By Jorge Garcia and Danielle Broadway
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Award-winning rapper, activist and actor Tupac Shakur received a posthumous star on Wednesday on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where his sister and fellow rappers spoke of the musician’s legacy around the world.
“Tupac knew deep down that he was always meant for something great,” Sekyiwa Shakur said amid the crowd of around 100 people. “As his little sister, I had the privilege to watch that greatness unfold.”
Shakur rose from a childhood of poverty in Harlem to become one of the best-selling musical artists with over 75 million records sold worldwide.
“From the first time he stepped foot on the stage of the Apollo Theater at 13 years old, before anyone recognized his name, he knew he had the dream to have a star here on the Walk of Fame,” she said.
Shakur was killed in 1996 at age 25 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas that has never been solved.
Fellow members of the late rapper’s music group Outlawz, Malcom Greenidge, known by his stage name, E.D.I. Mean, and hip-hop legend David Marvin, known as DJ Quik, also attended the ceremony.
E.D.I Mean recounted the legacy of the “California Love” artist and said his impact was “etched in stone.”
One of Tupac’s most well-known credits includes the song “Dear Mama,” which was dedicated to his mom, Afeni Shakur.
“You see those murals of him in Africa, Asia, South America and Europe,” said Allen Hughes, director of a recent Hulu documentary about Shakur titled “Dear Mama.”
“Then one day it hit me. Tupac Amaru Shakur has become a global symbol of rebellion. A symbol is visible and important as Malcolm X and Che Guevara and an inspiration for activists today,” Hughes said.
(Reporting by Jorge Garcia and Danielle Broadway; Editing by David Gregorio)
