Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, 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 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... and Me Against the World. His Diamond-certified album All Eyez on Me, 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, Poetic Justice, Above the Rim, Bullet, Gridlock'd, and Gang Related.
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 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 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.
Early life
Birth and ancestry
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, to Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland. Born Lesane Parish Crooks, at age one he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur. He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, who was executed in Peru in 1781 after his revolt against Spanish rule. Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur explained, "I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood." Tupac's surname came from Lumumba Shakur, a Sunni Muslim, whom his mother married in November 1968. Their marriage fell apart when it was discovered that Lumumba was not Tupac's biological father.Shakur's parents, Afeni Shakur—born Alice Faye Williams in North Carolina—and his biological father, William "Billy" Garland, had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A month before Shakur's birth, his mother was tried in New York City as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial. She was acquitted of over 150 charges.
Other family members who were involved in the Black Panthers' Black Liberation Army were convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned, including Shakur's stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, who spent four years as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Mutulu was apprehended in 1986 and subsequently convicted for a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored truck, during which police officers and a guard were killed. Shakur's godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high-ranking Black Panther, was wrongly convicted of murdering a schoolteacher during a 1968 robbery. After he spent 27 years in prison, his conviction was overturned due to the prosecution's having concealed evidence that proved his innocence. Shakur's godmother, Assata Shakur, was a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013, and would remain on the list up until her death in 2025.
1971–1988: Early life
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. 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.
Music career
1988–1991: Early career
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.
1991–1993: ''2Pacalypse Now''
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: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", and "If My Homie Calls". Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, 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 Stones 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.