Likely Stories - Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur by Jeff Pearlman

Turns out his biography of Tupac, his 11th book, has turned into a New York Times bestseller. On a podcast I was listening to this morning. Pearlman said that when the book dropped last October, it quickly sold out on Amazon. Like the biggest book retailer in the world, had no more copies of the book. None.

I began reading 'Only God Can Judge Me' last semester. I had a few minutes before I was to give a test to one of my classes, so I was only able to get into the introduction, and it had me hooked. In the introduction, Pearlman wrote about one of Tupac's songs, 'Brenda's Got a Baby', which was about a 12-year-old girl in New York who became pregnant after being assaulted. She hid her pregnancy from family and friends, and when she gave birth, she wrapped the baby in a bag and dropped it down the garbage chute of her apartment building. A maintenance worker found and rescued the baby. That story made it into the New York Daily News, which Tupac read in his trailer on the set of the movie 'Juice', which he was shooting at the time.

He told a production assistant that he needed 30 minutes without interruption, and in that half hour, he wrote the song. The book's introduction talks about the mother and the child, and no spoilers, but after I read that, I texted Pete Souza and said, I just read the introduction to the book. Good grief, it's well done. Pearlman has been a solid reporter for a long time, and it shows in this book. He interviewed more than 600 people for the book, and the details reflect that.

In the chapter Coming to Baltimore, Pearlman talks about Tupac's experience as an eighth grader at a new school. On page 47, he writes, according to an old Roland Park Middle School library record, in February 1985, Tupac twice took out 'The Young Actors Handbook' by Judith Roberts Seto. You don't get that kind of detail without some serious legwork.

Weaved throughout the book is the story of Tupac's troubled relationship with his mother, Afeni Shakur, a former Black Panther. She was once a leader in that organization, but her life fell apart afterwards, and Tupac and his sister suffered for it. The book, of course, documents Tupac's career in movies and music and details the events surrounding his shooting on September 7th, 1996, after attending a boxing match in Las Vegas.

There's even a Baylor connection in the book. Pearlman interviewed the legendary track star Michael Johnson, who won five NCAA titles while running for the Bears. Before his gold medal performance in the 200m at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Johnson listened to Tupac as psych-up music.

"He's very self-empowering, but he's also trying to be victorious and positive as he navigates this world of racism and police brutality. It's powerful stuff," Johnson said.

Only God can judge me. The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur is also powerful stuff.

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