News of March 5, 2002
A Songbook for Rap: Warner Announces "The Tupac Shakur Collection"
In March 2002, Warner Brothers Publications announced a sheet music book featuring 15 Tupac songs, developed with Afeni Shakur.
Tupac’s songs will soon be available as sheet music. Warner Brothers Publications announced the songbook The Tupac Shakur Collection for spring 2002, as AllHipHop reported on March 5, 2002. The 84-page booklet contains arrangements for piano, vocal, and chords for 15 well-known tracks, including California Love, I Get Around, and Dear Mama.
“Left of center”
Product manager Janet Delissa collaborated with Afeni Shakur on the project. The book is intended less for musicians than for people who follow Tupac’s lyrics and poetry. The sheet music serves more as a guide than an exact transcription, with the focus placed on the content. For Warner, it was the first publication of this kind. A songbook for a rapper was “left of center,” Delissa admitted.
The booklet was part of a larger plan to reintroduce Tupac to a broad audience. A special on the HBO network was announced for later in the year.