Tupac Amaru Shakur ( TOO-pahk shə-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century, and a prominent political activist for Black America. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( TOO-pahk shə-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century, and a prominent political activist for Black America. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Some of Shakur's music addressed social injustice, political issues, and the marginalization of African Americans, but he was also synonymous with gangsta rap and violent lyrics.
Shakur was born in New York City to parents who were Black Panther Party members. Raised by his mother, Afeni Shakur, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. His debut album 2Pacalypse Now (1991) cemented him as a central figure in West Coast hip-hop for his political rap lyrics. Shakur achieved further critical and commercial success with his subsequent albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995). His Diamond-certified album All Eyez on Me (1996), the first hip-hop double album, abandoned introspective lyrics for volatile gangsta rap. It yielded two Billboard Hot 100-number one singles, "California Love" and "How Do U Want It". Alongside his solo career, Shakur formed the group Thug Life and collaborated with artists like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and the Outlawz. As an actor, Shakur starred in the films Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), Above the Rim (1994), Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).
During his later career, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio and experienced legal troubles, including incarceration. He served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges, but was released pending appeal in 1995. Following his release, he signed to Marion "Suge" Knight's label Death Row Records and became embroiled in the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry, which included a high-profile feud with his former friend the Notorious B.I.G. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Paradise, Nevada; he died six days later. Rumors circulated suggesting that the Notorious B.I.G. was involved; he was murdered in another drive-by shooting six months later in March 1997, while visiting Los Angeles.
Shakur's double-length posthumous album Greatest Hits (1998) is one of his two releases—and one of only nine hip-hop albums—to have been certified Diamond in the United States. Five more albums have been released since Shakur's death, including the acclaimed The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) under the stage name Makaveli, all of which have been certified multi-platinum in the United States. In 2002, Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked Shakur among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2023, he was awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His influence in music, activism, songwriting, and other areas of culture has been the subject of academic studies.
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( TOO-pahk shə-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century, and a prominent political activist for Black America. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( TOO-pahk shə-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He was one of the most influential musical artists of the 20th century, and a prominent political activist for Black America. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Some of Shakur's music addressed social injustice, political issues, and the marginalization of African Americans, but he was also synonymous with gangsta rap and violent lyrics.
Shakur was born in New York City to parents who were Black Panther Party members. Raised by his mother, Afeni Shakur, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. His debut album 2Pacalypse Now (1991) cemented him as a central figure in West Coast hip-hop for his political rap lyrics. Shakur achieved further critical and commercial success with his subsequent albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995). His Diamond-certified album All Eyez on Me (1996), the first hip-hop double album, abandoned introspective lyrics for volatile gangsta rap. It yielded two Billboard Hot 100-number one singles, "California Love" and "How Do U Want It". Alongside his solo career, Shakur formed the group Thug Life and collaborated with artists like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and the Outlawz. As an actor, Shakur starred in the films Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), Above the Rim (1994), Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).
During his later career, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio and experienced legal troubles, including incarceration. He served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges, but was released pending appeal in 1995. Following his release, he signed to Marion "Suge" Knight's label Death Row Records and became embroiled in the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry, which included a high-profile feud with his former friend the Notorious B.I.G. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Paradise, Nevada; he died six days later. Rumors circulated suggesting that the Notorious B.I.G. was involved; he was murdered in another drive-by shooting six months later in March 1997, while visiting Los Angeles.
Shakur's double-length posthumous album Greatest Hits (1998) is one of his two releases—and one of only nine hip-hop albums—to have been certified Diamond in the United States. Five more albums have been released since Shakur's death, including the acclaimed The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) under the stage name Makaveli, all of which have been certified multi-platinum in the United States. In 2002, Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone ranked Shakur among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2023, he was awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His influence in music, activism, songwriting, and other areas of culture has been the subject of academic studies.
In the 1980s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and struggled with drug addiction. In 1984, his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland. Beginning in 1984, when Shakur was 13, he lived in the Pen Lucy neighborhood with his mother and younger sister at 3955 Greenmount Ave. The home was a two-story rowhouse that had been subdivided into two separate rental units; the Shakur family lived on the first floor. After his death, the block was renamed Tupac Shakur Way.
While living in Baltimore, Shakur attended eighth grade at Roland Park Middle School, then ninth grade at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. He transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts in the tenth grade, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He performed in Shakespeare plays—the themes of which he identified in patterns of gang warfare—and as the Mouse King in The Nutcracker ballet. At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur befriended actress Jada Pinkett, who became the subject of some of his poems ("Jada" and "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes"). With his friend Dana "Mouse" Smith as a beatbox, he won competitions for the school's best rapper. Known for his humor, he was popular with all crowds of students. He listened to a diverse range of music that included Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinéad O'Connor, and U2.
Upon connecting with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA, Shakur dated Mary Baldridge, who was the daughter of the director of the local chapter of the Communist Party USA. In 1988, Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area. In nearby Mill Valley, he attended Tamalpais High School, where he performed in several theater productions. Shakur did not graduate from high school, but later earned his GED.
Shakur began recording under the stage name "MC New York" in 1988. That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager. Steinberg organized a concert for Shakur and his rap group Strictly Dope. Steinberg managed to get Shakur signed by Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground. In 1990, Gregory placed him with the Underground as a roadie and backup dancer. At the request of Steinberg, Digital Underground co-founder Jimi "Chopmaster J" Dright worked with Shakur, Ray Luv and Dize, a DJ, on their earliest studio recordings. Dright recalls that Shakur did not work well as part of a group, and added, "this guy was on a mission. From day one. Maybe he knew he wasn't going to be around seven years later." From 1988 to 1991, Dright and Digital Underground produced Shakur's earliest work with his crew at the time, Strictly Dope. The recordings were rediscovered in 2000 and released as The Lost Tapes: Circa 1989. Afeni Shakur sued to stop the sale of the recordings but the suit was settled in June 2001 and rereleased as Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991.
Shakur debuted under the stage name 2Pac on Digital Underground, under a new record label, Interscope Records, on the group's January 1991 single "Same Song". The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble, starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Chevy Chase, and Demi Moore. He also appeared with the group in the film, marking Shakur's first film appearance credited as a cameo by the Digital Underground. "Same Song" opened the group's January 1991 EP titled This Is an EP Release, while Shakur appeared in the music video. Shakur's early days with Digital Underground made him acquainted with Randy "Stretch" Walker, who along with his brother, dubbed Majesty, and a friend debuted with an EP as a rap group and production team, Live Squad, in Queens, New York. Stretch was featured on a track of the Digital Underground's 1991 album Sons of the P. Becoming fast friends, Shakur and Stretch recorded and performed together often.
Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now—alluding to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now—arrived in November 1991. Compared to Digital Underground's works, the album explored contemporary social issues in American society at the time, including racism, police brutality, poverty, gang violence, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse. The album generated controversy when Ronald Ray Howard murdered a Texas Highway Patrol trooper and his defense attorney claimed he was influenced by 2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of police brutality. U.S. vice president Dan Quayle criticized the album, making the statement, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." Tupac, finding himself misunderstood, explained, in part:
I just wanted to rap about things that affected young black males. When I said that, I didn't know that I was gonna tie myself down to just take all the blunts and hits for all the young black males, to be the media's kicking post for young black males.
Despite controversies, 2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, and peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Three singles were released: "Trapped", "Brenda's Got a Baby" (No. 23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs), and "If My Homie Calls" (No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs). Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, the Game, and Talib Kweli—cite it as an inspiration. Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage.
In 1992, he starred in Juice, marking Shakur's first acting role, in which he plays the fictional Roland Bishop, a militant and haunting individual. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure". Multiple actors had auditioned for the role of Roland Bishop, but none were considered right for the role. Shakur accompanied Money-B to the audition and asked producer Neal H. Moritz to read. He was given 15 minutes to rehearse before the audition and secured the role.
Shakur's second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..., was released in February 1993. A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No. 24 on the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200. An overall more hardcore album, it emphasizes Tupac's sociopolitical views, and has a metallic production quality. The song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube, co-writer of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police", who in his own solo albums had newly gone militantly political, and gangsta rapper Ice-T, who in June 1992 had sparked controversy with his band Body Count's track "Cop Killer". The album carries the single "I Get Around", a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, which became Shakur's breakthrough, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also carries the optimistic compassion of another hit, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment, charting No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's fourth and final hit, "Papa'z Song", peaked at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified Platinum by April 1995, with a million copies sold.
That same year, Shakur starred in his second film role alongside Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film, Poetic Justice, and played a gangster called Birdie in the 1994 film Above the Rim. A growing film career, he was initially selected for a few films. Director Allen Hughes had cast Shakur as Sharif in the 1993 film Menace II Society but replaced him once Shakur assaulted him on set due to a discrepancy with the script. Nonetheless, in 2013, Hughes appraises that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie". Singleton initially cast Shakur in his 1995 film Higher Learning, but was fired because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest. He also had Shakur in the lead role as mind in the 2001 film Baby Boy, a role played by Tyrese Gibson. Ultimately, after his death, the set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary".
In 1993, while visiting Los Angeles, the Notorious B.I.G. asked a local drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur and they quickly became friends. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.I.G. to Los Angeles. During this period, at his own live shows, Shakur would call B.I.G. onto stage to rap with him and Stretch. Reportedly, B.I.G. asked Shakur to manage him, whereupon Shakur advised him that Sean Combs would make him a star. Yet in the meantime, Shakur's lifestyle was comparatively lavish to B.I.G. who had not yet established himself. Shakur had a falling out with B.I.G. after Shakur was shot at Quad Studios in 1994.
While Shakur was imprisoned in 1995, his mother was about to lose her house. Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight in Los Angeles. Reportedly, Shakur's mother promptly received $15,000. After an August visit to Clinton Correctional Facility in northern New York state, Knight traveled southward to New York City to attend the 2nd Annual Source Awards ceremony. Meanwhile, an East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry was brewing between Death Row and Bad Boy Records. In October 1995, Knight visited Shakur in prison again and posted $1.4 million bond. Shakur returned to Los Angeles and joined Death Row with the appeal of his December 1994 conviction pending.
Shakur's fourth album, All Eyez on Me, arrived on February 13, 1996. It was rap's first double album—meeting two of the three albums due in Shakur's contract with Death Row—and bore five singles. The album shows Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, leaving behind his previous political messages. With standout production, the album has more party tracks and often a triumphant tone. Music journalist Kevin Powell noted that Shakur, once released from prison, became more aggressive, and "seemed like a completely transformed person".
As Shakur's second album to hit No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200, it sold 566,000 copies in its first week and was it was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in April. The singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Death Row released Shakur's diss track "Hit 'Em Up" as the non-album B-side to "How Do U Want It". In this venomous tirade, the proclaimed "Bad Boy killer" threatens violent payback on all things Bad Boy — B.I.G., Sean Combs, Junior M.A.F.I.A., the company — and on any in the East Coast rap scene, like rap duo Mobb Deep and rapper Chino XL, who allegedly had commented against Shakur about the dispute. Posthumously, All Eyez on Me won R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 1997 American Music Awards, and the album was certified 9× Multi-Platinum in June 1998, and 10× in July 2014.
At the time of his death, a fifth solo album was already finished, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the stage name Makaveli. It had been recorded during the summer of 1996 and released that year. The lyrics were written and recorded in three days, and mixing took another four days. In 2005, MTV.com ranked The 7 Day Theory at No. 9 among hip-hop's greatest albums ever, and by 2006 a classic album. Its singular poignance, through hurt and rage, contemplation and vendetta, resonate with many fans. According to George "Papa G" Pryce, Death Row Records' then director of public relations, the album was meant to be "underground", and was not intended for release before the artist was murdered.[unreliable source?] It peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and on the Billboard 200, with the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year. On June 15, 1999, it was certified 4× Multi-Platinum.
Soon after Shakur's death, three more films starring him were released, Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).
Later posthumous albums are archival productions, these albums are:
While attending the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur formed a close friendship with Jada Pinkett. Shakur later helped Pinkett secure her first film role in Menace II Society (1993), while Pinkett helped him obtain a guest-starring role on the sitcom A Different World the same year. Pinkett appeared in Shakur's music videos for "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Temptations". She also conceived the concept for his "California Love" music video and was originally set to direct it before withdrawing from the project.
In 1995, Pinkett contributed $100,000 toward Shakur's bail while he awaited an appeal of his sexual abuse conviction. She later revealed that she declined a marriage proposal from Shakur while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island that same year. Reflecting on their relationship, Shakur said, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life. We'll be old together. Jada can ask me to do anything and she can have it." Pinkett similarly described Shakur as "one of my best friends" and said, "He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime."
Shakur befriended Treach when they were both roadies on Public Enemy's tour in 1990. He made a cameo in Naughty by Nature's music video "Uptown Anthem" in 1992. Treach collaborated on Shakur's song "5 Deadly Venomz" and appeared in the music video for Shakur's "Temptations". Treach was also a speaker at a public memorial service for Shakur in 1996.
After Tupac Shakur was shot in 1994, he recuperated at the home of actress Jasmine Guy. The two had met following Shakur's guest appearance on the sitcom A Different World in 1993. Guy later appeared in his music video for "Temptations" and went on to write his mother's 2004 memoir, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary. In a 1995 interview with Vibe, Shakur named Pinkett, Guy, Treach, and Mickey Rourke among those who supported him during his incarceration. He also described Madonna as a supportive friend; Madonna later revealed that the two had dated in 1994. Shakur and Rourke developed a close friendship while filming the movie Bullet in 1994, with Rourke later recalling that Shakur "was there for me during some very hard times."
Shakur also maintained friendships with other celebrities, including Mike Tyson Chuck D, Jim Carrey, and Alanis Morissette. In April 1996, Shakur stated that he, Morissette, Snoop Dogg, and Suge Knight planned to open a restaurant together.
In 1993, during a police raid of Shakur's room at the Parker Meridian Hotel in New York City, authorities confiscated a videotape showing Shakur with his then-girlfriend, Desiree Smith. Investigators were attempting to use the tape in their case concerning allegations made by Ayanna Jackson. In 2022, Smith stated that she had neither been underage nor intoxicated at the time of the encounter. In 2011, another video featuring Shakur receiving oral sex while rapping along to an unreleased song was reportedly sold to a private collector. The recording, filmed in 1993, also included Money B of Digital Underground.
On April 29, 1995, Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris, then a pre-law student, while he was incarcerated. The marriage was annulled ten months later.
In an interview with The Source, Shakur criticized record producer Quincy Jones for his interracial marriages. His daughter Rashida Jones responded in an irate open letter to the magazine. Shakur later apologized to her sister Kidada Jones, whom he began dating in 1996. The couple attended Men's Fashion Week in Milan and walked together for a Versace runway show. Jones was at the Las Vegas hotel where Shakur was staying when he was fatally shot in September 1996.
On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed outdoors at a festival. For about an hour after the performance, he signed autographs and posed for photos. A conflict broke out and Shakur allegedly drew a legally carried Colt Mustang but dropped it on the ground. Shakur claimed that someone with him then picked it up when it accidentally discharged.
About 100 yards (90 meters) away in a schoolyard, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a boy aged 6 on his bicycle, was fatally shot in the forehead. Police matched the bullet to a .38-caliber pistol registered to Shakur. His stepbrother Maurice Harding was arrested in suspicion of having fired the gun, but no charges were filed. Lack of witnesses stymied prosecution. In 1995, Qa'id's mother filed a wrongful death suit against Shakur, which was settled for about $300,000 to $500,000.
Shakur's music and philosophical outlook were deeply influenced by a wide range of American, African American, and global influences, including the Black Panther Party, black nationalism, egalitarianism, and the concept of liberty. Moreover, Shakur's artistic sensibilities were enriched by his passion for theater and admiration for the works of William Shakespeare. Notably, he honed his theatrical skills as a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he delved into the psychological complexities inherent in inter-gang warfare and inter-cultural conflicts, reflecting themes explored in Shakespearean dramas.
2Pacalypse Now (1991), showcased his socially conscious perspective. Through powerful tracks like "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped", and "Part Time Mutha", Shakur addressed social injustice, poverty, and police brutality. In doing so, he contributed to the ongoing success of rap groups such as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, while establishing himself as one of the pioneering socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.
Continuing his focus on the social challenges faced by African American people, Shakur's second album featured songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and "Last Wordz". Simultaneously, he showcased his compassionate side with the empowering anthem "Keep Ya Head Up", and his legendary intensity with the title track from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... Additionally, he paid homage to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "I Get Around". Throughout his career, Shakur's subsequent albums reflected a growing assertiveness in his approach.
Shakur's body of work encompassed contrasting themes, including social inequality, injustice, compassion, playfulness, and hope. These elements continued to shape his artistry, exemplified by his explosive 1995 album Me Against the World. The release of All Eyez on Me in 1996 further solidified his reputation, with tracks like "Ambitionz az a Ridah", "I Ain't Mad at Cha", "California Love", "Life Goes On", and "Picture Me Rollin'" being hailed as classics by critics. Shakur described All Eyez on Me as a celebration of life, and the album achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success. According to Eminem, Tupac is the greatest songwriter of all time. Nas said in 2002: "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."
Before and during his music career, Shakur wrote dozens of poems. According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene, Shakur was "a poet and activist who became one of his era's most revolutionary voices." He had a strong passion for theater and greatly admired William Shakespeare. Years after Shakur's death, rapper Nas remarked, "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."
In 1993, Shakur portrayed Lucky in the film Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson. The poems featured in the film were written by poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.
Many of Shakur's best-known poems were later collected in the posthumous poetry book The Rose That Grew from Concrete, released in 1999. The collection includes poems such as "Can U C the Pride in the Panther", "If I Fail", "Family Tree", "The Rose That Grew from Concrete", and "Jada". In 2021, Jada Pinkett Smith commemorated Shakur's 50th birthday by sharing a previously unreleased poem titled "Lost Soulz" on Instagram.
In April 2022, a collection of handwritten poems Shakur wrote at age 11 was offered for sale for US$300,000, but ultimately sold for $90,000. The poems were dedicated to Jamal Joseph and three other members of the Black Panther Party while they were incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison. Even at a young age, Shakur's writing explored themes of Black liberation, mass incarceration, race, and masculinity. The collection also included a self-portrait depicting Shakur asleep with a pen in hand, dreaming of the Panthers being freed from prison, signed with a heart and the phrase "Tupac Shakur, Future Freedom Fighter."
Source: wikipedia
In the 1980s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and struggled with drug addiction. In 1984, his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland. Beginning in 1984, when Shakur was 13, he lived in the Pen Lucy neighborhood with his mother and younger sister at 3955 Greenmount Ave. The home was a two-story rowhouse that had been subdivided into two separate rental units; the Shakur family lived on the first floor. After his death, the block was renamed Tupac Shakur Way.
While living in Baltimore, Shakur attended eighth grade at Roland Park Middle School, then ninth grade at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. He transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts in the tenth grade, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He performed in Shakespeare plays—the themes of which he identified in patterns of gang warfare—and as the Mouse King in The Nutcracker ballet. At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur befriended actress Jada Pinkett, who became the subject of some of his poems ("Jada" and "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes"). With his friend Dana "Mouse" Smith as a beatbox, he won competitions for the school's best rapper. Known for his humor, he was popular with all crowds of students. He listened to a diverse range of music that included Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinéad O'Connor, and U2.
Upon connecting with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA, Shakur dated Mary Baldridge, who was the daughter of the director of the local chapter of the Communist Party USA. In 1988, Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area. In nearby Mill Valley, he attended Tamalpais High School, where he performed in several theater productions. Shakur did not graduate from high school, but later earned his GED.
Shakur began recording under the stage name "MC New York" in 1988. That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager. Steinberg organized a concert for Shakur and his rap group Strictly Dope. Steinberg managed to get Shakur signed by Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground. In 1990, Gregory placed him with the Underground as a roadie and backup dancer. At the request of Steinberg, Digital Underground co-founder Jimi "Chopmaster J" Dright worked with Shakur, Ray Luv and Dize, a DJ, on their earliest studio recordings. Dright recalls that Shakur did not work well as part of a group, and added, "this guy was on a mission. From day one. Maybe he knew he wasn't going to be around seven years later." From 1988 to 1991, Dright and Digital Underground produced Shakur's earliest work with his crew at the time, Strictly Dope. The recordings were rediscovered in 2000 and released as The Lost Tapes: Circa 1989. Afeni Shakur sued to stop the sale of the recordings but the suit was settled in June 2001 and rereleased as Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991.
Shakur debuted under the stage name 2Pac on Digital Underground, under a new record label, Interscope Records, on the group's January 1991 single "Same Song". The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble, starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Chevy Chase, and Demi Moore. He also appeared with the group in the film, marking Shakur's first film appearance credited as a cameo by the Digital Underground. "Same Song" opened the group's January 1991 EP titled This Is an EP Release, while Shakur appeared in the music video. Shakur's early days with Digital Underground made him acquainted with Randy "Stretch" Walker, who along with his brother, dubbed Majesty, and a friend debuted with an EP as a rap group and production team, Live Squad, in Queens, New York. Stretch was featured on a track of the Digital Underground's 1991 album Sons of the P. Becoming fast friends, Shakur and Stretch recorded and performed together often.
Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now—alluding to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now—arrived in November 1991. Compared to Digital Underground's works, the album explored contemporary social issues in American society at the time, including racism, police brutality, poverty, gang violence, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse. The album generated controversy when Ronald Ray Howard murdered a Texas Highway Patrol trooper and his defense attorney claimed he was influenced by 2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of police brutality. U.S. vice president Dan Quayle criticized the album, making the statement, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." Tupac, finding himself misunderstood, explained, in part:
I just wanted to rap about things that affected young black males. When I said that, I didn't know that I was gonna tie myself down to just take all the blunts and hits for all the young black males, to be the media's kicking post for young black males.
Despite controversies, 2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, and peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Three singles were released: "Trapped", "Brenda's Got a Baby" (No. 23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs), and "If My Homie Calls" (No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs). Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, the Game, and Talib Kweli—cite it as an inspiration. Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage.
In 1992, he starred in Juice, marking Shakur's first acting role, in which he plays the fictional Roland Bishop, a militant and haunting individual. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure". Multiple actors had auditioned for the role of Roland Bishop, but none were considered right for the role. Shakur accompanied Money-B to the audition and asked producer Neal H. Moritz to read. He was given 15 minutes to rehearse before the audition and secured the role.
Shakur's second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..., was released in February 1993. A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No. 24 on the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200. An overall more hardcore album, it emphasizes Tupac's sociopolitical views, and has a metallic production quality. The song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube, co-writer of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police", who in his own solo albums had newly gone militantly political, and gangsta rapper Ice-T, who in June 1992 had sparked controversy with his band Body Count's track "Cop Killer". The album carries the single "I Get Around", a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, which became Shakur's breakthrough, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also carries the optimistic compassion of another hit, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment, charting No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's fourth and final hit, "Papa'z Song", peaked at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified Platinum by April 1995, with a million copies sold.
That same year, Shakur starred in his second film role alongside Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film, Poetic Justice, and played a gangster called Birdie in the 1994 film Above the Rim. A growing film career, he was initially selected for a few films. Director Allen Hughes had cast Shakur as Sharif in the 1993 film Menace II Society but replaced him once Shakur assaulted him on set due to a discrepancy with the script. Nonetheless, in 2013, Hughes appraises that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie". Singleton initially cast Shakur in his 1995 film Higher Learning, but was fired because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest. He also had Shakur in the lead role as mind in the 2001 film Baby Boy, a role played by Tyrese Gibson. Ultimately, after his death, the set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary".
In 1993, while visiting Los Angeles, the Notorious B.I.G. asked a local drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur and they quickly became friends. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.I.G. to Los Angeles. During this period, at his own live shows, Shakur would call B.I.G. onto stage to rap with him and Stretch. Reportedly, B.I.G. asked Shakur to manage him, whereupon Shakur advised him that Sean Combs would make him a star. Yet in the meantime, Shakur's lifestyle was comparatively lavish to B.I.G. who had not yet established himself. Shakur had a falling out with B.I.G. after Shakur was shot at Quad Studios in 1994.
While Shakur was imprisoned in 1995, his mother was about to lose her house. Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight in Los Angeles. Reportedly, Shakur's mother promptly received $15,000. After an August visit to Clinton Correctional Facility in northern New York state, Knight traveled southward to New York City to attend the 2nd Annual Source Awards ceremony. Meanwhile, an East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry was brewing between Death Row and Bad Boy Records. In October 1995, Knight visited Shakur in prison again and posted $1.4 million bond. Shakur returned to Los Angeles and joined Death Row with the appeal of his December 1994 conviction pending.
Shakur's fourth album, All Eyez on Me, arrived on February 13, 1996. It was rap's first double album—meeting two of the three albums due in Shakur's contract with Death Row—and bore five singles. The album shows Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, leaving behind his previous political messages. With standout production, the album has more party tracks and often a triumphant tone. Music journalist Kevin Powell noted that Shakur, once released from prison, became more aggressive, and "seemed like a completely transformed person".
As Shakur's second album to hit No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200, it sold 566,000 copies in its first week and was it was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in April. The singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Death Row released Shakur's diss track "Hit 'Em Up" as the non-album B-side to "How Do U Want It". In this venomous tirade, the proclaimed "Bad Boy killer" threatens violent payback on all things Bad Boy — B.I.G., Sean Combs, Junior M.A.F.I.A., the company — and on any in the East Coast rap scene, like rap duo Mobb Deep and rapper Chino XL, who allegedly had commented against Shakur about the dispute. Posthumously, All Eyez on Me won R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 1997 American Music Awards, and the album was certified 9× Multi-Platinum in June 1998, and 10× in July 2014.
At the time of his death, a fifth solo album was already finished, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the stage name Makaveli. It had been recorded during the summer of 1996 and released that year. The lyrics were written and recorded in three days, and mixing took another four days. In 2005, MTV.com ranked The 7 Day Theory at No. 9 among hip-hop's greatest albums ever, and by 2006 a classic album. Its singular poignance, through hurt and rage, contemplation and vendetta, resonate with many fans. According to George "Papa G" Pryce, Death Row Records' then director of public relations, the album was meant to be "underground", and was not intended for release before the artist was murdered.[unreliable source?] It peaked at No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and on the Billboard 200, with the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year. On June 15, 1999, it was certified 4× Multi-Platinum.
Soon after Shakur's death, three more films starring him were released, Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).
Later posthumous albums are archival productions, these albums are:
While attending the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur formed a close friendship with Jada Pinkett. Shakur later helped Pinkett secure her first film role in Menace II Society (1993), while Pinkett helped him obtain a guest-starring role on the sitcom A Different World the same year. Pinkett appeared in Shakur's music videos for "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Temptations". She also conceived the concept for his "California Love" music video and was originally set to direct it before withdrawing from the project.
In 1995, Pinkett contributed $100,000 toward Shakur's bail while he awaited an appeal of his sexual abuse conviction. She later revealed that she declined a marriage proposal from Shakur while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island that same year. Reflecting on their relationship, Shakur said, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life. We'll be old together. Jada can ask me to do anything and she can have it." Pinkett similarly described Shakur as "one of my best friends" and said, "He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime."
Shakur befriended Treach when they were both roadies on Public Enemy's tour in 1990. He made a cameo in Naughty by Nature's music video "Uptown Anthem" in 1992. Treach collaborated on Shakur's song "5 Deadly Venomz" and appeared in the music video for Shakur's "Temptations". Treach was also a speaker at a public memorial service for Shakur in 1996.
After Tupac Shakur was shot in 1994, he recuperated at the home of actress Jasmine Guy. The two had met following Shakur's guest appearance on the sitcom A Different World in 1993. Guy later appeared in his music video for "Temptations" and went on to write his mother's 2004 memoir, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary. In a 1995 interview with Vibe, Shakur named Pinkett, Guy, Treach, and Mickey Rourke among those who supported him during his incarceration. He also described Madonna as a supportive friend; Madonna later revealed that the two had dated in 1994. Shakur and Rourke developed a close friendship while filming the movie Bullet in 1994, with Rourke later recalling that Shakur "was there for me during some very hard times."
Shakur also maintained friendships with other celebrities, including Mike Tyson Chuck D, Jim Carrey, and Alanis Morissette. In April 1996, Shakur stated that he, Morissette, Snoop Dogg, and Suge Knight planned to open a restaurant together.
In 1993, during a police raid of Shakur's room at the Parker Meridian Hotel in New York City, authorities confiscated a videotape showing Shakur with his then-girlfriend, Desiree Smith. Investigators were attempting to use the tape in their case concerning allegations made by Ayanna Jackson. In 2022, Smith stated that she had neither been underage nor intoxicated at the time of the encounter. In 2011, another video featuring Shakur receiving oral sex while rapping along to an unreleased song was reportedly sold to a private collector. The recording, filmed in 1993, also included Money B of Digital Underground.
On April 29, 1995, Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris, then a pre-law student, while he was incarcerated. The marriage was annulled ten months later.
In an interview with The Source, Shakur criticized record producer Quincy Jones for his interracial marriages. His daughter Rashida Jones responded in an irate open letter to the magazine. Shakur later apologized to her sister Kidada Jones, whom he began dating in 1996. The couple attended Men's Fashion Week in Milan and walked together for a Versace runway show. Jones was at the Las Vegas hotel where Shakur was staying when he was fatally shot in September 1996.
On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed outdoors at a festival. For about an hour after the performance, he signed autographs and posed for photos. A conflict broke out and Shakur allegedly drew a legally carried Colt Mustang but dropped it on the ground. Shakur claimed that someone with him then picked it up when it accidentally discharged.
About 100 yards (90 meters) away in a schoolyard, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a boy aged 6 on his bicycle, was fatally shot in the forehead. Police matched the bullet to a .38-caliber pistol registered to Shakur. His stepbrother Maurice Harding was arrested in suspicion of having fired the gun, but no charges were filed. Lack of witnesses stymied prosecution. In 1995, Qa'id's mother filed a wrongful death suit against Shakur, which was settled for about $300,000 to $500,000.
Shakur's music and philosophical outlook were deeply influenced by a wide range of American, African American, and global influences, including the Black Panther Party, black nationalism, egalitarianism, and the concept of liberty. Moreover, Shakur's artistic sensibilities were enriched by his passion for theater and admiration for the works of William Shakespeare. Notably, he honed his theatrical skills as a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he delved into the psychological complexities inherent in inter-gang warfare and inter-cultural conflicts, reflecting themes explored in Shakespearean dramas.
2Pacalypse Now (1991), showcased his socially conscious perspective. Through powerful tracks like "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped", and "Part Time Mutha", Shakur addressed social injustice, poverty, and police brutality. In doing so, he contributed to the ongoing success of rap groups such as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, while establishing himself as one of the pioneering socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.
Continuing his focus on the social challenges faced by African American people, Shakur's second album featured songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and "Last Wordz". Simultaneously, he showcased his compassionate side with the empowering anthem "Keep Ya Head Up", and his legendary intensity with the title track from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... Additionally, he paid homage to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "I Get Around". Throughout his career, Shakur's subsequent albums reflected a growing assertiveness in his approach.
Shakur's body of work encompassed contrasting themes, including social inequality, injustice, compassion, playfulness, and hope. These elements continued to shape his artistry, exemplified by his explosive 1995 album Me Against the World. The release of All Eyez on Me in 1996 further solidified his reputation, with tracks like "Ambitionz az a Ridah", "I Ain't Mad at Cha", "California Love", "Life Goes On", and "Picture Me Rollin'" being hailed as classics by critics. Shakur described All Eyez on Me as a celebration of life, and the album achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success. According to Eminem, Tupac is the greatest songwriter of all time. Nas said in 2002: "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."
Before and during his music career, Shakur wrote dozens of poems. According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Greene, Shakur was "a poet and activist who became one of his era's most revolutionary voices." He had a strong passion for theater and greatly admired William Shakespeare. Years after Shakur's death, rapper Nas remarked, "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."
In 1993, Shakur portrayed Lucky in the film Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson. The poems featured in the film were written by poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou.
Many of Shakur's best-known poems were later collected in the posthumous poetry book The Rose That Grew from Concrete, released in 1999. The collection includes poems such as "Can U C the Pride in the Panther", "If I Fail", "Family Tree", "The Rose That Grew from Concrete", and "Jada". In 2021, Jada Pinkett Smith commemorated Shakur's 50th birthday by sharing a previously unreleased poem titled "Lost Soulz" on Instagram.
In April 2022, a collection of handwritten poems Shakur wrote at age 11 was offered for sale for US$300,000, but ultimately sold for $90,000. The poems were dedicated to Jamal Joseph and three other members of the Black Panther Party while they were incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison. Even at a young age, Shakur's writing explored themes of Black liberation, mass incarceration, race, and masculinity. The collection also included a self-portrait depicting Shakur asleep with a pen in hand, dreaming of the Panthers being freed from prison, signed with a heart and the phrase "Tupac Shakur, Future Freedom Fighter."
Source: wikipedia