Apart from 50 Cent, no rapper had a better 2003 than Tupac Shakur. The
feature-length documentary Tupac: Resurrection took in almost $5 million on
its opening weekend. And its accompanying soundtrack sold more than 435,000
copies in its first week and debuted on Billboard at Number Two, just behind
the retiring Jay-Z and just above the very-much-alive G-Unit.
Though it has been more than seven years since Tupac's murder, the rapper's
profile remains high -- thanks to the efforts of his mother, Afeni Shakur,
and her company, Amaru Entertainment. "There are years of his intellectual
property to be exploited," says Dina LaPolt, legal counsel for Amaru
Entertainment. "And we're really humble, knowing that we're doing this to
preserve a legacy."
Forbes recently reported that Tupac's estate earned $12 million between June
2002 and June 2003, even more than Bob Marley's. That figure could be
dwarfed next year, given the number of upcoming Tupac projects, including a
Broadway show, a Makaveli clothing line, a made-for-MTV movie about the
rapper's early life and an authorized biography.
Just because Tupac's seemingly endless vaults may soon empty out, that
doesn't mean the music will stop. The seventh and "final" posthumous album
of his unheard material will be released in early 2004. Even though his
postmortem work has sold well, the albums have been hastily thrown together,
rarely sustaining themselves beyond a single. There's also a rash of remixes
and bootlegs to release -- this year alone, Death Row issued Nu-Mixx
Klazzics, and DJ Vlad, DJ Green Lantern and Dirty Harry came out with Rap
Phenomenon II, a mix-tape tribute featuring Wyclef Jean, Alicia Keys and Jadakiss.
Part of the revenue from the Amaru-sanctioned Tupac projects will go toward
the construction of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, in Stone
Mountain, Georgia, which will house a museum, gallery and theater and will
offer classes for teens interested in the music business. "It's modeled on
Tupac's time at the Baltimore School for the Arts," says LaPolt. "It's how
we're going to make Tupac's influence last for years and years."
Link : http://www.2paclegacy.com/_detail_include.asp?ID=242
By / Da : Mauri2pac
Inserted on / Inserito il : 14/12/2003 5.51.09
|
