2Pac's Childhood Poetry Booklet With Haikus and Illustrations Could Fetch up to $300,000 USD at Auction
An 11-year-old Pac created the booklet for his incarcerated godfather and his fellow Black Panther members.
A booklet filled with haiku poetry and illustrations done by an 11-year-old 2Pac could fetch up to $300,000 USD at auction.
The unpublished body of work is part of Sotheby’s latest hip-hop themed auction and is supposedly “the earliest known manuscript by Shakur to come to market.” Signed by Pac, the booklet is addressed to his godfather and Black Panther Jamal Joseph, “Chui,” “Sekou” and “Bilahl” and was sent to them in the Spring of 1983 while they were incarcerated in Kansas’ Leavenworth Penitentiary. “This is dedicated to my family who are imprisoned for trying to build a better nation for me,” a page reads.
“I kept it [the haiku booklet] for about a year and then got permission from a prison counselor to send a package home (to my wife Joyce) along with some other letters and legal documents,” Joseph said. “The Guards had been searching cells after a gang stabbing and were messing up prisoners’ books, letters and photos. If you had money in your commissary account to pay for shipping and a decent counselor you could get a permission slip and take your stuff to the mail room to send home.”
Elsewhere in music, check out Nas’ “Wave Gods” visual.
