Now, Tucker is back on her anti-rap soapbox, but this time, it's personal. Nearly a year after the death of Shakur, she's claiming the slain hip-hop star has ruined her sex life.
In a lawsuit filed this week in Philadelphia federal court, Tucker contends the rapper dissed her repeatedly on his 1996 mega-selling All Eyez on Me. She claims lyrics on the double-disc set defamed her, causing her "great humiliation, mental pain and suffering," and hubby, William, to "suffer a loss of advice, companionship and consortium." She's suing for slander, infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy and asking for $10 million in damages.
Some have questioned the timing of the lawsuit--filed almost a year after Shakur was gunned down near the Las Vegas strip. Others, including an attorney who is co-administrator of the rapper's estate, are baffled by the allegations. "It's hard for me to conceive how these lyrics could destroy her sex life," Richard Fischbein told the Los Angeles Times. "But we can only wait for the proof to be revealed in court."
Two "lewd and indecent" songs in particular have peeved Tucker and her husband: "Wonda Why They Call U Bytch" and "How Do U Want It." According to the suit--which also names Shakur's estate, mother Afeni Shakur, Death Row Records, Interscope Records, Time Warner, Seagram, Tower Records and others--one rap alludes to the rap critic partaking in the world's oldest profession: "Got your legs up trying to get rich. Keep your head up and your legs closed, dear Ms. C. DeLores Tucker."
Audio Clip: 2Pac, "Wonda Why They Call U Bytch"
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Tucker, who heads the National Political Congress of Black Women, a Washington, D.C., lobbying group, calls herself a "moral and religious daughter of a well-known, respected Philadelphia minister" in her suit. However, her reputation has come under fire by accusations that she once profited from ownership of slum properties in Philadelphia.
She has been wrangling in court with Death Row and Interscope for the last two years. Civil lawsuits filed in August 1995 by Death Row and Interscope accused Tucker of contractual interference and suggested she had an economic motive for criticizing rap.