2Pac has now become the face of Nixon watches, and fans can’t help but wonder who might be behind this bit of ill-advised product placement.
Billboard announced the new partnership on Tuesday (October 3), and they revealed that the late “I Get Around” rapper was the face of a collection of five watches that range in price from $175 to $600.
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Though the collection was meant to celebrate Pac’s “legacy and timeless style,” there were more than a few fans who couldn’t bear the idea of the partnership.
“WHO APPROVED THIS BULLSH**?” wrote one fan. “First the “PROUD” merch & now a brand he didn’t wear? You think Big’s people would allow his face to be placed on some STADIA shoes? HELL F NO!!!”
Another fan replied: “Two words: TOM WHALLEY.”
Check out the post below.
The “Tom Whalley” in question is the former chairman and CEO of Warner Brothers, who is also the executor of 2Pac’s mother’s estate. Whalley’s decisions for the estate have, in the past, been the subject of lawsuits.
Back in 2021, Sekyiwa Shakur — Pac’s sister — sued Whalley because she believed he’s “embezzled millions” and accused him of refusing to relinquish some of 2Pac’s personal items that hold “tremendous sentimental value,” including gold records.
She also accused Whalley of “blatant violations” of his duties as the executor of Afeni Shakur’s estate.
“He has effectively embezzled millions of dollars for his own benefit,” Sekyiwa wrote. “Whalley has unreasonably enriched himself at the expense of the beneficiaries and in bad faith by taking excessive compensation in a position from which he should properly be barred based on the inherent conflict of interest.”
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She added, “Whalley has already received more than $5.5 million that he has paid himself in the last five years through Amaru. It is clear that he has used and abused his powers as executor and special trustee of the estate and the trust to convert the personal property belonging to Sekyiwa as a piggy bank from which he has drawn substantial funds for his own benefit.”
The late Afeni Shakur was made executor of the estate following 2Pac’s 1996 murder. When she passed in 2016, duties were then transferred to Whalley. But Sekyiwa says he’s since hired himself as the manager of Amaru Entertainment, the record label that released some of ‘Pac’s music and is the “principal income-producing asset of the Trust.”
