Mopreme Shakur

Few figures carry as much weight in hip-hop history as Maurice ‘Mopreme’ Shakur. Born August 16, 1967, and sometimes credited as Mutulu Shakur Jr. or ‘Little Mutulu’, he helped shape the sound and spirit of 1990s West Coast rap while standing beside his stepbrother, Tupac Shakur, through some of the genre’s most defining years.

Mopreme made his recording debut as Mocedes The Mellow on Tony! Toni! Toné!’s 1990 single ‘Feels Good’. He appeared as ‘Wycked’ on Tupac’s ‘Papa’z Song’, a single from the 1993 album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. that reached number 24 on the US Hot Rap Songs chart. That same year, he co-founded Thug Life with Tupac, Big Syke, Macadoshis, and Rated R. The group’s 1994 album Thug Life, Volume I, released through Interscope Records, peaked at number 42 on the Billboard 200, hit number 6 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and earned RIAA gold certification, with Mopreme writing many of its songs.

An original member of the Outlawz under the name Komani, he later released the 2007 mixtape ‘Black & Brown Pride’ with Assassin and contributed to the soundtrack of the feature film Intoxicating. In 2008 he served as consulting producer on a BET American Gangster episode about his father, Mutulu Shakur, and in 2024 he was announced as executive producer of the upcoming biopic Van Gogh, a project inspired by an artist who influenced Tupac. His memoir, This Thug’s Life, was published in 2026.