Oakland to rename street to honor late rapper Tupac Shakur 

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The city of Oakland is renaming a street to honor the late rapper Tupac Shakur. A stretch of MacArthur Boulevard by Lake Merritt, the street where he once lived, will be called “Tupac Shakur Way.”  

The street will be marked with commemorative plaques and signs to “remind people of Shakur’s contributions to Oakland and celebrate art and culture as a catalyst for societal change,” the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. 

Shakur was born in Harlem in 1971 as Lesane Parish Crooks, and later located to Oakland in 1988. Shakur sold over 75 million records worldwide and was considered one of the most influential rappers to date. His “Greatest Hits” and “All Eyez on Me” projects were his best selling albums. 

In 2012, he was recognized on Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list” and in 2017 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

More recently, FX’s “Dear Mama”, a 5-part docuseries, tells the story of Shakur and his mother, Afeni Shakur Davis, and how the mother-son duo helped shape American culture and history through revolutionary activism. 

Shakur was fatally shot in 1996 in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He was 25 years old. 

The timeline for the street renaming is currently unknown.