A new book explores Tupac’s revolutionary politics and activism

A new book, Words For My Com­rades: A Polit­i­cal His­to­ry of Tupac Shakur, dives into the leg­endary rapper’s social injus­tice fight­ing pol­i­tics and activism.

Penned by writer, jour­nal­ist and crit­ic Dean Van Nguyen and pub­lished by White Rab­bit, the book explores Shakur’s upbring­ing, and the influ­ence of his moth­er Afeni, who was a high-rank­ing mem­ber of the Black Pan­ther Par­ty in New York. It also touch­es upon his step­fa­ther Mutu­lu Shakur – a mem­ber of the Black Lib­er­a­tion Army, who was ulti­mate­ly sen­tenced to 60 years in prison for his role in an armed rob­bery in 1981.

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It draws upon inter­views that Van Nguyen con­duct­ed with the rapper’s friends and asso­ciates, from musi­cal col­lab­o­ra­tors to Black Pan­ther veterans.

Illu­mi­nat­ing anec­dotes are told next to inter­est­ing facts about the rapper’s life – he was at one point a mem­ber of the Young Com­mu­nist League, for exam­ple – as well as dis­sect­ing the social­ly con­scious threads run­ning through his music and art. 

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Tupac Shakur was shot dead in a dri­ve by shoot­ing in Las Vegas in 1996. The case remains open, although a Duane ​“Keffe D” Davis was arrest­ed in con­nec­tion with Shakur’s mur­der in Sep­tem­ber 2023. Davis is set to stand tri­al in Feb­ru­ary 2026.

Words For My Com­rades: A Polit­i­cal His­to­ry of Tupac Shakur by Dean Van Nguyen pub­lish­es on June 19, 2025. Pre-order a copy here.

Isaac Muk is Huck’s dig­i­tal edi­tor. Fol­low him on Bluesky.

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