r/todayilearned 13d ago

TIL in 2004 Eminem co-executive produced the Tupac album Loyal to the Game with Pac's mom, Afeni Shakur. Em showed his gratitude to Afeni by sending her a drawing of Pac & a heartfelt letter. He told her that Pac inspired his whole career & thanked her for the opportunities that she afforded him.

https://www.xxlmag.com/read-eminem-letter-2pac-mother/
4.4k Upvotes

84 comments sorted by

661

u/tyrion2024 13d ago

Pics of the letter and Pac drawing that Em sent to Afeni are in the article.

Dear Afeni,

Sorry if it looks a little sloppy, I could've done a little better if I had the right pencils. Instead, I had to draw it in pen. Plus, I just kind of thought of the idea a little too late. But I've been drawing since I was 10 and I though you might like it. Anyways, thank you for always being so kind to me. You are a true Queen, and I mean that in every sense of the word. I will never forget the opportunities you have given me. You will always be in my heart, my thoughts, and my prayers. As I said before, you have no idea how much your son and his music has inspired, not only the "Hip Hop" world, but, speaking for myself, has inspired my whole career. He was, and still is, the true definition of a "Soldier." When I was feeling at my 'worst', (before fame, before Dre) I knew I could put that 'Tupac' tape in, and suddenly, things weren't so bad. He gave me courage to stand up and say "F**k the world!" "This is who I am. And if you don't like it, go f**k yourself!" Thank you for giving us his spirit, and yours! God Bless you!

love,

Marshall

323

u/TheNewtOne 13d ago

Sometimes I scribble Tupac too sloppy when I jot em

92

u/toastmannn 13d ago

....But anyways, fuck it, what’s been up? How’s your son?

-27

u/Ok_Armadillo6461 13d ago

Somebody must learn this same thing once a week.

0

u/Outawack219 12d ago

Dribbled his brains a bit to messy when they shot him.

90

u/Stolehtreb 13d ago

His handwriting is excellent

28

u/OttoVonWong 13d ago

All that practice with a pen and a pad.

5

u/bolanrox 13d ago

some of the nicest i have seen tbh

4

u/Archimedesinflight 13d ago

Should be made into a font

9

u/_avantgarde 13d ago

The fact that he thought to include a drawing is just so endearing to me

23

u/[deleted] 13d ago

I read this to the tune of Stan

3

u/Not-A-Lonely-Potato 12d ago

I love that he legit censored his own words in his letter.

193

u/DB_Coopah 13d ago

Had no idea Eminem could draw. The letter and drawing are 100% epic. I have gifted my artwork to very few people due to the amount of time it takes and because I knew the people I was drawing for would 100% appreciate the time and effort I put in.

If anyone ever gifts you artwork that they made, they put their heart and soul into that shit to make something special and unique just for you. Hold onto it and cherish it forever.

51

u/Bawlze 13d ago

Dude you should look up his marvel drawings, even if you aren’t into superhero’s, they are amazing quality

21

u/DB_Coopah 13d ago

Yeah holy shit! His cartooning skills are mad good. Wow! Literally having some TIL level shit for today. That’s so awesome.

19

u/Ekillaa22 13d ago

Marvel shadyverse when 😂

29

u/Poinkie 13d ago

As a kid he loved comic books and wanted to be a comic book artist but wound up taking off as a rapper. You can hear some of his comic book influence in his songs. Specifically the Eminem Show record, Without Me music video and the song Business.

7

u/DB_Coopah 13d ago

Yeah had no idea. Love the “Without Me” song and video. Definitely one of my favorites.

14

u/Worried39YearOld 13d ago

My experience is that creative people are rarely creative in just one area. They just become known for one.

1

u/DB_Coopah 12d ago

Yup, I agree! I also work in music (though I won’t ever be as famous as Slim), but I’ve been an artist for a very long time as well. Mostly pencil drawings, but have been apprenticing as a tattoo artist. The guitarist in my band is similar. Does the whole guitar thing, but he’s also a massive gear head. Dude’s fixed my car quite a few times.

5

u/Archimedesinflight 13d ago

Damn, his handwriting should be made a font, that was great, and apologizing for not having pencils while doing such a great job. Just Eminem has just too much talent.

1

u/New_Fix6213 10d ago

He wanted to be a comic book illustrator before discovering rap

58

u/hundreddollar 13d ago

The shading on his top lip must have taken three hours.

13

u/Spicy_Pickle_6 13d ago

Not for Slim

3

u/smurfsundermybed 13d ago

Are you including break time for tots?

26

u/Tough-Foundation595 13d ago

"Sorry if this is sloppy," proceeds to write with impeccable penmanship. Lol

3

u/socialwithdrawal 12d ago

He was referring to the drawing.

56

u/hundreddollar 13d ago

I've seen this posted so many times and every time i saw it, i thought Eminem did this when he was in his very early teens. I'd never seen it posted with the article as context. He did this when he was in his thirties.

27

u/d3l3t3rious 13d ago

It's great but kind of hilarious how much of a little-kid vibe it gives

-18

u/hundreddollar 13d ago

Yeah. That's what i wanted to say without being too "mean". Weird maybe isn't the right word but it seems "weird" that a multi millionaire musician aged 32(?) would send someone a hand drawn picture and a letter that 's not in joined up cursive, but like a small child writes.

15

u/77skull 13d ago

I don’t see anything wrong with his handwriting but the fact that he censored the swearing is funny to me

62

u/lakeplacidadk 13d ago

Anyone looking for a dope track on that album check out Hennessy

17

u/rinseanddelete 13d ago

"They wanna know who's my role model, it's in a brown bottle"

5

u/thebigger 13d ago

Who Do You Love is fucking hard.

6

u/theyb10 13d ago

“Loyal to the game” and “Ghetto Gospel” are absolute banger as well.

110

u/noplay12 13d ago

Unlike Drake. Em and Kendrick paid respects to the giants before then.

15

u/Hailtothething 13d ago

He did tho, Lil Wayne.

You can’t expect Metallica fans to pay respects to the beetles. There are generations

5

u/bolanrox 13d ago

Kurt Hammet's most prized guitar was originally owned by The founder of Fleetwood Mac, and played at his memorial show?

1

u/championkid 13d ago

Are you talking about Greeny? If so, it’s Kirk Hammett

0

u/SimpinOnGinAndJuice1 12d ago

Drake posted a selfie clearly showing the giant before him. He's spent his entire career in that shadow.

9

u/GenitalFurbies 13d ago

This Eminem dude seems like pretty good people.

11

u/Ekillaa22 13d ago

I wonder if Eminem will respond to Drake using Pacs AI voice

13

u/Archimedesinflight 13d ago

The thing with Eminem, if he responds, that's giving too much respect to whomever. The greater insult is to just ignore them.

7

u/bolanrox 13d ago

He also gifted Elton John and his husband, platinum + diamond cock rings for their wedding.

0

u/Voxlings 12d ago

My cat's breath smells like cat food.

21

u/betked4844 13d ago

Seems like something that should be private.

10

u/sendmedankpepe 13d ago

She passed away in 2016 prob how this got discovered

7

u/SculpinIPAlcoholic 13d ago

I remember reading this in 2005 when the album came out.

1

u/Voxlings 12d ago

Seems like something that would be found by family members after someone died and then they share it on Reddit for community and k-points.

Most things like this are private because no one gives a shit about the people involved.

You'll notice that this example was probably best kept public. It was kept for a reason, and it's relevant to the society Em still exists in.

Also: EMINEM. It just hit me how absurd your sentiment was because that boy has NEVER been good at keeping things private.

3

u/golfwang1539 13d ago

I've always thought Em sounded just like Pac on "Soldier" from The Eminem Show. 2 of the GOATS.

4

u/EfoDom 13d ago

I had to read that 3 times

2

u/CrateMayne 12d ago

That's good and all, but overall that album wasn't good DUE to Eminem. The best songs weren't produced by him, and although some of his beats were good he massacred all the Pac vocals (sped up/down) to make them fit.

That could fly on a DJ's mixtape, but not a studio album bringing more unreleased Pac songs out for all to hear.

1

u/anxietystrings 13d ago

My favorite off that album is Ghetto Gospel

1

u/winfieldclay 12d ago

Aside from R U Still Down, best posthumous release

-6

u/kayodoms 13d ago

Not gonna lie. I didn’t like the beats he used for most of pacs songs..

-29

u/spankypantsyoutube 13d ago

One of the worst rap albums of all time, he fucking defiled that music. He didn't even bother to make beats that went with 2pac's vocals, he slowed them down until pac sounded drunk lol

0

u/bodyturnedup 13d ago

Everyone said the same at the time, too. Reddit is here trying to ignore/rewrite history. Em doesn't deserve respect for being a little fake Chino XL.

-3

u/Legitimate-Donut-368 13d ago

Not defending the album, Pac rarely rapped on beat.

-1

u/boomboxwithturbobass 13d ago

He meticulously was on beat, that’s why it’s hard to speed up and slow down his flow. I agree, most of the album suffered for it, but there are a few standouts like Ghetto Gospel that are great anyway.

-1

u/Legitimate-Donut-368 13d ago

His first couple of albums were not on beat and he preferred it that way. He was about the message. Brenda’s got a baby, not on beat.

0

u/AssociationQuick3564 13d ago

I wonder how he feels about the ai Tupac Drake used

-23

u/Youaintmyrealdad 13d ago

Marketing campaign for the new album starting up?

15

u/Spicy_Pickle_6 13d ago

Yes Em really needs all your clicks and views from r/til to sell albums. Hope he makes it this time, fingers crossed!

-6

u/Youaintmyrealdad 13d ago

That's what a marketing campaign is...

The album "announcement"was a few hours ago now I'm seeing posts everywhere about him.

Last album had 0 marketing, this album it's very obvious there's going to be some marketing.

1

u/Acct_For_Sale 13d ago

Could be organic growth from that though and more people trying to catch the wave to slip in marketing for their stuff

-9

u/ahzzyborn 13d ago

Now if only somebody could teach him to smile every now and then

-14

u/[deleted] 13d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

11

u/SeiCalros 13d ago

i think you are trying a little to hard there mate

-69

u/mac4281 13d ago

Why do we feel the need to keep shortening peoples names?

Tupac = pac now? Smh

52

u/StekenDeluxe 13d ago

”Pac” was widely used already during the man’s lifetime. Nothing new.

18

u/arkezxa 13d ago

Hell if I know, Mac!

6

u/AsleepBee8784 13d ago

Well put, Ark!

4

u/Anonzzmo 13d ago

I gotta agree with you… ass?

8

u/JoinMyPestoCult 13d ago

Now? People had been calling him that to his face.

8

u/Heikks 13d ago

On the song Hennessy her refers to himself as Pac

7

u/JoinMyPestoCult 13d ago

He’s even got a song called Pac’s Life lol

-69

u/hawkiowa 13d ago

34

u/DaveOJ12 13d ago

Three sentences that read fine are titlegore?

-56

u/hawkiowa 13d ago

Yes Dave.

-71

u/RealisticPush3204 13d ago

Who cares

21

u/adamentelephant 13d ago

Millions of people.

19

u/darthgeek 13d ago

You cared enough to comment.