African American Arts & Entertainment, Music - General & Miscellaneous, Popular & Dance Music, Music Biography
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Overview
A star during his lifetime, a legend after a bullet killed him at the age of twenty-five, Tupac Shakur was the most influential rap musician of his day–and the most misunderstood. Far from being the insolent “gangsta” that the press put forth, Tupac was a committed and fearless visionary determined to make a difference not only on the music scene but in the black community at large. Darrin Bastfield grew up with Tupac in a rough Baltimore neighborhood, rapped with him, fought with him, and performed by his side. Now in this vivid, highly personal memoir featuring never-before-seen photos of the rap artist, Darrin shows the world what Tupac Shakur was really like as a teenager destined for greatness.In tight, edgy prose, Darrin follows Tupac through the seven years of their friendship. In Roland Park Middle School in the mid-1980s, rap was a kind of underground movement, and the kids with real talent always found each other. Tupac–new in town, a skinny thirteen-year old with shabby clothes and lopsided hair–may have looked uncool, but it soon became clear that he had the gift. When Tupac teamed up with Mouse, king of the beatbox, they blew the school away in their performance as the Eastside Crew. It was the first in a series of increasingly electrifying performances.
When Tupac went to the Baltimore School for the Arts, then it really started to happen. A new group called Born Busy, unforgettable performances at the Beaux Arts Balls, an eye-opening backstage encounter with Salt-N-Pepa, their tight friendship with John, known among black kids as “the cool white boy,” a series of love affairs with adoring girls, thewild nights of the 1988 senior prom–Tupac and Darrin lived though it all together, and in this memoir Darrin makes it all come alive again.
From the start, Darrin knew Tupac was a marked man, singled out by his charismatic gift. So it came as no surprise that Tupac made it big when rap went mainstream. What stunned Darrin was the violent turn Tupac’s life took once he relocated to L.A.–and how swiftly that violence engulfed and destroyed him. Vibrant, gritty, alive with the tension and spontaneity of rap music, this memoir of Tupac’s teenage years is a haunting portrait of one of the most important artists of our day.
Editorials
VOYA
A ground-breaking rapper and recording artist, Tupac Shakur was killed in 1996 at age twenty-five during a controversial drive-by shooting that remains unsolved. Bastfield, an artist and Shakur's fellow student at the Baltimore School for the Arts in the mid-1980s, offers a fascinating glimpse of gifted but troubled Shakur during his formative years. Bastfield, a rapper himself, befriended Shakur, a drama student, and they formed a band. They partied together, engaged in after-school rhyming "battles" with other young rappers, and competed for girls until 1988, when Bastfield left Baltimore to attend school in New York and Shakur moved to California with his mother, a Black Panther. Bastfield stunningly portrays Shakur as an arrogant young man who was also intensely human and filled with spirit and determination. Bastfield is quite intriguing in his own right, and readers will be drawn to his sensitivity, honesty, and eloquence. The book is written for adults and older teens and is intended for fans of Tupac Shakur and rap music, so some of the author's terminology and use of slang might confuse readers who are unfamiliar with the culture. Bastfield uses profanity freely and does not mince words when describing his and Shakur's drinking, use of illegal substances, and sexual escapades. For these reasons, this book is more appropriate for public than school libraries. Photos. VOYA Codes: 4Q 2P S A/YA (Better than most, marred only by occasional lapses; For the YA with a special interest in the subject; Senior High, defined as grades 10 to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2002, One World/Ballantine, 182p,— Dotsy Harland
Library Journal
Six years after his murder at age 25, Tupac Shakur is a legendary figure in hip hop. Befitting his celebrity are at least a half-dozen books on his life and death, including two "serious" biographies (Armond White's Rebel for the Hell of It and Michael Eric Dyson's Holler If You Hear Me). This latest is more in the vein of bodyguard Frank Alexander's Got Your Back, an intimate memoir by someone who was close to the rapper and knew him outside of his role as a superstar. Today a manager of musical acts, Bastfield met then-newcomer Shakur at the Baltimore School of the Arts in the mid-1980s. Interestingly, the book is written with genuine affection and comes across less as a quick cash-in project than as the author's attempt at personal closure for a lost friend. Glimpses of Shakur's occasional teenage awkwardness are contrasted with his developing talent and charisma, as well as his ability to inspire negative attention, even hatred, among his peers, by virtue of his unique combination of intelligence, sensitivity, and skill. Sure to be a hit among Shakur and hip-hop fans, this is recommended for all public libraries. (Photos not seen.) David Valencia, King Cty. Lib. Syst., Seattle Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Kirkus Reviews
Reminiscences of the author's high-school days with slain hip-hop star Tupac Shakur. Shakur, gunned down early in his career, spent his teenage years at the Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, where he worked on his acting skills, pined for his home in New York City, and met Bastfield, now a music manager. The two became fast friends through their shared love of rap, still a new musical form when the two met in the mid-'80s. Bastfield documents their shared circumstances: both were older siblings from poor, single-parent households, with "fathers no more than a question mark, with barely a face to associate." Both were also fiercely ambitious and dedicated to their music, first competing against each other in informal schoolyard challenges, and eventually joining forces. Bastfield gives a detailed chronology of the two years he and Shakur shared (the author graduated before Shakur), and the concerns and social activities that filled their days. A portrait of Baltimore also emerges-a gritty, harsh place where citizens struggle to hold their community together; indeed, the city is more vivid than Shakur himself. The rap star remains a cipher, his voice muted. Bastfield mentions the countless hours the two spent together, but even in high school, the author says, "my attempts to figure out my new subject were compromised by a veil that hovered about him." Fifteen years later, no fresh revelations are available. The work is, instead, Bastfield's story of high school, as it related to his charismatic and inscrutable friend. The work assumes a working knowledge of Shakur's entertainment career; his professional accomplishments are mentioned only in passing. Bastfield's prose oozessincerity, but his exuberant phrasing plays fast and loose with standard phrasing. Exclusively for fans.Book Details
Published
May 1, 2002
Publisher
New York : Ballantine Books, 2002.
Pages
208
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780345447753