Sotheby’s to Auction Love Letters and Crown from Tupac and Rapper Biggie

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"I love you now more than ever. So forgive me for carrying on. I love you beautiful. Still love me?" he writes in one letter signed "With All My Heart, Tupac Shakur".

"Will you call me tonight at 11:40? Just to check to see if I'm okay," the nascent rapper wrote in a postscript.

The letters are expected to sell for at least $60,000 to $80,000.

The sale intends to trace the development of hip hop from its birth in the late 1970s through the "Golden Age" of the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s to the present day.

A portion of the proceeds will go to non-profit community organizations, including the music and DJ program Building Beats aimed at engaging underserved youth.

The charity aspect was important, Hatton said, because "the sale is about celebrating the history of hip hop and how much of an impact it's had on culture."

"We wanted to support organizations that themselves supported the preservation of the history of hip hop."

The auction is unique not only in that it's the first of its kind at a major international house, but also because the majority of the consigners are artists themselves or their estates, rather than collectors.

"That's kind of a big conversation in the art world — do the artists get any benefit from the sale of their art," Hatton said.

In this case, she said, "we can absolutely say yes." 

(Writer: Maggy Donaldson) 

Source: http://u.afp.com/3uam