Don’t be surprised if you spot a sea of bandanas at Camden Yards on Friday. It’s likely Tupac Shakur superfans honoring the legend and hoping to be among one of the 20,000 fans to take a little piece of him home.
In the Orioles game against the Athletics, music fans will descend upon Camden Yards Friday for a chance to secure a bobblehead of Shakur, the iconic rapper, actor, poet and activist who famously attended the Baltimore School for the Arts.
The bobblehead boasts the hip-hop star’s signature black bandana and nose ring while rocking an Orioles jersey over a long-sleeved white shirt with jeans and sneakers.
The team announced in January that the first 15,000 fans would get Tupac bobbleheads, but that’s changed due to high demand. The Orioles even opted to open the gates to Camden Yards at 5 p.m., two hours before the game, to meet fan demand.
“We are always looking for ways to connect Baltimore’s rich and interesting history to fans,” Jennifer Grondahl, a spokesperson for the Orioles, said in an email. “The Tupac bobblehead was a wonderful opportunity to share his connection to Baltimore, which may have been unknown to even a diehard Tupac fan.”
Actress Rachel Hilton, who graduated from the Baltimore School for the Arts, will be the guest splasher for the Splash Zone at the game. Current students and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation will lead pregame ceremonies.
Shakur was a six-time Grammy-nominated, multiplatinum-selling artist. His albums All Eyez On Me and Greatest Hits are among the few hip-hop albums to be certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America, according to his website.
He faced several legal woes while in the spotlight, including sexual assault accusations that he served time for. Shakur was also at the center of the East Coast vs. West Coast rap beef that turned violent.
At 25, Shakur was fatally shot outside of a nightclub in 1996. Nearly 30 years after his death, police arrested and charged Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, as the orchestrator of Shakur’s death.
Though young, Shakur was a fixture in West Coast rap, and his blend of poetry, activism and gangsta rap continues to influence artists today.
Shakur’s activism stemmed from his mother, Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther party, who died in 2016. Their relationship is the subject of a 2023 FX docuseries, “Dear Mama,” named after Shakur’s song dedicated to his mother.
His godmother, Assata Shakur, a fellow activist who was a fugitive living in asylum in Cuba, died last September. She escaped a New Jersey prison in 1979 while serving a life sentence for killing a police officer.
Shakur was also an actor, known for films such as “Poetic Justice” alongside pop icon Janet Jackson, “Juice” and “Above the Rim.” He studied acting and poetry at the Baltimore School for the Arts as a member of the class of 1989, which is where he met Baltimorean and actress Jada Pinkett Smith.
Shakur and his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, setting up shop in the first-floor apartment of a rowhome at 3955 Greenmount Avenue in Waverly. The home went on the market in late 2022 and eventually sold. There, as well as at Roland Park Middle School and Baltimore School for the Arts, is where the superstar spent his formative years.
Friday morning, Mayor Brandon Scott led a rededication of Tupac Shakur Street alongside Del. Sean Stinnett and Shakur’s sister, Sekyiwa “Set” Shakur.
The Tupac bobblehead won’t be the only star featured in the Orioles’ series against the Athletics. Rapper Nelly will perform after Saturday’s game, which starts at 4:05 p.m., kicking off the Birdland Summer Music Series.
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