Tupac Shakur (Tupac Amaru Shakur Facebook)
A letter written by the late Tupac Shakur sold at an auction Sunday for more than $172,000.
According to auction site Goldin Auctions, the four-page note required a minimum bid of $10,000. Afte 31 bids, the collectible item sold for $172,725.
Addressed to Death Row Records publicist Nina Bhadreshwar, the 1995 letter describes the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominee’s life. Written as an essay meant for publication during the rapper’s incarceration, “Is Thug Life Dead?” was intended to reach Black youth.
Tupac’s “Is Thug Life Dead?” essay (Goldin Auction)
Tupac’s “Is Thug Life Dead?” essay (Goldin Auction)
“A regular Playa plays women,” it read in part. “A Boss Playa plays life. A Boss Playa is a thinker, a leader, a builder, a moneymaker, a souljah, a teacher and most of all, a Man! I want all my homiez to know there is another level.”
Pac cautions readers to “Beware of Playa Haters and evil envious ‘homiez.’ They will bring u harm. It ain’t all good my people be aware! Hopefully this will do some of u some good. If it does then I don’t sit in jail in vain.”
Ultimately, Death Row refrained from sending the message to the presses and the reason why is unclear.
However, Goldin Auctions’ Ken Goldin told Complex the unique note – accompanied by a letter of authenticity and the envelope it was mailed in – sold to an unnamed famous collector. The recipient offered a bigger payout than an anonymous “household name level” entertainer.
In addition to the “Thug Life” essay, Goldin Auctions also sold other Pac memorabilia. They included a signed contract from his film Poetic Justice and his platinum single for “Me Against the World.”
The auctioned off letter from New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility follows news of another letter Tupac sent to a girl he nicknamed “Beethoven.” The 1988 note is characterized by the lyricist’s personal graffiti. Also included in the auction, it sold for $8,575 after attracting 15 bids. The Goldin sale closed Oct. 29.
