Producer Delray Richardson came across a gem years ago while sifting through old film negatives at a friend’s home. What he stumbled upon was a picture of Tupac Shakur that was taken back in 1996 just weeks before the Rap icon was gunned down in Las Vegas. The Baltimore Sun previously spoke with Richardson about the photo and detailed how it was captured: The producer was showing a few friends around Los Angeles hotspots when he spotted Shakur’s custom Hummer on the road. Richardson had worked with the rapper and called him a friend, so when he pulled up and requested a photo for his visitors, Tupac was happy to oblige.
One of Richardson’s friends wanted a moment with the famed rapper, but he said he couldn’t get out due to the traffic. The person posed a question to Shakur and asked how many times he was shot during the 1994 incident in Manhattan. “Five,” the rapper reportedly said as he held up five fingers just as the photo was taken, making for a rare moment.
In recent months, there has been an onslaught of information regarding NFTs, or non-refundable tokens. People have been making millions from selling items as NFTs and Richardson has added his name to the list by putting not only his Tupac photo up for auction, but a video of Michael Jordan that shows the sports icon breaking up a fight between his bodyguard and a gang member following a fight between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao.
“If Beeple’s 5000 day’s NFT sold for $69,000,000, then 1/1 ultra rare NFT’s of Tupac Shakur & Michael Jordan is surely worth $2,500,000 or more,” Richardson told us exclusively via email. The opening bid for the Jordan clip is at $1.5 million while Tupac comes in at $1 million. Recently, Ja Rule was able to unload a Fyre Festival painting after selling it as an NFT for $122K.
Let us know if you’d shell out big bucks for rare items such as these and make sure to check out our article on the fallen star: Tupac Lives: How The Rapper’s Attitude Shaped A Hip-Hop Mindset.