Jada Pinkett Smith has shared a never-before-seen poem written by Tupac in celebration of the late rapper’s 50th birthday.
Tupac would have turned 50 yesterday (June 16), and Smith chose to share the poem, titled ‘Lost Soulz’, that he wrote while he was incarcerated via a video on Instagram.
“As we prepare to celebrate his legacy,” Pinkett Smith wrote about her longtime friend in a caption on Instagram, “let’s remember him for that which we loved most … his way with words.
“Here are a few you may have never heard before
Happy ‘you goin’n to be 50 at midnight’ Birthday Pac! 
I got next
P.s I was planning to post tomorrow which is why the video says today is Pac’s bday. But I decided to start earlyyyyy”
In the video, Pinkett Smith said, “Pac wrote me many letters and many poems. And I don’t think this has ever been published honestly.”
Pinkett Smith also referenced a song Tupac had released with Outlawz with the same title, released as part of the 1997 soundtrack to the film Gang Related, of which Tupac also starred. The film was his last acting role and was released a year following his death.
The poem reads: “Some say nothing gold can last forever / And 2 believe this [I] need no proof / I have witnessed all that was pure in me / And be changed by the evil men can do / The innocence possessed by children / Once lived inside my soul / But surviving years with criminal peers / Has turned my warm heart to cold / I used 2 dream and fantasize / But now I’m scared 2 sleep / Petrified, not to live or die / But to awaken and still be me / It is true that nothing gold can last / We will all one day see death / When the purest hearts are torn apart / LOST SOULS are all that’s left / Down on my knees I beg of God / To save me from this fate / Let me live to see what was gold in me / Before it is all too late.”
The story of Tupac’s 1996 murder is set to be unpacked in the forthcoming documentary Last Man Standing: Suge Knight And The Murders Of Biggie & Tupac.
Director Nick Broomfield says the film, out July 2, presents “compelling new evidence showing the involvement of the LAPD” in both Tupac and Notorious B.I.G.’s murder, citing the LAPD’s alleged attempt to conceal evidence”.
Earlier this year, the 2007 compilation project ‘The Best Of 2Pac’ was released on vinyl for the very first time.
Other projects of Tupac’s have since received releases on new formats, including the cassette reissue of the Above The Rim soundtrack, which included the rapper’s rare cut ‘Pain’. In addition, ‘All Eyez On Me’ and ‘The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory’, originally released under Tupac’s alias Makaveli, were also re-released on cassette for Death Row Records’ 30th anniversary.
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