Tupac’s Mother Dies

Tupac’s Mother Dies

Afeni Shakur was born Alice Faye Williams on January 10, 1947, in Lumberton, North Carolina, a prominent station in the timber industry along the Lumber River.

A former Black Panther activist and reformed drug addict, Afeni Shakur was the mother of Tupac Shakur, a successful rap artist whose murder in 1996 elevated him to cult icon status.

Afeni joined the emerging Black Panther movement in 1964, after meeting an associate of Malcolm X who was recruiting youths in the Bronx. Afeni had once said, "took my rage and channelled it. They educated my mind and gave me direction".

Afeni began writing articles for the party's newsletter, the Panther Post, and was largely successful in crafting a misdirection campaign that led FBI agents to believe that the Panther Party was fading. In 1968 Afeni moved in with fellow Panther Lumumba Abdul Shakur and changed her name to Afeni Shakur.

At some point in the early 1980s, Afeni became addicted to crack cocaine and was unable to hold a job, using welfare payments to care for her children. She revealed this during one of her Interviews where she said; "When I was on drugs my spirit was dead”.

Tupac left in 1989 because of her drug use and had no contact with his family for a couple of years. He started performing as a dancer and "hype man", and in 1991 released the album “2Pacalypse Now”, which became a major hit and launched the young rapper into stardom meetings. She managed to overcome her addiction, "through the grace of God,” according to her.

Since the death of her son, Afeni Shakur transformed his legacy into a multimillion dollar industry by issuing her son's catalogue of unreleased material. She used the proceeds from the sale of these recordings and associated merchandise to establish a charitable foundation that promotes arts education.

Before his death, Tupac Shakur made arrangements for his mother to receive a $16,000 monthly salary from his estate and purchased a home for her in Stone Mountain, Georgia. After her son's death, Afeni Shakur and her former employer Richard Fischbein became co-executors of Tupac Shakur's estate, which was estimated at between $8 and $10 million in 1997 and included a library of unreleased material estimated at a value of more than $100 million.

69year old Afeni Shakur was pronounced dead some hours ago, though the police are yet to determine the cause of her death.