Pastor Jamal Bryant of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church sparked backlash after claiming Tupac Shakur once attended Clark Atlanta University – according to AllHipHop.
On The GAUD Show podcast, Bryant called for the school to grant Shakur a posthumous honorary degree—based on what he says was a shared college chapter in the early ’90s. But historians and biographers have called the story completely untrue.
“I grew up with Tupac in Baltimore,” Bryant said. “He went to the Baltimore School for the Arts. Then came to Atlanta. I went to Morehouse, he went to Clark. We were at homecoming together. Digital Underground performed. He volunteered as a roadie, dropped out, and moved to California. That’s how he got in the game.”
Jeff Pearlman, author of the upcoming biography Only God Can Judge Me, strongly disputed Bryant’s version. “None of that happened,” Pearlman said. “Tupac never went to Clark. He didn’t even graduate high school.”
2Pac You Are Appreciated
Pearlman explained that Shakur did spend time in Atlanta—but not as a college student. He was doing political work with the New Afrikan Panthers.
Most of his time was spent around students from the Art Institute of Atlanta, especially a group of up-and-coming rappers at the Lenox Woods apartments. One member, Steve Gibson, later helped form Tag Team and co-created “Whoomp! (There It Is).” Tupac soaked in the scene, but was never enrolled in school.
Born in New York, raised in Baltimore, and later based in California, Tupac bounced between high schools before dropping out. He met Digital Underground in Oakland—not at Clark Atlanta’s homecoming.
Shakur’s only known connection to the university was a disastrous 1993 performance. Eyewitnesses say he was intoxicated, didn’t perform his hits, and cleared the room. That same night, he shot two off-duty cops in Atlanta.
Bryant also claimed his grandmother taught DMX to read, though that statement remains unconfirmed by the rapper’s family or biographers.
Pearlman called these stories frustrating. “People want a piece of Pac’s legacy, but his real story’s enough,” he said. Clark Atlanta University has not responded to Bryant’s proposal.
