Madonna takes daughter Mercy James to Tupac museum in LA for her 16th birthday

Pop icon brought her daughter to the new exhibition to celebrate Mercy James’s 16th birthday

Madonna with her daughter Mercy James (Instagram/Madonna)

Madonna took her daughter Mercy James to the new Tupac museum in Los Angeles over the weekend.

The exhibition, titled “Wake Me When I’m Free”, opened in the LA Live centre on Friday (21 January), honouring the late rapper renowned for his lyrical and poetic talents.

Madonna, who dated Tupac (whose name was also stylised as 2Pac) between 1993 and 1995, was one of its first visitors.

Documenting the mother-daughter excursion on her Instagram Stories, the “Like A Prayer” star captioned a series of pictures with the same quote: “Introducing Tupac and his love of books and words and poetry to Mercy James on her birthday.”

One Story post shows Mercy, who turned 16 on Saturday (22 January), crouching with her mother in front of hand-written lyrics from the 2Pac song “In The Event Of My Demise”.

Another shot shows Madonna and Mercy in front of retro TV sets with shows such as The A-Team playing.

In a separate post on her Instagram page, Madonna marked Mercy’s birthday with a selection of pictures and videos of them together throughout the years. The caption read: “Happy Birthday Chifundo Mercy James! The kindest, most thoughtful, most magical girl on the planet! There is no-one like you!”

Madonna and Mercy James at the Tupac Museum: “Introducing Tupac and his love of books and words and poetry to Mercy James on her birthday.” (Instagram)

Tupac was one of the most admired and talented rap figures of the 1990s, and continues to influence generations of artists to this day. He died in hospital on 13 September 1996 after being shot in a drive-by attack, aged 25.

In 2019, a 1995 love letter addressed to Madonna from Tupac went to auction at $100,000 (£72,000) and was made available to read online.