Jhené Aiko Tributes Tupac by Recreating Iconic Portraits

Tuesday marked what would have been the 44th birthday of West Coast legend Tupac Shakur. To tribute the artist, Jhené Aiko — a self-professed Shakur fan — collaborated with MTV News to recreate three iconic 2Pac portraits: the cover for his 1996 classic album All Eyez on Me, the cover for his his posthumous Greatest Hits release, as well as his famous “Becoming Clean” bathtub photo shoot. Check out the photos above and listen to her Tupac-commemorating interview interview with MTV News’ Rob Markman below.

You recreated three iconic Tupac photos, that we’ve debuted here today. When did you get the inspiration to recreate these?

I would say like a few years ago. It’s been a few years, but every birthday of his I always want to do something. I feel like I have to give his legacy some type of present. It started off, one time I did a video shoot where they spread his ashes. And it was a coincidence that I was there that day, we were all like, “Wait a minute, this is Tupac’s birthday and we’re here on the same beach.” So after that, it’s been several years since then and every year I want to do something. I wrote a letter one year, I put it on my tumblr. It’s a special day because to me he was such a special person, so this year it was just an idea that me and my team had and I’m passionate about Tupac so it was something and I was like, “Yeah.” It was just random, it just happened on the spot; it was a really good idea for his birthday.