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Jhené Aiko pays tribute to Tupac Shakur with photoshoot and performance

The singer was photographed by Danny Williams and released the images on Tupac's 44th birthday

Justin Carissimo
Tuesday 16 June 2015 21:40 BST
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(Getty Images)

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Jhené Aiko paid tribute to late rapper Tupac Shakur by recreating his most iconic photoshoots.

The Los Angeles singer and songwriter told MTV News that she was only an 8-year-old when Shakur passed away but today — marking his 44th birthday — she said his influence still resonates with her.

(Getty Images)

"One of the photos captures the feel of the rapper’s diamond-selling 1996 classic All Eyez on Me, by recreating the LP’s album cover; while another pays homage to the photo used to cover his posthumous Greatest Hits collection. The third photo, finds Aiko laying in a bathtub, covered in gold, saluting David Lachapelle’s “Becoming Clean” photo shoot, which took place right after ’Pac was released from jail in 1995," the outlet reported.

(Getty Images)

Aiko also shared footage of her covering Shakur's class "Keep Ya Head Up." She also told MTV that she very much related to the controversial rapper's poetic sensibilities.

(Getty Images)

"I think the poet; the poet in ’Pac and the philosopher. He was thirsty for knowledge and I relate to that a lot, which is why a lot of the things that he did was contradictory to most people," she said.

"Most people don’t understand that it’s OK to be human and say one thing, do another thing, think another thing and then act another way. That’s what makes us amazing is that we’re all these things at once."

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