Tupac's Influence on Other Artists

A producer asks for unreleased recordings in a letter, a ten-year-old understands the world in front of the speakers, and an up-and-coming rapper is banished because he found the music boring. Tupac’s influence is hard to measure, but it can be pinned down to concrete examples: rappers name him as their first favorite artist, incorporate him into new tracks, or pick fights over his name.

This page collects documented cases without claiming to be exhaustive. Here, “influence” means only that an artist themselves or the trade press draws the connection.

Eminem: A Letter to Afeni, Platinum, and a Song for Street Fighter

The closest connection is with Eminem. He produced the posthumous album Loyal to the Game, which was released on December 14, 2004, and entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1. According to Wikipedia, he wrote a letter to Afeni Shakur asking to be allowed to produce the album. The RIAA certified it Platinum on February 15, 2005.

On his Sirius XM show Music to Be Quarantined By in May 2020, Eminem said Tupac might be the greatest songwriter of all time: his “Can you feel me?” meant that you did not just hear him, but felt him. In June 2020, he included him on an unranked list of great rappers (Billboard, June 14, 2020). Both are personal assessments, not facts.

On July 24, 2026, 50 Cent announced that he had recorded a track for the Street Fighter movie with Eminem and an unreleased Tupac recording (Billboard). The estate had reportedly agreed, and the voice was not AI-generated. A release date was not known.

J. Cole: How a Ten-Year-Old Understood Me Against the World

According to Far Out Magazine, J. Cole said in a Complex interview after his debut (2011) that he heard Me Against the World as a ten-year-old and understood the album’s significance: he knew how “ill” what Tupac was saying was, and how emotional he sounded.

His favorite tracks were Dear Mama, the title track, Temptations, and So Many Tears. It is a memory, not proof of any particular stylistic device, but it shows how Tupac played through the childhood and youth of an entire generation.

Megan Thee Stallion: Respect for the Legends in Las Vegas

On January 24, 2020, “B.I.T.C.H.” by Megan Thee Stallion was released. According to AllHipHop, the track incorporates Tupac’s Ratha Be Ya Nigga from All Eyez on Me and a Bootsy Collins sample; The Source had previewed the Tupac sample two weeks earlier.

Speaking with Zane Lowe, Megan said she had to “respect the legends” and wanted to remake a Tupac song. She recorded it in Las Vegas, the city where Tupac was shot in 1996. The news item of January 24, 2020 provides details.

Kendrick Lamar Questions His Role Model, Drake Risks a Cease-and-Desist

The most prominent case is Kendrick Lamar: in 2015, he had Tupac answer him in a staged interview on To Pimp a Butterfly, and in 2024, he built “reincarnated” on a sample of Made Niggaz.

The counter-case is Drake. In April 2024, he used an AI voice of Tupac and removed the track after a cease-and-desist letter from the estate (see Rights to Tupac’s voice). In July 2023, he had also bought Tupac’s crown ring at Sotheby’s (around $1.01 million).

Club Sound from Norway, Hip-Hop Ban for Lil Xan

Norwegian producer Matoma released a remix of So Many Tears in January 2019, which Billboard reported on January 18. He said that the energy and flow of the old rappers inspired him.

On the other hand, the case of Lil Xan shows how naturally Tupac is taken for granted in hip-hop: when the young rapper called Tupac’s music “boring” in March 2018, Waka Flocka Flame responded with the phrase that Lil Xan was “banned from hip hop” (Billboard, March 7, 2018). Lil Xan backpedaled and sang California Love shortly after.

German References: From Ekaveli to the White Tupac

In Germany, too, Tupac is a reference point. Eko Fresh named his 2007 album Ekaveli, which according to laut.de was a reminiscence of G-Funk and Tupac. Fler opened Neue Deutsche Welle 2 (2014) with Weisser Tupac.

More on this on Tupac and Germany; further tributes are collected on the page Tributes.

What Is Missing: Only Documented Cases Count

Individual songs by other rappers quoting Tupac are not included here, because claims such as “Rapper X was influenced by Tupac” often rely only on fan lists. What has been included is what artists or the trade press have documented themselves.