Anais Gutierrez
Earlier this week, a letter written by Tupac Shakur and addressed to Madonna surfaced. In the letter, the rap icon apologized about the end of their romantic relationship.
Tupac also admitted race as one of the reasons for the breakup. The letter is set to be auctioned later this month at the Gotta Have Rock and Roll sale.
Tupac letter surfacing
The letter was addressed simply to “M” and was dated Jan. 15, 1995, which coincided with his time at New York’s Clinton Correctional Facility for sexual assault.
In the letter, Tupac seems to admit that race and fears of how other would perceive their relationship were on his mind and eventually led him to end the relationship.
“For you to be seen with a black man wouldn’t in any way jeopardize your career, if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting,” Tupac wrote.
“But for me at least in my previous perception, I felt due to my ‘image’ that I would be letting down half of the people who made me what I thought I was.”
By his “image,” Tupac was likely referring to his status as an activist and social critic focusing on the perils faced by America’s black communities through his music. Both his parents were Black Panthers and his lyrics were often tinged with anger at the systematic oppression of black Americans.
Tupac also admits that Madonna shattered his ego when she remarked in an interview, “‘I’m off to rehabilitate all the rappers and basketball players’ or something to that effect.”
The MC also apologizes to the singer, confessing, “Like you said, I haven’t been the kind of friend I know I am capable of being.”
Once in a time romance
The letter will be up for auction with a starting bid of $100,000 at the Gotta Have Rock and Roll sale, which is scheduled for July 19 to 28.
It was uncertain how the letter wound up in circulation.
Madonna hasn’t said much about her relationship with Tupac, though she did once tell Howard Stern that he was responsible for her now infamous interview on “The Late Show with David Letterman” during which she used profanity, sexual innuendo and ignored several of Letterman’s questions.
“I was in a weird mood that day,” Madonna told Stern of the interview. “I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time, and he had got me all riled up about life in general. So when I went on the show I was feeling very gangster.”
Shakur died on September 13th, 1996, six days after being fatally shot in Las Vegas in a drive-by shooting.
Source: Rolling Stone
