Oral History “Changes”: Tupac's Life in Other Voices

On June 8, 2021, a few days before Tupac’s 50th birthday, a book about his life was published in which he himself hardly speaks. For Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur, Sheldon Pearce, a music editor at The New Yorker, deliberately avoided old archival material. Instead, he conducted new interviews with former teachers and classmates, companions, journalists, and authors. Afeni Shakur and Suge Knight are absent as well, as Kirkus notes.

Praise for the Background, Criticism of the Vitality

Critics were divided. Kirkus praised the background on the East Coast-West Coast conflict and on Tupac’s death, but saw little for fans looking for something new about his albums. The Guardian credited the book with illuminating the turning points of a life cut far too short, but missed the vitality of good oral histories. The new voices included doctors, journalists, and a juror.

A contextual overview along with key data can be found on the page for Changes.