A previously unreleased photo of Tupac Shakur has been shared on the Instagram account of skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. The photo was uploaded on Aug. 13 and shows Tony and Tupac posing together backstage at the American Music Awards in 1994. Tony said in his post that the pic was recently recovered.
The throwback photo was captioned: “My missing photo with Tupac. I attended the American Music Awards in 1991 because my sister was there performing with Michael Bolton. While backstage, I saw Tupac standing alone and I recognized him from Digital Underground (go listen to “Same Song” for context). His first album had not dropped yet, and nobody else seemed to notice him. I took a picture of him and [Riley’s mom] Cindy, and I thought she took one of him and me.”
The caption went on to say: “This was in the era of point-and-shoot film cameras so results were unreliable. Unfortunately I never found the photo once the roll was developed. But thanks to modern technology and maestro digital artist @_vemix_ , the image has materialized. And for the record: he was effusive and gracious during our brief encounter, more so than anyone else we met or bothered for pictures that night.”
A later post to the social media account corrected the year, stating: “Edit: this might have been 1994 based on the AMA nominees that year. I’m so old that specific years get fuzzy. But the story remains the same.”
Fans of the late rapper have enjoyed seeing him in different lights since his untimely death in 1996. The rap star was shot on Sept. 6 of that year in Las Vegas after attending a Mike Tyson fight. While no one has been convicted for his murder, recent developments have led to renewed police interest in the case.
Check out Tony’s post with the rap legend below.