.:: Mopreme Shakur - Komani Biography

.:: Mopreme Shakur - Komani

Maurice Harding's mother and father is Sharan Harding and Mutulu Shakur. Four or five years after Harding's birth his father married Afeni Shakur. She had a son and daughter, Tupac and Sekyiwa Shakur. At the time their parents got married Harding was four or five-year-old and Tupac was two or three and they lived in Harlem, New York. Harding thought that Tupac was old for his age, he always used to hang out with Harding and his older cousins. When they later moved to Oakland, California Tupac used to have a lot of problems with his mother, sometimes he'd come over to Harding's house and sleep over. Harding used to cut his hair, get him straight and let him rest.

Both Harding and Tupac became good rappers when they got older. Harding made his debut on Tony! Toni! Toné!'s "Feels Good" which was released on a single on June 15, 1990 and two months later on their LP, The Revival. Harding went under the alias Mocedes The Mellow. He and three others formed a group, W.A.T.M. The W stood for Wycked which was his new alias. He guest appeared on "Papa'z Song," the fourth single and video of Tupac's LP, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... He later changed his alias to Mopreme and joined Thug Life, a group which also consisted of Macadoshis, The Rated R, Tupac and Tyruss "Big Syke" Himes.

On September 26, 1994, their debut album, Thug Life Volume 1, was released. It sold gold, which was good, but not as good as they expected. A lot of people blamed Interscope Records who edited and removed a lot of songs from the LP due to that it was too hardcore and underground. The first single and video was "Pour Out A Little Liquor." It was a Tupac solo song and didn't feature Mopreme nor any other members of Thug Life. Mopreme was on the three other singles and videos, "Cradle To The Grave," "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" and "It Don't Stop," though.

In 1995, Bruce "Fatal" Washington, Katari "Kastro" Cox, Malcolm "E.D.I." Greenidge, Mutah "Napoleon" Beale, Tupac and Yafeu "Kadafi" Fula founded a group, the Outlaw Immortalz which was later re-named to the Outlawz. Mopreme was recruited to the group. Tupac had given the members of the group aliases taken from political men hated in America, Tupac gave Mopreme the alias Komani, after Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini. The Outlawz made their debut on "When We Ride" on Tupac's double LP, All Eyez On Me, which was released on February 16, 1996. Shortly after the release Komani left the Outlawz. Since then Komani has been very quiet. He has mostly guest appeared on other artists' albums and compilations and soundtracks.

Komani later changed his name from Maurice Harding to Mopreme Shakur. Today, he's signed with Status Records who's scheduled to release his solo album, Mopreme Shakur: Life And Law, this year.