June 16

Tupac Amaru Shakur's Birthday

The legendary rapper 2Pac (as he generally preferred to be known as) Shakur lived and died a violent life. On September 7, 1996, 2Pac left the Mike Tyson/Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas in a car with his entourage. A car pulled up to 2Pac's car, someone rolled down one of the windows and fired several gunshots at 2Pac and killed him. After his still unsolved murder, the rapper/poet/actor was recognized as a leading voice of his generation, and in some way, America's Arthur Rimbaud whom Victor Hugo described him at the time as "an infant Shakespeare." Ironically. 2Pac was a voracious reader of Shakespeare and in many ways helped create a Shakespearean subtext to the rap form.

Michael Eric Dyson, University of Pennsylvania Avalon Professor of Humanities and African American Studies and author of the book Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur indicated that 2Pac "spoke with brilliance and insight as someone who bears witness to the pain of those who would never have his platform. He told the truth, even as he struggled with the fragments of his identity."

Like Elvis, there have been many claims of sighting 2Pac since his death. In April 2012, one of thise sighting proved to be true. The audience at the Coachella music festival in Southern California saw the 6-pack 2Pac strutting the stage in what they thought was a hologram.. However, the process was not a hologram, but rather technique called Pepper’s Ghost created by John Pepper who used the technique on stage in the mid 19^th century. According to illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer who explained the process to The Wall Street Journal, the effect was first used in an 1862 presentation of Charles Dickens' novella "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain," staged at the Royal Polytechnic Institute in London. According to Steinmeyer, "In the Victorian era, Pepper’s Ghost was normally used to reflect actual, physical objects or actors, making them appear 'dimensional' in ways that the projected or computer-generated imagery typically used today do not."

So to celebrate 2Pac's birthday, we suggest renting the DVD Tupac: Assassination (2007) and enjoy 2Pac's gangsta rap and the recipe for Gangster Wrap.

Gangster Wrap

Ingredients

1/2 avocado
1 large cob of corn
1 large tomato
1 clove garlic minced

1/2 fresh lime
3 drops liquid Stevia (an herbal sweetener)
Sea salt and pepper to taste
3-4 collard or romaine lettuce leaves

Instructions

1. Cut the corn off the cob and place in a mixing bowl.
2. Chop the avocado and tomato and add to the bowl along with garlic and onion.
3. Squeeze lime over the top, drop in the Stevia and give it a thorough stir.
4. Add salt and pepper to suit your taste and spread mixture over the collard or lettuce leaf.
5. Wrap it. .