Tupac's mother, Afeni Shakur, has died at the age of 69. The Marin County Sheriff's Office of northern California confirmed her death Tuesday morning.
Shakur, a political activist and member of the black nationalist group Black Panther Party, has long been a visible presence in both American public life and in Tupac's music. She was famously arrested in 1969 along with other Black Panthers for conspiracy to bomb multiple New York City landmarks. She was acquitted in 1971 and gave birth to Tupac just one month later.
Shakur was also the subject of Tupac's famous 1995 song "Dear Mama," the lead single from his third studio album, Me Against the World. The song went platinum, peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was added to the National Recording Registry in the Library of Congress in 2010. Shakur has also been the arbiter of Tupac's estate ever since his murder in 1996, and founded the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, which supports art programs for children.
Tupac's estate and the Marin County Sheriff's Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A number of artists and media personalities have spoken out to memorialize Afeni Shakur's life.
