Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur

Marking Tupac’s 50th birthday and 25 years after his death, Changes appeared in 2021, named after one of his best-known songs. Music journalist Sheldon Pearce, an editor at The New Yorker, presented his first book with it. The format is unusual: an oral history structured as a mosaic of voices from people who experienced Tupac.

Book Details

A Chorus of Contemporary Witnesses Instead of Archival Material

Pearce conducted exclusively new interviews for the book and deliberately dispensed with archival material. He lists his interviewees as a “Chorus”: speakers include teachers and childhood friends, companions from the early years, musicians, Death Row staff, journalists, scholars, and even ER doctors. Between the chapters are sections on Túpac Amaru, the 16th-century Inca rebel Tupac was named after.

Particular attention was paid to the statement of a juror from the 1994 trial, which according to Publishers Weekly raises doubts about that verdict. On the case itself: Legal cases.

Praise for the Method, Criticism of the Gaps

Pearce presented a serious, journalistically crafted book with a clear methodology. Kirkus recommended it, writing that despite little-known interview partners, Pearce succeeds in showing Tupac’s impact. Publishers Weekly found it insightful, if at times hagiographic. The Guardian criticized that many key figures are dead, incarcerated, or unreachable, which is why foregoing archival voices leaves corresponding gaps. Tupac’s own voice is almost entirely absent.

From the perspective of the people around him, the volume offers many unfamiliar details. Additional titles are listed in the overview Books.