Afeni Shakur: Tupac Owned 'Next to Nothing'

Original: “Afeni Shakur Talks Tupac’s Assests” · MTV News · no byline · February 7, 1997

Five months after his death, things seemed to be going better than ever for Tupac. For his role in the film Gridlock’d, he received the best reviews of his acting career, and the soundtrack, on which he can be heard with Snoop Doggy Dogg, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. The television report from MTV News was brief, little more than a quote with an intro: “Even in death, the man is cleaning up.” But appearances were deceiving.

Neither House nor Rolls-Royce Belonged to Him

Afeni Shakur, a former Black Panther and Tupac’s mother, had searched for her son’s assets. On the ABC program PrimeTime Live on Wednesday, February 5, 1997, she spoke about the outcome: “I discovered he had next to zero, next to nothing.” The house Tupac believed he had just bought did not belong to him. Neither did the Rolls-Royce he was so proud of. And because that was the case, she wanted no part of them.

Millions for Death Row, $150,000 in the Estate

The quote captures the core of the dispute that defined the following years: Tupac had generated millions for Death Row, but houses, cars, and jewelry ran through the label. According to the estate, he left behind around $150,000.

Two months later, in April 1997, Afeni Shakur sued Death Row and Suge Knight for $17 million and demanded the release of 152 unreleased recordings (see Afeni Shakur sues Death Row). In the fall of 1997, she founded her own label, Amaru, and starting in November released Tupac’s posthumous recordings, beginning with R U Still Down?.

Until her death on May 2, 2016, Afeni Shakur managed her son’s estate. Under her leadership, “next to nothing” became an estate that still produced albums, books, and films decades later.

Note: The typo “Assests” is in MTV’s original title.