Thursday 9 January 2014

Tupac Shakur 18 years after he was slain in Vegas...is to be resurrected on Broadway


Iconic: Tupac Shakur's work is to be celebrated on Broadway in a new production
A new musical featuring the work of iconic rapper Tupac Shakur will open on Broadway on June 19; just three days after what would've been his 43rd birthday.
'Holler If Ya Hear Me' is set to start preview shows at the Palace from May 26 but casting - sure to be contentious given the beloved subject - has not yet been announced.
Written by Todd Kreidler and directed by Tony nominee Kenny Leon, 'Holler If Ya Hear Me is being described as 'an original, non-biographical story about two friends in the inner-city in the Midwest.'
The title comes from an autobiographical song written by Shakur for his second solo album in 1993, according to EW.
This production comes two years after the phenomenally successful decision to have Tupac play the Coachella Music Festival in hologram form during Snoop Dogg and Dr Dre's headlining shot.
In the music video behind the production, a girl witnesses her father's death, seeks out money to buy a gun and rounds up he friends to try and help avenge the patriarch's death.
The show will not attempt to tell Tupac's short and violent story but will offer 'a window into the realities of the streets still relevant today.'
Firebrand: Tupac was known for his quick wit, and temper... and it was the latter that would be his undoing

Tupac was fatally wounded in a shooting in Vegas on September 7, 1996.
The outspoken artist, who was signed to Suge Knight's Death Row Records, was in Sin City to watch Mike Tyson fight Bruce Seldon with Knight's crew.
The trouble started when one of Knight's men pointed out Crips member, Orlando 'Baby Lane' Anderson to Shakur in the MGM Grand lobby.
Anderson and his crew had robbed a member of Death Row's entourage at a Footlocker store so the Death Row crew set about assaulting him in revenge- Shakur including - the brawl was captured on CCTV.
After the altercation, Tupac headed to Knight's Vegas club 662 - rumoured to be named thus as it spelled out MOB, Member of the Bloods - and was shot after leaving as he drove through Vegas with Knight in his black BMW.
He was pronounced dead six days later.



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