Tupac Shakur to be honored with a street name in California
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The late Tupac Shakur will have a stretch of a street renamed for him in Oakland, Calif., after a unanimous vote by the city council Tuesday.
Shakur was born in Harlem and later lived in Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Roland Park Middle School, then Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, before he transferred to the Baltimore School of the Arts where he studied acting, poetry, jazz and ballet. That is where he met and became friends with actress Jada Pinkett.
Last year, the famed rapper's childhood home on Greenmount Avenue in Baltimore was listed for sale on Redfin.com. Tupac had lived in the first-floor apartment with his family when he was 13 years old in 1984.
Eventually, Tupac moved to California in 1988.
At one point, he lived in Marin City, California. He credited Oakland as the location where he got his "game" and launched his career, though, according to legislation authorizing the commemorative street renaming.
Now, a stretch of MacArthur Boulevard by Lake Merritt where Shakur once lived will keep its existing name, but also receive the additional, honorary name of Tupac Shakur Way. Commemorative plaques and signs signaling the change will be paid for by the Tupac Shakur Foundation.
Oakland has honored others with street names, including Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton and rapper and record producer Too Short.
Shakur was 25 when he was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas in 1996.
The city council legislation says the renamed part of the street will remind people of Shakur's contributions to Oakland and celebrate art and culture as a catalyst for societal change.
No timeline was provided for the name change.
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