Long-time fans of Tupac Shakur will soon get the chance to hear some of his earliest material produced before the rapper catapulted into Hip Hop fame. Thirteen years after his death, and a slew of 2Pac-inspired releases later, childhood friend Darrin Keith Bastfield and CEO of Born Busy Records is releasing Shakurspeare, a compilation of ‘Pac‘s first rhymes. In addition to being a former friend of Tupac, the two also formed a group together in their teen years called Born Busy.
“I was there when Tupac heard himself for the first time rapping on a recording,” Bastfield told AllHipHop.com [click here]. “As he sat in the cafeteria of Baltimore School for the Arts it was as if he couldn’t believe he was listening to himself. Just as Tupac was quietly amazed by hearing himself, I want people to hear Tupac as a young artist in his very first recordings ever having fun, rapping about issues that concerned us, and most importantly giving a cautionary and timely message of peace in his own voice as if he was already a big rap star with a reputation to uphold.“
In 2002, Bastfield released a tell-all book centered around Tupac titled, Back in the Day: My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur. In both the book and the upcoming album, Darrin claims that his goal is to show who ‘Pac was back when he was known as MC New York.
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The title Shakurspeare comes from a conversation Bastfield recalls, that took place between the two friends in which Shakur expressed his desire to become a famous Shakespearean actor.
“[The album] was a very spiritual undertaking for me,” Bastfield explained, “but most importantly it is about creating art and being educational. The vocals to the songs we wrote were all recorded accapella in 1988 on a cassette tape. Through technology the vocals were able to be extracted, digitally mastered, and put to contemporary music that was produced in 2008. I wanted to keep the recordings as close to the vein of our ideas from back in the day. As far as new material to assist with the concept of the album as being like an audio commentary, I chose to work with producers and artists in my own backyard which are native of Baltimore, Maryland which includes International Jazz recording artist Maysa. My life and times with Tupac Shakur all happened in Baltimore, so I wanted the spirit of the Shakurspeare album, just as the book, to stay consistent.”
