2Pac played a significant role in shaping Hip Hop during its earlier years, and a one-of-a-kind artifact that belonged to him has now exhibited just how valuable he is to the culture.
On July 18, Sotheby’s will host an auction to celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop and a crown ring designed by the late MC is one of its main attractions. Pac wore the piece of jewelry during his last public appearance in 1996, soon after which he was fatally shot at the age of 25.
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The Death Row rapper recruited New York jewelers to help him realize his vision. He was subsequently spotted wearing it on his finger during the MTV Video Music Awards that took place less than ten days before his death. The item comprises gold, diamonds and rubies, and is projected to fetch north of $300,000 once bidding begins.
As per the auction house, the “California Love” hitmaker designed the ring soon after his release from prison. He expressed to his manager, Fula, that he wanted a piece to serve as “an act of self-coronation” and symbolize the next phase of his career.
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“Sitting atop a diamond-encrusted gold band is the ‘crown’ itself: a gold circlet studded with the three largest jewels in the entire piece—a central cabochon ruby, flanked by two pavé-cut diamonds,” Sotheby’s wrote about the Machiavelli-inspired ring. “Tupac’s selection of the ruby as the principal stone in his crown is a continuation of this royal narrative, as rubies have long been symbolically tied to the imagery of monarchy and wealth in our cultural imagination.”
Tupac Shakur left behind a legacy like no other. During a recent appearance on Drink Champs, Ice-T reflected on his relationship with the California MC and even expressed how he saw the as an artist more than a gangsta rapper.
During the conversation, the Law & Order actor recalled the time Shock G (the Digital Underground frontman mentored Pac) visited his house and pleaded with him to have a sit-down with the All Eyez On Me rapper during his ultimately fateful stint on Death Row.
“I had a story where Shock G came to my house,” he said. “I lived in the Hollywood Hills, Shock came to my door. I said, ‘Why the fuck you knocking on my door?’ He said, ‘I was up in the Hills, I asked does any Black people live up here.’ They said, ‘Ice lives right over there.’ So Shock knocked on my door.
“We sat down and he was like, ‘Ice, talk to ‘Pac, man. They feeding ‘Pac gunpowder. ‘Pac is not listening to me.’”
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Ice-T then briefly paused his story as he began to choke up off-camera. However, he was able to quickly regain his composure and continued reflecting on 2Pac’s tragic and untimely ending.
“See the thing is, when you working with a rapper, you have to get a rapper in a state of mind,” he said. “Death Row was training ‘Pac to be a killer, which you heard in the music.
“But I did a thing for Mike Tyson which is like, you train a man to be a pitbull then you get mad when he eats the furniture. You see what I mean? So that energy bled into the streets, to his demise.”
