Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z: The Political Legacy of Tupac Shakur

Jun 16, 2026

“you hear that? That’s a poet,” my mother says while Bopping her head back and forth to I Ain’t Mad At Cha.

We sit through traffic driving home from my elementary school in her sunflower yellow Volkswagen Beetle as she raps, “When I talk about money, all you see is the struggle / When I tell you I'm livin' large, you tell me it's trouble.” Here on the 10 freeway she can slough off the day. Pac was a regular occurrence in our car. From How Do U Want It to Changes to Brenda’s Got a Baby to Hail Mary, my mother held Pac nearest and dearest to her heart. As I got older, I went beyond holding an inherited soft spot for Pac as an artist to revering him for his politics and praxis.

What’s often not talked about when it comes to Pac is his positioning as a cultural worker where he dedicated a portion of his efforts to not only a shift towards a more radical imagination but also utilizing rap/hip hop as a vehicle to reach the masses and spark new consciousness.

Today, in honor of his birthday, we’re gonna delve into lesser known facts about the legend, Tupac Amaru Shakur.

1. Pac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, was a Black Panther and Member of the Panther 21

where she and twenty other Panthers were charged with conspiracy to bomb police stations and other public venues in New York. The trial was “…the longest and most expensive in New York history — revealed the illegal government activities which led to exile, imprisonment on false charges, and assassination of Black liberation leaders.” She was eventually acquitted on all charges. While imprisoned Afeni also worked alongside the Gay Liberation Front and worked alongside the National Task Force for Cointelpro Litigation.

2. Pac’s step father was Mutulu Shakur, a leader in the Black Liberation Movement

Mutulu Shakur was a member of the Revolutionary Action Movement as a teenager - a Marxist Leninist Black nationalist / internationalist organization also known as the first group to “apply the philosophy of Maoism to the conditions of Black people in the US.” Heavily influenced by Robert F. Williams, Queen Mother Moore, Malcolm X, RAM initially started as a campus organization, then over the years at its height the party had chapters nationally while remaining semi clandestine.

Later, Shakur joined the Republic of New Afrika, founded after the Civil Rights era, The Republic of New Afrika was established in 1967 following a Detroit riot where a convening of Black Power leaders and organizations met to a create a Black nation in the South. He was also a member of the Black Liberation Army - a clandestine armed organization composed of Black Panther and Republic of New Afrika members. they carried out expropriations and prison breaks working alongside The Weather Underground.

He was the co-founder and director of the National Task Force for Cointelpro Litigation and Research alongside his partner Afeni Shakur.

Mutulu Shakur was also an acupuncturist who treated addicts in New York as an alternative to methadone and aided the takeover of - you can learn more about this in the documentary Dope is Death:

3. Wrote The Code of Thug Life with his step dad Mutulu Shakur to Bring an End to Gang Violence, Enact a Code of Ethics, while Performing Shows in Prisons

According to Mutulu Shakur’s official website, “In 1992, at a cease fire agreement and gang ‘Truce Barbecue’ in Watts, California, Tupac Amaru Shakur was instrumental in getting rival members of the Crips and Bloods to sign a code of ethics, that which is called The Code of Thug Life. He and Dr. Mutulu Shakur had helped write up The ‘Code,’ with other ‘O.G’s’ who came together to bring order to the violence on the street”

The Code of THUG LIFE

All new Jacks to the game must know: a) He’s going to get rich. b) He’s going to jail. c) He’s going to die.
Crew Leaders: You are responsible for legal/financial payment commitments to crew members; your word must be your bond.
One crew’s rat is every crew’s rat. Rats are now like a disease; sooner or later we all get it; and they should too.
Crew leader and posse should select a diplomat, and should work ways to settle disputes. In unity, there is strength!
Car jacking in our Hood is against the Code.
Slinging to children is against the Code.
Having children slinging is against the Code.
No slinging in schools.
Since the rat Nicky Barnes opened his mouth; ratting has become accepted by some. We’re not having it.
Snitches is outta here.
The Boys in Blue don’t run nothing; we do. Control the hood, and make it safe for squares.
No slinging to pregnant Sisters. That’s baby killing; that’s genocide!
Know your target, who’s the real enemy.
Civilians are not a target and should be spared.
Harm to children will not be forgiven.
Attacking someone’s home where their family is known to reside, must be altered or checked.
Senseless brutality and rape must stop.
Our old folks must not be abused.
Respect our Sisters. Respect our Brothers.
Sisters in the Life must be respected if they respect themselves.
Military disputes concerning business areas within the community must be handled professionally and not on the block.
No shooting at parties.
Concerts and parties are neutral territories; no shooting!
Know the Code; it’s for everyone.
Be a real ruff neck. Be down with the code of the Thug Life.
Protect yourself at all times.

“I didn’t create T.H.U.G. L.I.F.E., I diagnosed it.”

– Tupac Shakur

4. He was the youngest ever national chairman of the New Afrikan Panthers at 17 Years Old

5. Pac’s first business manager was the founder and security director of New Afrikan People’s Organization (NAPO): ex Black Panther, Watani Tyehimba and his lawyer was NAPO National Chair Chokwe Lumumba

According to The Freedom Archives:

“The New Afrikan People’s Organization (NAPO) was formed in 1984. From its beginnings, the NAPO was a coalition-based organization, focused largely on cadre-building and developing the grassroots support for a New Afrikan nation-state. Rather than seeing themselves as the immediate leaders of a political movement, the NAPO directly centered the local organizing struggles of various New Afrikan formations and attempted to bridge their collective struggles towards establishing the nation-state. In contrast to the PG, the NAPO was very explicit about being a revolutionary socialist, Pan-Africanist organization. The NAPO was clear that democratic centralism would be a key component in facilitating the development of their state power.

In contrast to civil rights movement-era organizations, the NAPO made it very clear in its creation that socialism was a core component of the NAIM. They recognized their struggle for liberation as intrinsically linked to other Black people abroad, specifically under the political objective of Pan-Africanism, defined as “the Total Liberation and Unification of Africa Under Scientific Socialism” as laid out by the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party (AAPRP). The NAPO carries the most obvious, direct relationship to the PG’s organizing legacy and has since continued to spawn more organizations relevant to this present moment. In its most The most prominent formation active today that is directly tied to the founding and development of the RNA is the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM).”