Afeni Shakur

A few years ago I was bartending at a restaurant in Sausalito, Ca. One night a woman approached me as I was getting ready to do my chores and I was hesitant to talk to her at first but she showed me grace and was stoic in the no b.s. kind of way that I adore, so we became friends.

Her name was Afeni Shakur. I didn't realize who she was until I put two and two together.

Anchor outs are one of the many residents in Sausalito, which is a town on Richardson's Bay tucked underneath the Golden Gate Bridge. Here she resided as one. The extremely wealthy homes up on the hill look down on the "outs" and are majestic and down right beautiful in every way. Such a dinamic contrast.

An "anchor out" is someone who lives freely off the land as they park their boats in the open bay without paying a dock fee, kind of like modern day pirates. This life style is a pain in the ass considering they have to row themselves back and forth to land for any necessities, but what's the cost of peace of mind and a humble place to live rent free? This is one of the last places to live off the land for free. I mean really for free.

City counsel has been fighting them for years and seam to get nowhere.. no shocker there.

Anyway, Afeni Shakur turns out to be the mother of Tupak Shakur which is one of the most legendary hip hop artist of my era. I immediately conected her words and understood where Pac got his gumption from. She was a free spirit and taught her son the rules in this world, she was a black panther member and all around amazing woman. She said not a word of this to me. But I new she was special. The influence she had on her son is precious. His lyrics influenced a whole generation.

I made sure she always had good food from the restaurant. After all I would swim with sharks in the bay to hang out with the mother of Tupac!

I guess she just lived that #thuglife. My respects to her. She died a few years ago and I'm late for honoring los muertos.