The immortal Tupac Shakur rises again

Photographer Michel Haddi has led an eventful life. During a childhood spent in orphanages, he discovered fashion through old magazines brought by his mother (he never knew his father). Haddi seemed to be blessed by good fortune, emerging unscathed whether it was getting stopped by the police in Saudi Arabia with a trunk full of whiskey, getting shot in Berlin on the day the wall fell, or running into Bin Laden in Yemen. ‘’When I was young, I moved in with my mom in this banlieue in Paris. The neighborhood was absolutely terrible. I looked around and said to myself, ‘If I don’t get out of here, I’m gonna end up a freaking criminal’ [laughs]. There was no plan B. I was once offered $7,000 to drive a car full of gold from Romania to Paris, but I knew that would be a fatal mistake,” said Haddi.

Haddi recently published his latest photo book, The Legend-Tupac, (MHS Publishing) about Tupac Shakur, one of the best-known rappers in the United States who was murdered in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996. For many, his death marked a significant turning point in the escalating feud between Tupac and Notorious B.I.G., another hip hop icon, in the intense clash of East Coast (Biggie) and West Coast (Tupac) rappers. Shakur had become a global celebrity, synonymous with the gangsta style that rapped about guns, drugs, street life, prison and revenge.

Haddi was one of the last photographers to have a session with the rapper. “Tupac reminded me of Malcolm X, so I straight up told him so. We even joked about it and I was like, ‘Make an X with your arms!’ [smiles]. But you wanna know something? When I looked at him, I saw a dead man. I’ve got this crazy intuition — it has saved my life five or six times. Same thing happened with Brandon Lee [the actor who died accidentally on set in 1993]. Yeah, I saw a dead man... I was living in Venice Beach when The Source magazine called me for a photo shoot with Tupac. He had just finished filming Poetic Justice, John Singleton’s film, and when he arrived at the studio I was surprised by his elegance and education. The guy had a wonderful soul.”

There aren’t too many well-known faces who haven’t posed for Haddi’s camera. Actors from Cameron Diaz to Kate Moss, and musicians from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers to David Bowie – everyone has ended up in a Haddi photo shoot.

“Michel Haddi: Beyond Fashion” the first major solo show in Milan by the French-Algerian photographer, is at the 29 Arts in Progress gallery. The show will unfold over two consecutive exhibitions, the first from October 19 to December 22, 2023 and the second from January 16 to March 16, 2024. Each exhibition showcases different photos from a career spanning more than 40 years.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition