Jada Pinkett Smith is celebrating what would have been Tupac Shakur's 50th birthday by taking a walk "down memory lane," as she said on social media.
"Tupac Amaru Shakur would have been 50 midnight tonight!" Jada, 49, wrote on Instagram. "As we prepare to celebrate his legacy … let's remember him for that which we loved most … his way with words. Here are a few you may have never heard before."
For the occasion, The Red Table Talk host shared one of her prized possessions: a hand-written poem from the late rapper, who died in 1996, on lined notebook paper.
"Pac wrote me many letters and many poems. And I don't think this has ever been published honestly," Jada said in a video tribute, while revealing one of his unreleased poems, titled "Lost Soulz." She said he later dropped the song "Lost Souls," but believes he wrote this "original concept" while incarcerated at Rikers Island in New York.
She explained, "I don't think he would have minded that I shared this with you guys."
In blue pen, Tupac wrote out the following poem: "Some say nothing gold can last forever / And 2 believe this [I] need no proof / I have witnessed all that was pure in me / And be changed by the evil men can do / The innocence possessed by children / Once lived inside my soul / But surviving years with criminal peers / Has turned my warm heart to cold / I used 2 dream and fantasize / But now I'm scared 2 sleep / Petrified, not to live or die / But to awaken and still be me / It is true that nothing gold can last / We will all one day see death / When the purest hearts are torn apart / LOST SOULS are all that's left / Down on my knees I beg of God / To save me from this fate / Let me live to see what was gold in me / Before it is all too late."
He signed it, "Yours, Tupac."
Her mom, Adrienne Norris, commented, "This is beautiful! I believe he would have been a powerful influence in this 'state of emergency'. RIP."
Three years ago, Jada opened up about how the death of her longtime friend still affects her.
"I've had a lot of loss. So many of my close friends gone. They didn't make it to 30. They didn't make it past 25. A lot of people talk about my relationship with Pac and figure that out. That was a huge loss I my life," confessed The Matrix 4 star during her Facebook Watch show.
She went on, "Because he was one of those people I expected to be here. My upset is more anger because I feel like he left me. and I know that's not true and it's a very selfish way to think about it… I really did believe he'd be here for the long run. And when I think about it I still get really mad."
Last year, her husband Will Smith admitted he was "deeply insecure" about his wife's friendship with the "Changes" artist.
As he told Charlamagne tha God, "I could never open up to interact with Pac. You know, because we had a little bit of a thing. You know, they grew up together and they loved each other, but they never had a sexual relationship."
Will added, "That was a huge regret of mine...I couldn't handle it. I was the soft rapper from Philly and he was Pac. You know what I mean? I was deeply, deeply insecure, and I wasn't man enough to handle that relationship."