The mother of late rapper Tupac Shakur is trying to stop his former record label from selling off a number of unreleased recordings as part of a bankruptcy settlement. The recordings have been caught up in the previously reported bankruptcy of Death Row Records, which collapsed last year after one of the company's co-founders, Lydia Harris, successfully sued Death Row chief Suge Knight for monies she claimed she was owed because of her own and her husband's initial investment.
Afeni Shakur is taking legal action to stop the Tupac recordings from being sold as Death Row assets in the bankruptcy sale, arguing that the master tapes should have been turned over to the Shakur estate as part of an agreement between the label and the family back in 1997, which settled a dispute over allegations the label had defrauded Shakur before his death.
A court is expected to consider Afeni Shakur's claim next week. If she is unsuccessful they will also consider whether Death Row has any rights to release the previously unreleased material in order to create monies to pay off creditors.