Words for my comrades A political history of Tupac Shakur

Rapper Tupac Shakur transmitted Black Panther militance to a new generation, according to this scattershot biography. Music journalist Nguyen (Iron Age) frames Shakur as the heir to the Black radicalism of the 1960s, tracing his ideological roots to Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party, in which his mother Afeni Shakur played a prominent role. Outlining the Panthers' beliefs, Nguyen highlights their critique of white supremacy and capitalism and their defiance of police brutality. According to Nguyen, these viewpoints shaped Shakur's social consciousness and found expression in such songs as "Panther Power." After his 1996 murder, Shakur became a global resistance icon to everyone from George Floyd protestors in New Zealand to child soldiers in Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front. Nguyen styles Shakur as "America's last great revolutionary figure" and hip-hop's "most aesthetically perfect man," praising his "words of wisdom, of freedom, of truth." Such reverential descriptions sometimes clash, however, with Nguyen's attempts to make sense of more troubling aspects of Shakur's biography, such as his conviction for sexual abuse. The result is an avid yet muddled portrait of an enigmatic superstar. Photos. (May)This review has been updated.

Still he rises. "Crucial to understanding Tupac Shakur," writes Nguyen, "is knowing that he grew up in the rubble of 1960s radicalism." The music journalist and cultural critic's narrative moves confidently within the many strands underlying familiar aspects of the rapper's rise, backed by research and candid interviews. He starts with his mother, Afeni, and her involvement in Black political activism: "As a Black Panther, Afeni's life had structure and purpose." She was acquitted in a New York case against a group known as the "Panther 21," but Tupac's early years were colored by the Panthers' fracturing into violent splinter groups, culminating in his stepfather's involvement in a deadly robbery. As a youth, particularly when attending the Baltimore School for the Arts, his talents were evident, leading to early connections in the hip-hop scene. Nguyen argues that quick celebrity obscured these radical roots in favor of a self-conceived "Thug Life"; by 1993, "Tupac's life was in an increasingly violent spiral," his "increasing propensity for violence…a difficult thing to understand," though the connections to his own murder remain evident. Final chapters examine Shakur's afterlife as "hip-hop's most recognizable icon," ubiquitous in the Black Lives Matter movement and conflict zones from Libya to Sierra Leone, as well as the conspiracies linking his killing to Biggie Smalls' murder and police corruption. Nguyen documents the uneven legacy of Shakur's posthumous releases, controlled by Afeni, who "threw everything into raising her son as a chosen child destined for leadership." What would have become of Shakur had he lived? "It's entirely possible that a middle-aged Tupac would have been softened, centrist, less serious," he writes. "But I think it more probable that like many of his surviving Panther forebears who never lost sight of, or faith in, a better tomorrow, he would have continued to use his voice to stand with the masses, the downtrodden." Fresh interpretations of a foundational hip-hop narrative. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.