Rostafa was five or six years old when he first heard Tupac Shakur’s voice come out of his father’s car speakers. It was 1996 or 1997, and two cassette tapes sat in the console: Biggie’s “Ready to Die” and Tupac’s “Me Against the World.” His father was in his 40s, not the target demographic for gangsta rap, but he recognized something in it anyway.
“He recognized the poetry that was spewing out of rap, but more particularly with Tupac,” Rostafa said. “He understood the anger, he understood the frustrations, he understood the abandonment of lock-in-key kids at that generation.”
Nearly 30 years later, that same recognition is driving a daylong Tupac Shakur tribute across three Montclair locations on September 12, timed to the 30th anniversary of Shakur’s death on September 13, 1996. It is called “2Pac Revisited,” and Rostafa, the Montclair-based actor, musician and event producer behind it, wants one thing understood before anybody buys a ticket.
Why a Montclair Artist Built This Tupac Shakur Tribute Around Mental Health
“We’re not here to celebrate Tupac a celebrity,” Rostafa said. “We’re here to celebrate Tupac the human being, the revolutionary artist and activist and community person.”
That distinction shaped the whole project. Rostafa said the idea took hold earlier this year, when he started noticing more people wearing Tupac T-shirts around town and more books hitting shelves about his life, as early as February. One, by journalist Jeff Pearlman, he described as controversial. Another came from Shakur’s brother, Mopreme Shakur. Rostafa wanted to respond, but not with just another tribute concert.
“I don’t want to chase the clout,” he said.
Instead, he connected the tribute to something he said he rarely discusses in public.
“I’m part of the mental health community,” Rostafa said. “I’ve had my bouts with ADHD, focus issues, and various different depressive symptoms over my life. I don’t normally talk about it as openly as I should, but this is a way artistically that I can.”
The framing is deliberate, he said, particularly for Black and brown families navigating what he calls “the tablet generation,” his shorthand for the growing disconnect he sees between parents and children.
“If I go about it from the mental health capacity, that is something tangible,” he said. “This is a great opportunity for communication in that way.”
That mission is what shapes the day itself, which unfolds across three stops over nearly eight hours.
Inside the Lineup: From the Library to the Brewery to Porta
The day starts at 3 p.m. at the Montclair Public Library auditorium with a free panel discussion, moderated by Rostafa. The panel includes Hafiz Farid, a Montclair resident of more than 50 years who knew Tupac personally through his son’s connection to the Outlawz, Tupac’s rap collective, and author and Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson. Rostafa called Dyson’s book, “Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur,” the best analytical book on any hip-hop artist he has read.
From there, the event moves to Montclair Brewery on Walnut Street, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. A poetry session featuring local poets starts at 6 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. ticketed concert fundraiser benefiting the Family Healing Center. The lineup includes Montclair Zone, Samad Savage, Jay Wanda and other performers, several of whom have played Rostafa’s annual “Last Waltz” tribute concert at the Montclair Art Museum. Rostafa said the band will perform Tupac songs live, something he said has been staged before but never to this scale locally.
At 10:30 p.m., the night shifts to Porta, where DJ Prince Hakeem will be one of the DJs to take over for a set built around ’90s hip-hop and R&B. Anyone holding a Montclair Brewery concert ticket gets in free. Everyone else pays a $10 cover, with proceeds going to the Family Healing Center.
This is not Rostafa’s first large-scale charity concert in Montclair. His “Last Waltz” show at the Montclair Art Museum, which benefits Toni’s Kitchen, has grown from around 50 musicians in its first year to more than 80 last year, and it returns this November for its fourth installment.
What Tupac Still Means to the Man Behind the Tribute
On why Tupac still matters to Rostafa personally, the answer does not include record sales or movie roles.
“I understood his anger. I understood his frustration. I understood the abandonment,” he said. “I also understood the verbal abuse as well as the psychological abuse that he had gone through.”
He pointed to something few fans know: one of Tupac’s favorite songs was “Vincent” by Don McLean, a folk ballad about Vincent van Gogh. Rostafa said Tupac once used the song in a dance routine while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts, drawn to McLean’s lyric about a misunderstood artist.
“Tupac was more than just an actor and a rapper,” Rostafa said. “He was also a poet. He’s also a revolutionary, a freedom fighter…Remember, the man was only 25 when he passed away. I ask most people, as Michael Eric Dyson asks certain people, what were you doing at 25?”
How to Attend “2Pac Revisited” in Montclair
The panel discussion is free and starts at 3 p.m. at the Montclair Public Library. The Montclair Brewery concert, doors at 5:30 p.m. with a 7 p.m. show, is a ticketed, 21-and-over fundraiser for the Family Healing Center. The after-party at Porta starts at 10:30 p.m. and is free with a Brewery concert ticket, or ten dollars at the door.
Rostafa said full event details, including tickets, are posted through Facebook and Patch’s community calendar.
