On Tuesday, the Oakland, California city council unanimously voted to rename a street after the late rapper Tupac Shakur.
Shakur was born in Harlem and later lived in Baltimore, Maryland; and in Marin City, California, but credited Oakland as the location where he got his “game” and launched his career. He has sold over 75 million albums worldwide to date including his most popular classics “Changes,” “Keep Ya Head Up” and “California Love.”
A stretch of MacArthur Boulevard by Lake Merritt where Shakur once lived will keep its existing name, but also receive the additional, honorary name of Tupac Shakur Way. Commemorative plaques and signs signaling the change will be paid for by the Tupac Shakur Foundation.
Oakland has honored others with street names, including Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton and rapper and record producer Too Short.
Shakur was 25 when he was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.
The City Council legislation says the renamed part of the street will remind people of Shakur’s contributions to Oakland and celebrate art and culture as a catalyst for societal change.
“Tupac Shakur’s legacy will continue through his contributions in art and social outreach, through his family and fans, touching countless lives of children and elders over the years while alive and after his death, taken too young by gun violence.”
