Thug Life Army

Hip-hop cultures late rap icon Tupac (2Pac)Shakur recently took the stage in Las Vegas.

The hip-hop community’s single greatest icon, the late rap artist Tupac (2Pac) Amaru Shakur, was immortalized in wax during a special ceremony at the world-renowned Madame Tussauds Las Vegas.

The “wax portrait” of a shirtless Tupac, sporting a bandana and displaying his tattoos, was revealed for the first time during the event, with Madame Tussauds officially opening its brand new “On Stage” attraction with the unveiling of the Tupac (2Pac) statue.

Members of Tupac’s family joined with Madame Tussauds management and many of the rap icon’s numerous hip-hop fans to be among the first to witness the life-size, lifelike sculpture.

,The “Tupac Eternal” exhibit is interactive. Fans can pose for photographs with “2Pac” and – through new technology introduced today – are even able to listen to select music tracks from by the late rap artist Tupac (2Pac) Shakur.

Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur, Tupac’s sister, and Gloria “Glo” Cox, his aunt, traveled to Las Vegas with a group of their family, business associates and friends, in order to unveil the $200,000 figure alongside Adrian Jones, General Manager of Madame Tussauds Las Vegas.

Ms. Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother and caretaker of her son’s public image, stated, “Our family is all but speechless by this great honor being granted my son by Madame Tussauds. We are all tremendously grateful that his legacy will live on through this attraction. We came from a very humble background and there was nothing in our lives that would indicate the Shakur name would ever be celebrated in such a timeless fashion. I am extremely proud of my family for taking part in the unveiling ceremony. I think people will also understand why – at an emotional level – I am still unable to return to Las Vegas. However, I will certainly be there with everyone – including my son – in spirit.”

Jones commented that Tupac (2Pac) has consistently been the most publicly requested celebrity to be immortalized in a Madame Tussauds attraction. The unveiling of the wax statue of Tupac comes almost exactly 10 years after his murder in September, 1996, in Las Vegas.

To commemorate this historic 10th Anniversary Year of the passing of hip-hop cultures most influential men, Madame Tussauds is considering sending the wax effigy on a world tour of its own later this year.

The Tupac (2Pac) likeness was created using hundreds of photographs and measurements provided to artists at the Tussauds Studios London by Ms. Shakur. Each of Tupac’s tattoos has been meticulously redrawn and individually hand-painted onto the finished sculpture. The final attraction took six months to complete and involved over 700 hours of work and more than 300 pounds of clay and wax. The entire figure weighs approximately 55 pounds.

ThugLifeArmy.com interviewed Jeni Fairey who was one of the sculptors who sculpted the figure of hip-hop cultures, rap artist Tupac Shakur (2Pac) for the Madame Tussauds exhibit in Las Vegas.

You can read that interview HERE.

Here are a few pictures of Tupac (2Pac) in wax.

Madame Tussauds is an international wax attraction that offers the public the unique opportunity to “interact” with famous people. Madame Tussauds operates museums in London, England; Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Hong Kong, China and in the United States in New York City and at the glorious Venetian Hotel on “The Strip” in Las Vegas, NV. Madame Tussauds Las Vegas is open seven days a week. For attraction hours and pricing, please call 702-862-7800 or visit them online at www.mtvegas.com .

To view more photos of this event, please visit www.tasf.org .