This past September the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) unveiled the memorial bronze statue of hip-hop rap icon Tupac Shakur (2Pac), making Tupac the first rap icon to immortalized in bronze. The bronze statue was designed and created by noted sculptor Tina Allen.

Now again the greatest figures in hip-hop culture Tupac Shakur (2Pac) will be immortalized, but this time in wax. The world-famous Madame Tussauds in Las Vegas at the glorious Venetian Hotel, will unveil the sculpture on April 5, 2006 at a special ceremony commencing at 11:00 A.M. 

The wax portrait of Tupac is being sculpted by Jeni Fairey of The Tussauds Studios based in London. Unlike the bronze statue that portrays Tupac the man, in a suit; the wax sculpture will be based on the now-iconic ‘Thug Life’ image of a shirtless rap artist Tupac (2Pac) sporting a bandana and proudly displaying his tattoos.

The Tupac wax figure will be created from hundreds of photographs and measurements provided to Madame Tussauds by Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur Davis. Each of Tupac’s tattoos will first be redrawn and then individually hand-painted onto the sculpture.

The finished figure will take months to complete, involving more than 700 hours of work and over 330 pounds of clay.  The entire figure will weigh around 55 pounds.  To put Tupac in his own environment, Madame Tussauds is in negotiations with 2Pac’s old label, Interscope Records, to obtain original music from Tupac’s world and add a further layer of reality to the unique “Tussauds experience.”

To commemorate the historic 10th Anniversary of Tupac’s (2Pac) murder, Madame Tussauds is considering sending the new wax figure on its own world tour later this year. Once it has been viewed at the Las Vegas museum, the sculpture may travel to the museums in New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai and London before it will be exhibited at the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) in Atlanta for a full month. The figure is scheduled to arrive at the Center by the end of this memorial year.

Tupac Shakur has consistently been the celebrity most requested to receive a wax tribute from Madame Tussauds Las Vegas museum. The sculpture’s unveiling arrives nearly ten years after Tupac’s murder in Las Vegas and it will be exhibited for years to come.

Please visit www.TASF.org      www.2PAClegacy.com