Praise for This Thug’s Life
“This Thug’s Life is both testimony and tribute. A son’s remembrance, a brother’s reflection, and a man’s reckoning with legacy. Mopreme Shakur shares a deeply personal look at love and survival from inside the Shakur family. This Thug’s Life reminds us that truth, like art, always finds its way home.” —Regina King, Academy, Golden Globe, and Emmy Award-winning actress
“Mopreme has always been someone to go to when you wanna cut through the bullshit and find out what’s really going on. No exaggerations. No self-aggrandizement. He’s always solid. Plus he’s an amazing storyteller, which can be hard when you’re limited by those principles. If you wanna know Tupac’s story, the best way would be to listen to Tupac tell it. The second best way is through his brother Mo.” —Boots Riley, filmmaker and rapper
“This powerful and profound memoir is a beautiful letter sent by the inimitable Mopreme Shakur to all of us who cherish Truth and Justice! He comes from a revolutionary Black family of nobility that includes his little brother Tupac Shakur who forever changed global youth culture with his artistic genius. This book is an instant classic.” —Cornel West, philosopher, author, and public intellectual
“Mopreme Shakur — and his memoir THIS THUG’S LIFE — have it all: smooth, sincere, and above all substantive. This is an intimate look at the zenith of hip-hop that only a true insider can provide. Anyone who’s interested in music, politics, and the vital intersection between the two should read this book. It’s an up-close look at the making of legends and brothers in music.” —Peter DiStefano, guitarist, Porno for Pyros, The Psychedelic Furs, Lance Herbstrong
“Mopreme’s memoir captures exactly what it’s like to sit down and listen to the man tell stories: he really brings us back to the ’90s — and to Tupac — in full color. His voice is authentic, honest and uniquely his. I learned new things about Mo, Pac, and the Shakurs, but most of all I loved being brought back to that unique and beautiful time in our lives.” —Jada Pinkett Smith, Emmy Award-winning actress, host, and businesswoman
“If you think this is going to be a salacious tell-all book, think again. Mopreme has gifted us an epic love letter to his extended family, to the movement, to Hip Hop, to the ancestors who carried the culture through captivity and Jim Crow, into the streets of Queens, Cali and beyond. Fearlessly honest and often funny as hell, This Thug’s Life is the real thing: True. Heartfelt. Undiluted. Genius.” —Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
“This Thug’s Life is the most important book to date about the Shakur family. Written with beautiful honesty and unapologetic passion, it is the story we have been waiting for—about Tupac, about Mopreme’s own incredible journey, about American and hip-hop history, about the movements for change, then and now. Mopreme has gifted us with raw truths because he was fully there, because he fully lived it. An instant classic.” —Kevin Powell, Grammy-nominated poet and Tupac Shakur biographer
“This is a beautiful story of legacy and liberation, brotherhood and artistry, resilience and survival. Told as only a Shakur could…with revolutionary love, community, and fearless honesty. I am proud to call Mo my brother, comrade, and friend.” —Ray Luv, rapper, producer, and songwriter
“Mopreme Shukur’s This Thug’s Life connects important behind the scenes stories and insights into the worlds of Hip Hop, entertainment, Black Power, and Revolution. Shakur’s life and family connections provide him the unique position to illuminate the life and meaning of his brother and his musical collaborator Tupac Amaru Shakur, as well as his father revolutionary activist, health worker, and political prisoner Dr. Mutulu Shakur. Mopreme’s memoir allows the reader to relive joyous and challenging moments of our cultural and political history. This powerful story will contribute to much of what is known about the revolutionary Shakur family and their impact on revolutionary Black movements and Black music.” —Akinyele K. Umoja, activist scholar and author of We Will Shoot Back
“I’ve known Mo for years, but reading this, I realized how much I never really knew him. I’ve had the privilege of meeting both his parents, and now I understand how deeply their love and struggle shaped him. What moved me most is Mo’s strength, his ability to persevere through everything when most would fold. This book is reflective, raw, and full of truth. Behind the legend is a man I’ve been lucky to call a friend, and his story reminds us that greatness is born from pain, and that love is still the last word.” —Carey W. Hayes, screenwriter, producer and co-creator of The Conjuring franchise
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