The late, great Tupac Shakur has had a lasting presence in popular culture since his untimely passing in 1996. Even twenty-five years after his demise, his name regularly springs up in hip-hop discourse and for a very good reason — his influence on the culture is beyond compare. Still, that hasn’t stopped a select few from leveraging the rapper’s reach and using it to their advantage.
Most recently, a member of former president Donald Trump’s legal team compared her client to Tupac despite their contrasting values. Following the businessman-turned-politician’s recent hush-money scandal, attorney Alina Habba predicted a spike in Trump’s poll numbers similar to Tupac’s record sales following his arrest.
Donald Trump Arrives at Trump Tower on April 3, Ahead of His Arraignment
Photo Credit: Jeenah Moon
Tupac’s sister, Set Shakur, was not at all pleased with this analogy. In referring to the flimsy parallel as “blasphemous,” she also said the following: “My brother was measured by his integrity, his principles and personal and collective responsibility.”
She added that her brother’s popularity wasn’t a product of the controversy he stirred up through his legal ordeals but because his listeners “were able to measure him by his words and actions that aligned.”
Trump’s indictment involves a 2016 transaction between him and pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels. His team, despite the implications of the upcoming trial, don’t seem too bothered.
“Donald Trump is Tupac. Donald Trump’s Biggie Smalls, he’s better than Tupac. I’m east coast, so I love Biggie,” Habba said on the Benny Show yesterday. “Donald Trump is his own brand. He is everything. This is just gonna boost him, we’ve seen it in the polls. It’s not a question, it’s a fact.”
Trump arrived in New York City for an arraignment hearing scheduled for April 4. He will become the first-ever American president with a criminal charge.
Discover More Hip-Hop
RMR INTERVIEWS MEMPHIS RAPPER NLE CHOPPA
SOULS OF MISCHIEF CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF ’93 TIL INFINITY
10 LEGENDARY LATIN RAPPERS THAT PERMANENTLY INFLUENCED HIP-HOP
GRAMMY-NOMINATED SEATTLE PRODUCER KID CULTURE STEPS IN FRONT OF MIC ON “KEEP IT”
