The City Of Oakland Declares June 16 “Tupac Shakur Day”
The city where Pac’s career began honors the late rapper on his 45th birthday.
It's hard to pin down exactly where Tupac Shakur is from. Over the course of his life, he moved from New York City to Baltimore to the Bay Area, and then down to Los Angeles, where his career took off. In a 1993 interview, Tupac said of Oakland, where he first became known as a rapper with local group Digital Underground, "If I claim somewhere, I'ma claim Oakland."
Now, the city that has long felt a mutual claim to the legacy of Tupac has decided to honor the late rapper by declaring June 16, the date that would have been Tupac's 45th birthday, "Tupac Shakur Day." Okayplayer reports that LeRoy McCarthy, who also started a petition to name a Brooklyn street Christopher Wallace Way, was involved in the campaign that led to Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf's declaration.