New Panther Series To Feature Tupac Poem Written At 11 Years Old
Jamal Joseph has found a Tupac poem which Shakur sent to him while he was in prison.
Interviewed by Seize The Moment podcast, Pastor Mike Walrond revealed that Jamal Joseph has found a poem written by Tupac Shakur at the age of eleven. Joseph known for his time as a member of the Panther 21 in the late sixties, contacted Walrond a day prior to his interview with STM Podcast. “He said I want you to see something before these couriers come and pick it up. So, he calls me and I go by his house two blocks from the church,” Pastor Mike recalls during the interview. “He comes with this folder and he pulls out a haiku. Tupac wrote it when he was 11. He sent it to him when he was in jail.”
As a member of Pastor’s Mike church, Jamal Joseph who is also Tupac’s God father formed a friendship with Pastor Mike. Through Joseph, Walrond was also able to meet Afeni Shakur, Tupac’s mother and a former member of the Black Panthers Party. “I never forget. It was a Sunday he came because he’s a member of the church and he said, ‘Pastor I got somebody who wants to meet you’,” Walrond recalls. “So, I’m sitting in the office and I’m like ok. He brings in Afeni Shakur and she’s crying. She’s like, ‘Pastor Mike I watch you every Sunday’.”
Jamal Joseph is currently working on his “Panther Baby” series set to premiere on Starz. The series will be based off his 2016 book “Panther Baby” which Joseph helps us understand what it meant to be a soldier inside the militant Black Panther movement.
Fans can expect to see on the “Panther Baby” series the poem written by an eleven year old Tupac Shakur. In 1983, Joseph was serving a 12-year sentence in Leavenworth Penitentiary after he was convicted in 1981 for helping fugitive Panther members. Closing out the poem Tupac wrote: “Your God son Tupac. I will be twelve years old on June 16” and “Future freedom fighter” written underneath.
Tupac’s poem written at the age of eleven will be yet another piece of unseen poetry by the iconic artist. This past June on Tupac’s 50th birthday, good friend Jada Pinkett Smith shared a never-before-seen “Lost Soulz” poem by Shakur. (View: Lost Soulz Poem By Tupac As Shared By Jada Pinkett On 50th Birthday)
Watch Pastor Mike Walrond’s interview below via Seize The Moment podcast, as he also speaks about mental health in the Black community, his medical journey and overcoming death on multiple occasions, how he found faith amidst the vast absurdity of life, and becoming inspired by Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning.