Thug Life (group)


Thug Life was an American hip hop group that consisted of 2Pac, Big Syke, Mopreme, Macadoshis, and The Rated R. They released one album, 1994's Thug Life, Volume I, before disbanding in 1995.
Tupac Shakur, Mopreme Shakur and Big Syke later became members of the Outlawz.

Etymology

According to Tupac Shakur, the name refers to the acronym: "The Hate U Gave Little Infants, Fuck Everybody".§ It represents the idea that the racism and marginalization experienced by black youth ends up negatively affecting society.

History

Early days: 1993

Thug Life was formed in 1993 by Tupac Shakur, along with Randy Walker a.k.a. Stretch, Princess Mel and Tyruss Himes
Tyruss Himes, adopted the name Big Syke when he joined the group. Other members such as, Macadoshis and The Rated R were added to the group later, followed by Tupac's stepbrother, Mopreme Shakur who named himself The Wycked. The group eventually signed with Interscope Records and released their only LP titled Thug Life, Volume I.
There was speculation that 2Pac and Thug Life were supposed to sign to Eazy-E's Ruthless Records. In 1993, 2Pac and Eazy-E met up and Eazy-E liked the demo tape that 2Pac had brought with him. However, Eazy-E wanted 2Pac to change his group name because Ruthless already had a group with a similar name, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony. This never came into fruition because of Eazy-E's passing from AIDS on March 26, 1995.
The group disbanded in 1995.
Randy Walker, also known as Stretch was shot and killed at the age of 27 on November 30, 1995.
Big Syke, adopted the stage name Mussolini in 1995 when he joined Tupac Shakur's new group, the Outlaw Immortalz, later known as the Outlawz.
Big Syke died at his home in Hawthorne, California on December 5, 2016.

''Thug Life, Volume I''

On September 26, 1994, Thug Life, Volume I was released.
The first single and video was "Pour Out a Little Liquor", which was a Tupac solo song.
Tupac performed "Out on Bail" at the 1994 Source Awards. The album was originally released on Shakur's label Out da Gutta. Tupac's mother's label, Amaru Entertainment, has since gained the rights to the album.
The track "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" appeared on Tupac's 1998 Greatest Hits album.
Thug Life, Volume I had sold 478,419 copies in the United States as of 2011.

Members

Studio albums