” said Steinberg, who is working Shakur’s mother, Afeni Shakur, to produce a volume of the rapper’s poetry.