Erykah Badu and Others to Celebrate Tupac Shakur's 40th Birthday in Atlanta

If Tupac Shakur were still alive, he’d be 40 today.

Although his life was unexpectedly cut short, Tupac's music still resonates, prompting posthumous songs with eager rappers, classes taught on him by college professors and even sermons preached on him by theologians. Because of his undying influence, Erykah Badu, Roy Ayers and other artists from all different genres are joining together to celebrate the honored rapper’s birthday today, June 16, at Symphony Hall-Woodruff Arts Center in Atlanta, Ga. Proceeds from the Tupac 40^th Birthday Concert, hosted by actor and comedian Mike Epps, will benefit the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation for the Arts, an organization that helps develop artistic creativity in young students.

"We're celebrating Tupac's birthday, which I thought was very nice," said Ayers to accessAtlanta.com. "He [Tupac] sampled my music in the past, as many rappers and hip-hoppers have done."

“I am greatly honored to have been invited by Afeni Shakur to celebrate her son's 40th birthday,” said Badu to AllHipHop.com. “I do not take this honor for granted.”

Shakur died on September 13, 1996, from internal bleeding after being shot multiple times. He was 25 years old. No one has ever been able to solve the mystery of his murder. However, the world may be one step closer to closing Shakur’s cold case.

At the same time fans worldwide are gearing up to celebrate Shakur’s birthday, a confession from Dexter Isaac that he was the one who shot the rapper two years earlier at Manhattan’s Quad Studios, igniting an East and West coast rap rivalry with Shakur and other fallen rap legend, Notorious BIG, at the helm, has surfaced. According to Isaac, he was paid $2500 by Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond to shoot the rapper and steal his jewelry.

"Jimmy, I say to you: I have kept your secrets for years," said Isaac to AllHipHop.com. "Now I would like to clear up a few things, because the statute of limitations is over, and no one can be charged, and I'm just plain tired of listening to your lies. In 1994, James Rosemond hired me to rob Tupac at the Quad studio.”

It is certainly ironic that Isaac’s confession would come on the eve of Shakur’s 40^th birthday and casts a somewhat depressive light on the celebratory events. Hopefully, Badu & Co. can lighten the mood.

Tupac Shakur released four studio albums before his death and was a rising actor, performing in classic movies such as Juice and Poetic Justice beside Janet Jackson.

The event will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $45. For more information, visit the Woodruff Center’s website.