Notorious BIG’s crown, Tupac’s love letters up for auction

Love letters written by Tupac Shakur and a crown worn by Notorious BIG — a few days before his death — have been put up for auction at Sotheby’s first hip-hop-themed sale.

Notorious BIG, who is better known as Biggi Smalls, died on March 9, 1997 after the rapper was hit four times in a Los Angeles drive-by shooting.

Tupac, who had been a highly successful American hip-hop artist, breathed his last in September 1996, at 25, after he was fatally hit in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas when the car conveying him was stopped at a red light.

According to UK Guardian, an event billed for New York on September 15, will celebrate the cultural impact of hip-hop, auctioning the items to offer an introspective look at two rap figures.

Tupac’s letters include a link to Jada Pinkett-Smith, who was a girlfriend of the rapper back in high school, with the auction house estimating they will fetch a fortune between $60,000 and $80,000.

For the plastic crown worn by Notorious BIG and used in a photoshoot days before he was killed in LA, it was also estimated by Sotheby’s auction house to be capable of raking in at least $200,000.

Speaking on the auction, Cassandra Hatton, the vice president and senior specialist at Sotheby’s books and manuscripts section, said: “This sale is a celebration of the origins and early eras of that influence.

“Since its birth in the Bronx in the 1970s, hip-hop has become a global cultural force, whose massive influence continues to shape all realms of culture: music, fashion, art, film, and more.”

Earlier, a pair of crystal-encrusted socks worn by Michael Jackson, the late American pop star, for his signature move ‘moonwalk in 1983, was set to auction for an estimated value of $2 million.