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Back in the summer of 2023, Drake posted an Instagram Story of a golden ring in the shape of a ruby-encrusted crown. But this wasn’t just some new bling, this was a ring once worn by rap legend Tupac Shakur. The price for such a rare piece of jewellery? A cool $1,000,000. 

In early July of 2023, Sotheby’s in New York revealed on Instagram that they would be holding a hip-hop themed auction, posting: “To celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th anniversary this year, #SothebysNewYork third dedicated Hip Hop sale kicks off 18 July, highlighting the movement’s profound impact on art and culture across five decades, from its inception in the South Bronx in 1973 through today. Leading the auction is a gold, diamond, and ruby ring designed by Tupac Shakur himself and worn during his final public appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1996.”

Auctioneers at Sotheby’s reportedly predicted that the ring would sell somewhere in the ballpark of $200,000 or $300,000. Instead, thanks to Drake, the final selling price was $1,016,000.

This wasn’t Drake’s first hip-hop-history purchase. He had also once bought a 14-karat chain that was formerly the property of Pharrell. But with the purchase of Tupac’s ring, the Canadian rapper possessed the highest-value hip-hop treasure ever sold.

Sotheby’s had commissioned the ring with the help of Tupac’s godmother, Yaasmyn Fula. Upon commissioning the ring, Yaasmyn offered a word of wisdom to whoever might purchase it, saying, “That ring is a powerful symbol. Whoever wore that ring had to accept that they have a responsibility to have an impact on the world.”

That fact wasn’t lost on Kendrick Lamar. The Tupac ring was even a footnote in the infamous Drake and Kendrick beef, with scathing lyrics in Kendrick’s diss track ‘Euphoria’: “Somebody had told me that you got a ring, on God, I’m ready to double the wage / I’d rather do that than let a Canadian n**** make Pac turn in his grave”

Since the purchase of the ring, Drizzy has gone after further Tupac-related artefacts. Most recently and controversially, Drake purchased Tupac’s ‘Death Row’ chain. The very chain that Tupac wore on the cover of his 1996 album, All Eyez on Me. 

But the purchase wasn’t made without some backlash. Tupac Shakur’s brother, Mopreme, announced his frustration at Drake purchasing so many of his brother’s items. In Mopreme’s interview on The Latest, he said, “I think the family should have all of Pac’s things.”

Complicating things further, former Death Row CEO, Suge Knight, claimed that the chain was a fake. “Whoever sold you that chain, Drake, you need to go beat his motherfucking ass”.

Whether these many hip-hop artefacts are worth the steep price is one question. But no matter who owns such artefacts from an all-time MC like Tupac, they would do well to remember the words of Yaasmyn Fula: “That ring is a powerful symbol. Whoever wore that ring had to accept that they had a responsibility to have an impact on the world.”