Thirteen years after his death, Tupac Shakur’s first Hip-Hop recordings will now become available through a forthcoming album entitled Shakurspeare. The project is the brainchild of Darrin Keith Bastfield, CEO of Born Busy Records. Bastfield was one of Shakur’s early collaborators, and the two formed a group together called Born Busy when a 16-year old Tupac first began to rap. For long-time fans, the album will offer the first glimpses of Tupac’s Hip-Hop journey, back when he was known by his first rap name of MC New York. “I was there when Tupac heard himself for the first time rapping on a recording. As he sat in the cafeteria of the Baltimore School for the Arts it was as if he couldn’t believe that he was listening to himself,” Bastfield told AllHipHop.com. “Just as Tupac was quietly amazed by hearing himself, I want people to hear Tupac as a young artist in his very first recordings ever having fun, rapping about issues that concerned us, and most importantly giving a cautionary and timely ‘Message of Peace’ in his own voice as if he was already a big rap star with a reputation to uphold.”
