Jhene Aiko was too young to watch Tupac's career unfold, but like many younger people that have grown to admire the late west coast rapper, her obsession came after watching the documentary, Tupac Resurrection.
On what would have been Pac's 44th birthday, Aiko decided to pay tribute to the rapper in a shoot, recreating some of his most iconic photographed moments. Inspired by shots from All Eyez On Me, the rapper's posthumous greatest hits collection, and David LaChapelle's "Becoming Clean" shoot, the singer channeled the spirit of the rapper in three photos for MTV.
Jhene also shared the story of how "Keep Ya Head Up" became her favorite Tupac song, and one that she regularly performs live.
I remember when I was pregnant with my daughter and that song came on. I just cried like never before. His words meant so much to me. I just felt like I needed to hear that. I didn’t know what was going to happen next. I wasn’t in the best position to have a child. I was growing hopeless. At that moment I was leaving a free-clinic-type-of-family-planning-type of place to do my prenatal stuff. I was on the county, I had my E.B.T. card, I had my food stamps. I was in the system and I felt like, “Where was my life going at this point?” It was hard for me to be optimistic. But that song came on and that’s what changed the whole mood of my pregnancy.
From that day when I heard that song, I was like, “You know what? He’s right. I need to just keep my head up and keep it pushing and do what I have to do.” From then on everything turned into a positive experience. It really stuck at that moment, because that was 2007 and the song had been out for years and years and years. Not until I had that full-circle moment of understanding struggle and pain did I relate to the song that much more.
Check out the pictures in the gallery above. How do you think they turned out?