While the rapper Tupac was born in Harlem, NY, and raised in Baltimore, MD, it was actually Oakland, CA where he cut his teeth and became a man.
Now the city that gave birth to the emcee in Tupac has voted to memorialize him by renaming a section of MacArthur Boulevard (between Grand and Van Buren Avenues) for the late rapper, according to KTVU.
In a unanimous vote taken on Tuesday, May 16, the Oakland City Council declared
The portion will be known as Tupac Shakur Way.
Commemorative plaques are going to be placed as markers to designate the street’ renaming.
Tupac moved to Oakland, CA in 1988 and became a member of Digital Underground in 1990 as a background dancer and emcee.
According to Queen Latifah, spent time with him when he was in Oakland as a dancer for Digital Underground. She says Tupac invented one of Hip-Hop’s most iconic dance, the Humpty Dance.
#tupac #tupacuncensored #rewind pic.twitter.com/YGXJ4tnI5w
— Tupac Uncensored (@tupacuncensored) October 20, 2022
She said in his mind, the dance should look like him falling off the wall.
“I watched him literally make up the Humpty Dance,” the Queen said on Sway’s Universe.
“Like trying to think of somebody falling off the wall, you know what I’m saying? Like what would Humpty Hump [look like] you know if he fell off the wall. He an egg. So, he’s like ‘oooooh’ acting like he was falling.”
“He had skills. Like… he could dance, you know what I mean? So, he turned it into a dance,” she remembered.