In the same month that Tupac Shakur, the eternal bard of rap, left our world in ’96, Michel Haddi releases an opulent tome, a sort of visual hymn, dedicated to the artist. The book, “Tupac – The Legend,” is a limited, signed edition of 500, each page a tableau featuring Tupac as once captured by Haddi’s lens in ’93. And in its curated blend of monochrome and vivid color, Haddi’s work doesn’t just showcase Tupac—it venerates him.
For Haddi, this is an offering from what remains of a larger collection lost to theft. “These are not just images, but a lingering resonance of Tupac’s essence,” he notes. He recounts a serendipitous shoot with Tupac and John Singleton, fresh off the making of “Poetic Justice.” A vision of Martin Luther King materialized in Tupac, prompting Haddi to portray him in a sartorial elegance—his own rendition of King, if you will.
A bit about Michel Haddi: Raised amidst the vicissitudes of life in Paris, Haddi found solace in the glossies his mother gifted him. His career was ignited by these early flames of high fashion and made luminous through international collaborations with leading magazines and icons, from Vogue to Vanity Fair. Now based in London, Haddi remains a seminal voice in photography—a man whose lens has framed not just fashion, but a zeitgeist.
So, in September ‘23, expect to hold in your hands not just a book, but a relic, an echo of Tupac’s indelible mark on art and culture, all wrapped in 40 glossy pages.
Price: £100,00 ISBN: 978-0-9930347-7-0 https://mhspublishing.com/publications/the-legend-tupac
Copyright Michel Haddi – Tupac The Legend -courtesy of 29 Arts in Progress Gallery – Michel Haddi Portrait credit Sarah Coldron
