Where's Tupac's money going?

July 11, 2005 11:36 AM

Tupac died 9 years ago, but it's like he never went away - 18 tracks have been released since his death and the latest, Ghetto Gospel is number one here in the UK. Who releases the records, and who benefits financially from it?

I suppose I'm really asking, "Is someone profiting cynically from Tupac's skills?"

posted by wibbler to media & arts (7 comments total)

According to the wikipedia entry for the 'Loyal to the Game' album, it was released by Interscope Records, and produced by Eminem.

Given that a number of artists from Eminem's record label are featured on the album, it would stand to reason that Interscope and Eminem are profiting cynically from Tupac's skills.

It's interesting that Interscope is releasing the album, considering that the founder of Interscope, Jimmy Iovine, helped get Death Row Records off the ground.

Death Row Records, of course, is run by Suge Knight, who had Tupac killed.
posted by Jairus at 11:43 AM on July 11, 2005

Suge had B.I.G. killed, not Tupac.
posted by mike_bling at 12:00 PM on July 11, 2005

Also according to Wikipedia, his mother, Afeni Shakur, "oversees" the release of his music. My understanding was that she owned the rights to all of it and stands to profit from it, but I don't know for sure. I'm sure Google would turn up something.
posted by kableh at 12:10 PM on July 11, 2005

"Revenues from the various ventures were donated to The Tupac Foundation, which was created the same year as Amaru Entertainment." This in part helped set up the Tupac Shakur Center for the Arts (run by Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur) in Atlanta.
posted by itchie at 12:21 PM on July 11, 2005

mike_bling, Suge killed Tupac because he wanted to leave Death Row. He killed Biggie to cover up Tupac's death and make it look like part of an bigger East/West coast conflict.
posted by Jairus at 12:42 PM on July 11, 2005

I should say, "allegedly" killed.
posted by Jairus at 12:43 PM on July 11, 2005

mike_bling- Actually, there's an ongoing theory that Suge had Tupac killed because he was about to take his recordings and split from Death Row.
posted by mkultra at 12:50 PM on July 11, 2005