Sotheby's auctions Tupac's childhood haikus and love letters

Haikus by an eleven-year-old and love letters from 1988: On March 24, 2022, Sotheby’s opened the online auction “The Art and Influence of Hip Hop,” part of the house’s first “Pop Culture Week.” Among the more than 100 items were two lots from Tupac.

Verses for His Godfather in Prison

One lot was an unpublished booklet of haikus that he wrote and illustrated as an eleven-year-old-reportedly for his godfather in prison, a Black Panther. It was estimated at at least $300,000; bidding ran until March 30. The reports gave no information on the outcome of the haiku booklet.

Over $50,000 for Love Letters

The other lot was love letters that the 17-year-old Tupac wrote in 1988 to a classmate and fellow theater member in California, with whom he was together for about seven to eight months. According to AllHipHop, they sold for more than $50,000.

Rolling Stone Deutschland and Musikexpress recalled that Tupac’s breakup letter to Madonna had already been auctioned. On the poems in general: poems.