Makaveli Forever

Tupac Amaru Shakur was more than just a rapper; he was a promising actor, a published poet, and to his true fans, an icon that might or might not still be here among the living. Few musicians have inspired such devotion and universal admiration, and even fewer are as open, real, and raw as the late hip-hop star. One minute ’Pac could be spitting venom like he did on the incendiary Biggie-taunting track “Hit Em Up,” and the next he could cut past all the traditional misogyny of his chosen genre to deliver “Keep Ya Head Up.” To put it bluntly and in terms he himself might have used, Tupac was a complex motherfucker. And that complex nature comes to light in the latest play by Ground Up and Rising: The Hate U Gave: The Tupac Shakur Story.

Written and performed by Carbonell-nominated and critically acclaimed local actor/playwright Meshaun Labrone Arnold, The Hate U Gave is named for the infamous sprawling tattoo ’Pac wore across his torso. In his defense, Tupac explained Thug Life was an anagram, meaning “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” In his performance, Arnold reveals both the angry gangsta most people saw on the surface, and the introspective soul within. It begins at 8 p.m. at Miami Dade College’s Kendall Campus, in Building M. Tickets cost $20, and performances run through July 28. Visit www.groundupandrising.org, or call 305-726-4359.
July 11-28, 2008