Tupac Shakur is a famous musician from New York who was one of the most influential rappers around the world. 2Pac was also known as an amazing poet and actor. Which of Tupac's most popular songs is? What was the rapper's solo career like? When was the attack on 2Pac aka Makaveli? Here is the biography of the famous Tupac Shakur.
Tupac was born on June 16, 1971, in Manhattan, a famous neighborhood in New York City. Interestingly, he was first called Lesane Parish Crooks, but later his mother changed his name - the boy took the surname of his stepfather. Tupac had an older half-brother, Mopreme. He also had a sister who was 2 years younger than him, Sekyiwa. Tupac's biological father was Billy Garland, and his mother was Afeni Shakur. They were both active in the Black Panther Party in New York to fight to protect the African American minority in the US. A month before Tupac was born, his mother was tried in New York - linked to the Black Panther Party. She was charged with over 150 counts, of which she was, however, acquitted. Tupac's stepfather (Mutulu Shakur) took part in the robbery, robbing over $ 1.6 million. He did not finish his sentence until 2016. So you can guess that Tupac did not have an easy childhood at all.
Tupac Shakur and his family moved to Baltimore in 1984. He attended Roland Park High School first and Paul Laurence Dunbar High School later. He later studied poetry as well as acting, ballet, and jazz. Interestingly, Shakur has acted as an actor in Shakespearean plays. He was very sociable and liked among his colleagues. In 1988, Tupac moved with his family to California, without finishing his previous school - to a city near San Francisco. He later studied at Tamalpais High School, where he also played in many theatrical productions. Soon after, he made friends, incl. with Mike Tyson and started meeting more and more people who listened to hip-hop and lived the streets.
Tupac's mother became addicted to drugs when Mutulu Shakur (her then-husband) was imprisoned. In this way, she wanted to drown out the pain associated with the long imprisonment of her beloved. Tupac was struggling to see his mother fall into an increasing drug trance. So 2Pac left his mother and moved to live with his friends from the neighborhood. In 1990, his friend (Leila Steinberg) introduced Tupac from Digital Underground. Young Shakur was an artistic soul and showed great talent for rapping and dancing. Shakur made his debut on the band's EP with "Same Song", calling himself the name Rebel of the Underground.
Tupac's first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now (late 1991), was released shortly after. The artist showed himself not only as an excellent musician and rapper but also a poet - writing very thoughtful and heart-touching lyrics. The most famous singles from this album were "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got A Baby". Tupac also performed well at that time as an actor in the film "Juice" (directed by Ernest Dickerson). He played the role of a ghetto murderer (Bishop), which still arouses controversy among fans today. They wonder if 2 Pac really just acted in the movie or was he just… himself in it? There was also a loud sue by Tupac for the city of Oakland - reportedly, the rapper was beaten up by the policemen when he incautiously crossed the road. Tupac wanted 10 million in damages but ended up with $42,000.
Tupac later recorded more albums, but the growing fame led to more gangster episodes - like the famous fight with rapper Dimitris Striplin, during which there was a shooting. One of the bullets (fired by Tupac) accidentally fatally injured a 6-year-old boy. The artist paid the family huge compensation, trying to silence the matter. Despite the controversy surrounding the subject, Tupac received a Grammy nomination for Best Newbie in 1993. That same year, he also starred with Janet Jackson in "Poetic Justice - A Film About Love." At that time, he also released a second album, which quickly went platinum.
The discography of the artist's lifetime is not very extensive. Of course, not because Tupac had too little material - many of the albums were released after the rapper's death, so he had a lot of recorded songs. His solo career was interrupted by the murder of the artist. That is why today we can only enjoy Tupac's four albums, recorded during the rapper's lifetime:
- 1991 - 2Pacalypse Now
- 1993 - Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.
- 1995 - Me Against the World
- 1996 - All Eyez on Me
In late 1993, a 19-year-old woman sued Tupac Shakur, accusing him and two other people of sexual harassment and rape. In 1994, another Shakur movie, Over the Ring, was released. In the same course, a verdict was also passed in the case of a molested girl. Tupac was accused of sexually abusing a 19-year-old and sentenced to 1.5 to 4 years in prison. However, the day before the sentence was announced, an event occurred that had a significant impact on the rapper's life. On November 30, 1994, he was shot five times. His money (about $ 40,000) and jewelry were also stolen from him. Just 3 hours after the operation, Tupac discharged himself from the hospital at his own request - fearing for his own life. To this day, it is not known why the shooting took place and who wished Tupac so badly that he escaped from the hospital without regenerating. Shakur was accused of ordering the murder of his greatest rivals - Notorious B.I.G. and P. Diddy. This event started a war between West Coast (Death Row Records) and East Coast (Bad Boy Records). Tupac belonged to the West Coast.
On February 15, 1995, Tupac Shakur began serving his sentence at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Then his third album was released, which was covered with double platinum. The album Me Against the World was definitely dominated by the single "Dear Mama", which still enjoys great recognition among fans of hip-hop sounds. Seven months before his death, Tupac released his last album during his lifetime, which was also the first double album in hip-hop history. The songs were recorded in just two weeks, although there were 27 of them. It was 2Pac's most profitable album, and the track hummed from this album to this day is "California Love" with Dr. Dre. The artist also starred in many different films during this period and was preparing for the premiere of his next album. Shakur also wanted to open his own label, Makaveli Records. However, he did not live to see it.
On September 7, 1996, Tupac arrived in Las Vegas to watch his friend Mike Tyson fight, Bruce Seldon. After the end of the sporting event, Shakur left the MGM Grand Hotel where the fight was taking place. After exiting the building, Shakur's team beat up Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson of the hostile Southside Crips gang (because he had stolen the gold chain from one of the employees of the label Tupac worked for). The crew got into the luxury cars and set off with the screeching of tires. When they stopped in front of the Maxim Hotel at a red light, there was a famous shooting.
In a black BMW 750 sat Marion "Suge Knight" (he was the one who bailed for 2Pac in jail) along with Shakur. Suddenly, a white Cadillac appeared on the right side of the BMW car, which fired 12 shots from an unknown perpetrator. 2Pac got two bullets in the chest, one in the finger (which was partially shot off), one in the shoulder, and one in the pelvis. Despite prompt medical intervention, the rapper left 6 days later at the University Medical Center. 2Pac's biography ended with murder, as a result of which the rapper died on September 13, 1996.
But Tupac's death did not stop him from being silent about him - quite the contrary. After the rapper's death, a few more albums were released as 2Pac was an exceptionally prolific rapper artistically. With Death Row Records, he managed to record a huge number of songs, which later appeared on the next albums of the late musician. There are so many of them that some fans still have doubts - believing that Tupac Shakur did not die at all. Here are all of 2Pac's posthumous albums:
- 1996 - The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (as Makaveli)
- 1997 - R U Still Down? (Remember Me)
- 2001 - Until the End of Time
- 2002 - Better Dayz
- 2004 - Loyal to the Game
- 2006 - Pac's Life
Bibliography:
- Jacob Hoye: Tupac. Tupac Jacob Hoye, Simon & Schuster Publishing, New York 2006
- Shakur Tupac: The Rose That Grew on Concrete, Kagra Publishing House Krzysztof Grausz, Poznań 2000
- Scott Cathy: The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur, Kagra Publishing House Krzysztof Grausz, Poznań 2003
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