Rapper Tupac Shakur's ring sold for more than $1 million at auction

The auction dedicated to hip-hop music concluded by Sotheby's on Tuesday with the sale of a crown-shaped ring designed and worn by the famous American rapper Tupac Shakur just before his assassination in 1996, fetching over a million dollars.

Sotheby's, which conducted the online auction, explained that the price at which the golden ring adorned with sapphire and diamonds was sold became the highest ever achieved in hip-hop music-related auctions.

The ring was part of the personal collection of Yasmin Fula, who was close to Tupac Shakur and the mother of another rapper, Yaki Kadafi, who co-founded the "Outlawz" group with Shakur and was also assassinated a few weeks after his childhood friend.

Cassandra Hatton, the head of popular culture and science department at Sotheby's, told AFP that "this ring is designed by Tupac" after he was released from prison in 1996, during which he read Niccolò Machiavelli's book "The Prince" and was influenced by it. 

The ring was sold for precisely 1,016,000 dollars, including fees and commissions, significantly exceeding the initial estimate, which pegged its value at $200,000 to $300,000.

Tupac had worn the ring during the "MTV Video Music Awards" ceremony on September 4, 1996, which marked his last public appearance before he was fatally shot in Las Vegas nine days later, under mysterious circumstances, at the age of twenty-five.

The Harlem-born Shakur, known for hits like "California Love," "Changes," "Dear Mama," and "Brenda's Got a Baby," was considered one of the most prominent American rappers on the West Coast of the United States. Recently, investigators in Las Vegas conducted a raid in their efforts to uncover the circumstances surrounding his murder, which occurred almost 30 years ago.

The highlight of this auction, which included over a hundred pieces, was the ring, but other items were also on display, such as rare clothing, posters, photographs, and early demo tapes from several artists who later became famous or the groups that emerged in the rap industry, such as the "Wu-Tang Clan."

New York is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the birth of the hip-hop movement this summer, which originated in the ghettos and has now become a widely influential culture and a source of billions of dollars in revenue.




AFP