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Exclusive Afeni Shakur-Davis Interview - wwwThugLifeArmy.com |
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Written by Robert Riddle
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Sunday, 24 August 2008 21:49 |
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By Robert (RB) Riddle Thug Life Army
This is Part Two of our ‘Exclusive’ web interview with Afeni Shakur-Davis, mother of the late hip hop icon, poet, actor, and social activist Tupac Shakur (2Pac).
In the second part of the interview Afein Shakur-Davis goes into Pac’s Kids and the summer camps, the publishing of Tupac hip hop music, the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, a normal day for Afeni Shakur-Davis and life on her organic farm. She also tells us her favorite Tupac (2Pac) tracks, music and the remains of Tupac’s ashes. We also ask what she would like Afeni Shakur-Davis’ Legacy to be. She also speaks to the young people and gives direction to them.
Most notably you will hear that she asks for help. Not for herself, she is a giving person, but help to finish the Center for the Arts. The Foundation and the Arts Center are dear to her and she needs help to finish them and preserve them for future generations.
This is a side of Afeni Shakur-Davis that is rarely seen or heard. She did the phone interview from her home and she was comfortable. She was in her element and it is obvious that she is most comfortable at home.
The Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation and Center for the Arts are not only part of hip hop’s Legacy and the Legacy of Tupac Shakur but they will become apart of Afeni Shakur-Davis’ Legacy as well. And it is time for everyone to step up and help her finish what she and the family have started.
Tupac touched the entire world, not only as a hip hop artist or a rap lyricist but as a person who recognized the wrongs in the world and he was not afraid to point them out; and the entire world should be interested in seeing the Center for the Arts finished and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation flourish.
The children are depending on all of us to help finish this project and support it so the magnificent work they do can not only go on, but can grow and produce the leaders of tomorrow. An investment in TASF or The Center for the Arts is an investment in our future.
We hope you enjoy this interview with Hip Hop’s most famous MOMMA, Afeni Shakur-Davis. But most of all we hope and pray that you will answer Afeni’s plea for help and respond with any donation you can afford to the Center for the Arts, so it can be finished.
To read a message from Afeni Shakur-Davis please visit - http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=4490
And please visit http://www.tasf.org to learn ways to donate to the Center for the Arts and or the Foundation.
Also please visit the only ‘Official’ Tupac web site on the net at http://www.2paclegacy.com
Below are both Part One and Part Two of the interview, so you can listen to it in it’s entirely.
Afeni Shakur-Davis Interview Part One
Afeni Shakur-Davis Interview Part Two |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 11 May 2016 00:54 |
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Tupac Shakur Died 18 Years Ago Today |
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Written by Billboard
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Saturday, 13 September 2014 18:28 |
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Tupac Shakur, who lived the life of a hip hop and rap luminary, was born June 16, 1971 in New York. Interestingly enough, the most outspoken and unpredictable rap artists of all time was named after a Peruvian leader, by the same name, who led a civil rights rebellion. “Tupac Amaru” also means “Shining Serpent,” and “Shakur” means “Thankful to God.” Tupac, aka 2Pac, was a natural born leader; not only did he impact the world of hip hop and rap music, he also frequently spoke on societal issues regarding class-ism, racism, and sexism. Despite his troubled upbringing, controversial life, and untimely demise, Tupac is remembered by his family, friends, and fans as an artistic genius and a prophetic speaker who ripped the truth wide open and left it exposed and raw for the whole world to see.
Tupac and his mother Afeni Shakur
No doubt, Shakur took after his mother, Afeni Shakur, who was notoriously a member of the civil rights activist group The Black Panthers. Tupac and his mother were close, and he stuck by Afeni despite her struggles with drug addiction and being a welfare mom. To hear him say it, she had a tough job raising a precocious young man who was as diverse in his emerging mindset as he was rigid about his ascent out of the poverty that surrounded his early upbringing. During this rare interview, Tupac describes how living life in the ghetto molded him as an artist and an individual.
“Everybody needs a little help when they are working on their way to being, you know, self reliant.”
Tupac was also known to dabble in the arts. Acting, dancing, and music were the things he loved to spend his time doing as a young man. Throughout his teenage years, he attended the Baltimore School for the Arts. Staying true to what could be referred to as his “Yin/Yang” energy, Shakur thrived on a well-rounded education, and even received formal training in ballet while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts.
Tupac first began to come up when he developed an alliance with hip hop group Digital Underground. At first, Tupac showed up as a dancer and roadie for Digital Underground, but once Greg “Shock G” Jacobs (better known as “Humpty Hump”) heard the work Tupac put in on the mic, he insisted on making Pac part of the troupe. In 1990 and 1991, Tupac was included vocally on two of their albums, This is an EP and Sons of the P. While writing for Digital Underground, Tupac began drafting his own material.
In 1993, Tupac showed that he not only had musical chops, but was also a force to be reckoned with on the big screen. He was cast alongside Janet Jackson in the movie Poetic Justice. His role as smooth-talking, ambitious Lucky Lawrence garnered rave reviews, and even landed Tupac a nomination at the Image Awards in 1995 for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture.
Tupac and Janet Jackson on the set of ‘Poetic Justice’.
Many of Shakur’s songs were about the trials and tribulations of living life as an African-American in post racial times. He was fearless in his writing, and often would tenaciously tackle lyrics that exposed the lifestyle of his self-professed “thug life.” Tupac was passionate about several social causes and was not hesitant to speak out in the name of social justice. His hustle and charisma would make Tupac a role model and inspiration to the hip hop and rap genres of music and one of the most highly respected MCs of all time.
2Pac - Ghetto Gospel
2Pac - Dear Mama
2Pac - Hit 'Em Up (Dirty) (Official Video) HD
Life Goes On - Tupac
Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/1468130/tupac-shakur-died-18-years-ago-today-a-look-back-at-raps-most-influential-mc/#FmzVsXZL4otDDiSb.99
Tupac was a walking dichotomy, however. He often showcased both his inner street thug persona as well as a side that was sentimental, almost sensitive. In “Ain’t Nuthin but a Gangsta Party,” Tupac not only exposes his lyrical prowess but also his thuggish machismo. “Dear Mama” was the first single off of Shakur’s third studio album, Me Against the World, which was released in 1995 and showed a more tender, compassionate side of his personality. To be able to express his emotions and personality through song so freely and without care of judgment was something Shakur would become well known and well respected for among his fans.
In 2013, Tupac’s mother Afeni went public with the news that she’d be releasing more Tupac material. In a statement via Billboard, Afeni addressed the intention and motives behind this release.
“I believe it is our responsibility to make sure that Tupac’s entire body of work is made available for his fans. My son left many incomplete pieces and even more unfinished ideas. Using blueprints he gave us, I am committed to fulfilling this duty.”
Shakur would be party to several legal troubles throughout his career, and spent time locked up for sexual assault charges, allegations for which he claimed innocence until his dying day. Despite his legal woes, Tupac would continue to blow up the rap scene throughout the 90s until his untimely death in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996, when he was gunned down after attending a boxing match at the MGM Grand with Death Row Records mogul Suge Knight.
Tupac Shakur was a hugely successful artist who many feel was just hitting his stride when he died. Though his meteoric rise to rap super-stardom was met with such a sudden and tragic end, Tupac Amaru Shakur’s life and legacy has left an indelible mark on the world as we know it. The message that he brought to the world through his own brand of rugged, heart-wrenching, in-your-face lyrics only grows stronger and more prophetic as time marches on.
[Photo credit: Billboard/All Hip Hop] |
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Last Updated on Saturday, 13 September 2014 18:33 |
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CRNLive explains the simple truth about the benefits the Un-documented bring to the U.S.A. |
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Written by CRNLive
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Wednesday, 17 September 2014 05:43 |
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"It's real simple, as citizens of the United States we pay for Social Security out of our pay checks, the government squanders it to the point of insolvency, period. Then the un-documented put hundreds of billions in to the system without getting anything in return so it keeps Social Security afloat making the un-documented an asset to the country not a liability" -- CRNLive
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Social Security, which provides retirement income to millions of elderly Americans, is largely stable – at least for now – thanks in part to the more than 3.1 million people who are working and paying taxes in the U.S. using fake or expired social security numbers. Every year, undocumented immigrants have collectively paid as much as $13 billion into the system while only receiving $1 billion in benefits in return.
The contributions are starting to add up. In total, undocumented workers have contributed more than $100 billion over the last decade while living in the shadows, says Stephen Goss, chief actuary of the Social Security Administration (SSA).
“You could say legitimately that had we not received the contributions that we have had in the past from undocumented immigrants … that would of course diminish our ability to be paying benefits for as long as we now can,” Goss told msnbc.
In 2010, the agency estimated that as many as 2.7 million undocumented immigrants have social security numbers on the books – and are earning credit to their names for potential benefits in the future if ever granted legal status – either because they have temporary authorization to work, have overstayed their visa or obtained work by using fraudulent documents. Another 3.9 million other immigrants are estimated to be working in the U.S. but in the underground economy.
Since the 9/11 terror atacks, Goss says the SSA has cracked down on fake IDs, which were often obtained in the mid-1980s through fraudulent birth certificates. But there remains a significant amount of money contributed to the Social Security system by undocumented workers that continues to go unclaimed.
Those contributions are crucial as more and more of America’s baby boom generation reaches retirement age. The Social Security Trust Fund released its annual report last month finding that there are major causes for concern for the program down the road. Unless Congress reforms the system, the retirement trust funds will be depleted by 2033 and the revenue coming in will only be able to cover 77% of benefits.
One of the solutions proposed to offset the diminishing funds has been comprehensive immigration reform. In a study commissioned by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican member of the Senate’s Gang of Eight architects for immigration reform, found that the legislation would have boosted GDP by 1.63% and created more than 3 million jobs.
Adriana Kugler, a former chief economist of the U.S. Department of Labor under the Obama administration and a professor at Georgetown University, said lifting undocumented immigrants into the legitimate workforce would have a significant impact on Social Security’s long-term future.
“The net contribution over the next 30 to 40 years will be very crucial in alleviating the pressure on the system,” said Kugler. “That’s really key because it’s a time when a lot of people will be retiring.”
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has made the same argument, saying that comprehensive immigration reform is vital to preserving the program.
“One of the ways we can save Social Security is to pass comprehensive immigration reform,” Warren said speaking before the National Council for La Raza (NCLR) conference last month. “Bring more workers and bring more people out of the shadow economy and into the fully paid economy where everything is above the table.”
While hopes of immigration reform languish in Congress, President Obama is expected to take executive action by the end of the summer that could protect 5-8 million people from deportation. The actions under consideration could temporarily grant work permits to some undocumented immigrants, allowing them to get jobs and pay taxes.
In 2012, Obama instituted the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. Under DACA, more than 580,000 so-called DREAMers – young immigrants brought into the U.S. as children – are protected from deportation under a two-year, renewable program eligible for DREAMers who have lived in the U.S. continuously since 2007.
The immediate economic impact has been a boon for the young immigrants and their communities, according to a study released earlier this summer by American Immigration Council. More than 60% of DACA recipients were able to find a job after receiving their benefits, and those jobs translate into more taxable revenue for the state.
Goss said the impacts of the president’s pending executive action would be relatively modest in terms of additional revenue for the Social Security Trust Fund, but still a net positive.
“We estimated that a good number of those people would remain in the country and would remain in the above ground economy,” Goss said.
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Last Updated on Friday, 19 September 2014 23:36 |
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Stevie Wonder Takes 'Songs in the Key of Life' on the Road |
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Written by Gail Mitchell
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Wednesday, 10 September 2014 22:58 |
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Legend will perform iconic double-album on 11-city Live Nation tour, kicking off Nov. 6 in New York.
Stevie Wonder will hit the road this fall with the Songs in the Key of Life Performance Tour.
Daft Punk Jams With Stevie Wonder, Pharrell at the Grammys
Announced during a press conference Wednesday (Sept. 10) at the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live, the Live Nation-produced and -promoted tour will kick off Nov. 6 at New York's Madison Square Garden and wrap Dec. 5 at Oakland, Calif.'s Oracle Arena. Additional stops on the 11-city tour include Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia and Atlanta.
This isn't the first time Wonder has re-created his landmark Songs in the Key of Life onstage. The legendary singer/songwriter/musician performed the 1976 double-album in its entirety during his 18th annual House Full of Toys holiday benefit concert last year at the Nokia Theatre at L.A. Live.
Pre-sale tickets will become available to Citi card members on Sept. 16 through Citi's Private Pass PROGRAM. General tickets for select cities will be sold via Live Nation beginning Sept. 22.
2014 SONGS IN THE KEY OF LIFE PERFORMANCE TOUR DATES
Nov. 6 - New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
Nov. 9 - Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
Nov. 11 - Boston, MA @ TD Garden
Nov. 14 - Chicago, IL @ United Center
Nov. 16 - Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
Nov. 20 - Auburn Hills, MI @ The Palace of Auburn Hills
Nov. 22 - Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
Nov. 25 - Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
Nov. 29 - Las Vegas, NV @ MGM GRAND Garden Arena
Dec. 3 - Seattle, WA Key @ Arena
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Last Updated on Friday, 19 September 2014 23:37 |
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