2PAC GETS BAY AREA STREET RENAMED IN HIS HONOR: ‘HE SAID OAKLAND GAVE HIM HIS GAME’
2Pac has received his latest posthumous honor: a street getting renamed in his honor in Oakland, CA.
According to The Associated Press, a portion of MacArthur Boulevard — near where Pac lived for a time — was renamed Tupac Shakur Way on Friday (November 3). The late “Keep Your Head Up” rapper’s family was in attendance, as were other Hip Hop luminaries like MC Hammer, who was a good friend of Pac’s during his short but impactful life.
“Let his spirit live on the rest of these years in these streets and in your hearts,” Shakur’s sister Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur said at the sign’s unveiling, while Hammer called Pac “hands down, the greatest rapper ever, there’s not even a question of that.”
“He claimed Oakland,” said City Councilwoman Carroll Fife, who led the effort to rename the street. “He said Oakland gave him his game.”
The formal MacArthur Blvd. renaming was first kicked off back in May of this year.
According to The Oaklandside, Oakland’s City Council was moving at the time to vote on renaming a portion of MacArthur Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Van Buren Avenue as “Tupac Shakur Way.” The decision to rename the portion of the street was brought forth by Councilmember Fife.
“Tupac Shakur’s legacy will continue through his contributions in art and social outreach, through his family and fans, touching countless lives of children and elders over the years while alive and after his death, taken too young by gun violence,” read the resolution for the street name change, which was presented by Fife.
Although 2Pac was born on the East Coast, his career started in Oakland when he was a roadie and background dancer for Digital Underground. He also created the majority of his legendary albums in California, including 1991’s 2Pacalypse Now, 1993’s Strictly For My N.I.G.G.A.Z., 1995’s Me Against The World, and 1996’s All Eyez On Me.
On May 23, 2023, a press release from the City of Oakland revealed that the MacArthur Blvd. renaming was also made possible by the efforts of LeRoy McCarthy of HeteroDoxX Inc. McCarthy has also led efforts for street renamings that honor the likes of The Notorious B.I.G. in Brooklyn, 2Pac in Oakland, the Wu-Tang Clan in Staten Island, the Beastie Boys in Manhattan and De La Soul in Long Island.
“I am honored to bring forward this resolution along with LeRoy McCarthy and Heterodoxx Inc. and look forward to a continued partnership with the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation to ensure the Shakur legacy lives on and that we build a world where roses no longer have to grow through concrete because we’ve broken down those obstacles and softened the ground for all beauty to bloom with ease,” Congresswoman Fife said in the statement provided in the press release.
Other dedications that McCarthy is working on include a Public Enemy Turnpike Dedication and street namings for Outkast, The Fugees, and Naughty By Nature.
And, as McCarthy told HipHopDX back in August, his tireless work has been inspired by his grandmother who taught him to care for anything he places value on. McCarthy embodies this ethic with his commitment to preserving the history of Hip Hop for future generations.
“My grandmother was a Garveyite. There is something to be said about the movement of Marcus Garvey, and what he tried to accomplish. But for today, how do we get that message across? It’s not necessarily back to Africa in a physical sense because a lot of people that talked about going back to Africa didn’t actually make it back,” he said.
“But there is an empowerment that I feel that could be had by honoring Hip Hop. From Biggie to Tupac to A Tribe Called Quest to Wu-Tang to the Roots and others. Even working with Senator Chuck Schumer, to have a resolution that honors Hip Hop, I believe it can empower the Hip Hop community.”
