"Yet when Pearlman told his agent in the summer of 2022 about an idea he had for a book chronicling the turbulent life, euphoric rise, and tragic death of hip-hop deity Tupac Shakur, he was met with bewilderment. 'He said, 'But you are a white guy who writes about sports,' Pearlman said of the initial discussion. 'Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur' (Mariner Books/HarperCollins Publishers), which hit bookshelves Wednesday, sticks out of Pearlman's literary portfolio like Kendrick Lamar at a Drake fan meet-and-greet."
"Yet the charismatic Tupac Amaru Shakur, a gifted emcee, actor and social activist - who was killed at the too-soon age of 25 in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting on Sept. 7, 1996 - was as much an eloquent voice of a generation as he was the self-destructive face of gangster rap. The same celebrated Shakur who rapped about women's empowerment on his hopeful song 'Keep Ya Head Up,' also did a seven-month stint at Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York in 1995,"
Tupac Shakur combined extraordinary artistic talent, acting ability, and political activism with public controversies, legal troubles and self-destructive behavior. He rose to prominence as a defining voice of a generation while embodying the contradictions of gangsta rap and social conscience. He recorded empowering tracks like 'Keep Ya Head Up' and also faced a 1993 sexual-abuse charge that led to a 1995 conviction and a seven-month prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility. He was murdered in a Las Vegas drive-by shooting on Sept. 7, 1996, at age 25. The life intersects fame, criminality, cultural influence, and tragic early death.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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