A Tale of Two Mothers

Their sons Biggie and Tupac were slain. Now each has embarked on a mission: to honor their son's legacies

In a season of grim anniversaries, another passed last week, little noticed. It has been 10 years since rapper Tupac Shakur was shot on a street in Las Vegas. And in six months Voletta Wallace, the mother of Notorious B.I.G., will arrive for the 10th time at the date on which her son fell to a bullet in Los Angeles. While to the wider world, Biggie and Tupac were multiplatinum artists, hip-hop ambassadors and friends turned envenomed foes, to Wallace and Afeni Shakur they were sons, repositories of dreams and years of nurturing. "It's like I got the phone call yesterday,"...

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