Tupac Shakur: A Modern Day Robert Johnson, Undone By His Faustian Pact With The Devil?
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Tupac Shakur was a truly extraordinary individual.
While it would be beyond facile to seek to compare him to the giants of the civil rights struggle, but it has to be said that his impact on millions of young black men since his death has been almost as powerful as Malcolm X or Reverend Martin Luther King.
What was it about a guy who went from being a bit part player on the digital underground in 1991 to being the biggest musician on the planet, five years later?
What was it that set this young man apart from his peers and pushed him right to the very pinnacle of his chosen profession?
And why did his story end up the way that it did so tragically in September 1996 in Las Vegas?
Two words come to mind.
Robert Johnson.
For those who don’t know too much about history, it is said that Robert Johnson is one the most influential musicians of the 20th century.
The likes of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan have cited Johnson as a major influence on their style.
And Eric Clapton described our man as the most important blues singer that ever lived.