The family moved homes often, sometimes staying in shelters. In the early nineties Shakur faced a wrongful death suit which settled out of court, accusations of assaulting police officers where charges were ultimately dropped, and even an incident where Shakur sustained five gunshot wounds from shooter Dexter Isaac. On February 6, 1995, he was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual assault charge.

Tupac has released a total of 11 platinum albums: four during his career, with seven more released posthumously. Released as a single in June 1996, How Do You Want It was more famous for its B track, Hit Em Up, which aired Tupacs West Coast feud with East Coast Bad Boy rivals. It turned out to be a "mean little ghetto," according to Robert Sam Anison's comprehensive posthumous feature on Tupac for Vanity Fair in 1997. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains Tupac's best-known song. "When I left that hospital me and 'Pac was laughing and joking. While Tupac's first effort had an indie-rap-oriented sound, this album was considered his "breakout" album.

On the night of November 30, 1994, the day before the verdict in his sexual abuse trial was to be announced, Shakur was shot five times and robbed by two armed men in army fatigues after entering the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan. The album generated the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year, selling 664,000 copies on the first week. The lyrics were written and recorded in only three days and mixing took an additional four days. In late 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life with a number of his friends, including Big Syke, Macadoshis, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Rated R. The group released their only album Thug Life: Volume 1 on September 26, 1994, which went gold. On March 9, 1997, six months after Tupac died, Biggie Smalls was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles; his murder has never been solved, either.

Shakur also suspected his close friend and associate, Randy "Stretch" Walker, of being involved in the attack. For you to be seen with a Black man wouldnt in any way jeopardize your career if anything it would make you seem that much more open and exciting, he wrote. In August 1992, Tupac was attacked by jealous youths in Marin City. He became a professional fighter in 1953. The group usually performed their concerts without Shakur.

Following Isaacs public confession, Philips corroborated Isaac as one (among many) of his key unnamed sources.

I think that , honestly, Tupac was the greatest songwriter that ever lived.

On the inflammatory song, Tupac spat venom at artists including Biggie Smalls, Lil Kim, Junior M.A.F.I.A. (In 1995, Walker-Teal's family brought a civil case against Tupac, but settled out of court after an unnamed record company thought to have been Death Row offered compensation of between $300,000 to $500,000.).

He spent much of his childhood on the move with his family, which in 1986 settled in Baltimore, Maryland, where Shakur attended the elite Baltimore School for the Arts. The case illustrated the misrepresentation of African American males, and the attitude of some police toward them, which Tupac had been talking about in his music. A poem written by Shakur titled "Jada" appears in his book, The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which also includes a poem dedicated to Pinkett Smith called "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes". "Everything in life is not all beautiful," he told journalist Chuck Phillips. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Shakur began serving his prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility on February 14, 1995. Shakur, accompanied by one of his friends, Dana "Mouse" Smith, as his beatbox, won many rap competitions and was considered to be the best rapper in his school.

Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City.

"I thought my father was dead all my life," he told the writer Kevin Powell during an interview with Vibe magazine in 1996. You saw a picture that he was trying to paint.. Eventually Shakur released his first solo album in 91,2pacalypse Now. According to the doctors at Bellevue Hospital, where he was admitted immediately following the incident, Shakur had received five bullet wounds; twice in the head, twice in the groin and once through the arm and thigh. He drew his pistol but dropped it in the melee. He has sold 75 million albums to date, making him one of the top-selling artists of all time. The album contains many tracks emphasizing Tupac's political and social views. Shakur became the first artist to reach number one in the pop charts while serving a prison sentence.

Before Tupac released his third album, there was more trouble.

He was shot and killed on March 9, 1997. After completing his second year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet.

On his album Life Goes On, Tupac rapped about his funeral; his song I Aint Mad at Cha was released two days after he died.

Although it did not yield any hits, it sold a respectable 500,000 copies and established Tupac as an uncompromising social commentator on songs such as "Brenda's Got a Baby" which narrates an underaged mother's fall into destitution and "Soulja's Story," which controversially spoke of "blasting" a police officer and "droppin' the cop.".

It has been said that "despite some undeniable filler, it is easily the best production 2Pac's ever had on record".

Learn about how hip hip has been commercialized, impacted pop culture, education & the universe. Photo: Malcolm Payne/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The case related to an incident that had taken place in Tupac's suite in the New York Parker Meridien hotel in November 1993. Mutulu was a party leader and was on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted list until the 1980s. At the same time as he was glorifying an outlaw lifestyle for Death Row, Tupac was financing an at-risk youth center, bankrolling South Central sports teams, setting up a telephone helpline for young people with problems all noted in Robert Sam Anson's Vanity Fair article, published after Tupac's death. The album contains ten tracks because Interscope Records felt many of the other recorded songs were too controversial to release.

Shakur had a half-sister, Sekyiwa, two years his junior, and an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, who appeared in many of his recordings.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'hiphopscriptures_com-box-4','ezslot_6',118,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-hiphopscriptures_com-box-4-0')}; At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's 127th Street Repertory Ensemble and was cast as the Travis Younger character in the play A Raisin in the Sun, which was performed at the Apollo Theater. Me Against the World won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards. It was in Marin City that Afeni succumbed to crack addiction a drug her son, Tupac, would sell on the same streets where his mother bought her supply. The revelation fueled the launch of a change.org petition that called for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to declare the case "cleared." As fate drove him towards the nihilism of gangsta rap, and into the arms of the controversial Death Row Records impresario Suge Knight, the boundaries between Shakur's art and his life became increasingly blurred with tragic consequences.

1995: Prison sentence, Me Against the World and bail. In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved to Marin City, California, a residential community located 5 miles (8.0 km) north of San Francisco, where he attended Tamalpais High School in nearby Mill Valley. While imprisoned, Shakur read many books by Niccol Machiavelli, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and other works of political philosophy and strategy. In July 2017, Tupacs letter to Madonna was set to go on auction and was expected to bring in $100,000. The album won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year Award. Although the original version of the album was not completed, Tupac performed the planned first single from the album, "Out on Bail" at the 1994 Source Awards. He was named after Tpac Amaru, an 18th-century South American revolutionary who was executed after leading an indigenous uprising against Spanish rule. Tupac's fifth album, Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory, was released in November 1996, just eight weeks after his death. During his time in art school, Shakur became affiliated with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA, and began dating the daughter of the director of the local Communist Party USA. On the evening of September 7, 1996, Shakur was leaving a Las Vegas casino, where he had just attended a prizefight featuring heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, when he was shot by an unknown assailant. His music earned attention and respect through a poetic style that embraced street vocabulary while being innovative. Tupac Shakur, in full Tupac Amaru Shakur, original name Lesane Parish Crooks, bynames 2Pac and Makaveli, (born June 16, 1971, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.died September 13, 1996, Las Vegas, Nevada), American rapper and actor who was one of the leading names in 1990s gangsta rap. 1994: Thug Life, Thug Life: Volume 1 and November shooting. 2022 Biography and the Biography logo are registered trademarks of A&E Television Networks, LLC. Dr. Dre, who had pioneered g-funk with NWA, produced the album's first single, "California Love" which went to No. However, conspiracy theories have raged ever since Tupac was shot, as his murder has never been solved. As of September 2017, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) listed Tupac as the 44th top-selling artist of all time by album sales and streaming figures. Sonny Liston was introduced to boxing while serving time in a Missouri State Penitentiary.

2Pacs life was cut short in September of 1996 when Shakur became the victim of a drive-by shooting while his car waited on a red light. Making the most of his time in jail, 2Pac becamea passionate reader. After his rap debut, he performed with Digital Underground again on the album Sons of the P. Later, he released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now. Mutulu was caught in 1986 and imprisoned for the robbery of a Brinks armored truck in which two police officers and a guard were killed. The digital biography of Tupac Amaru Shakur - from Hip Hop Scriptures virtual Hip Hop Museum! Tupac Amaru Shakur was an inspiration to millions.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[468,60],'hiphopscriptures_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_2',116,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-hiphopscriptures_com-medrectangle-3-0')}; While 2Pac was most famous for his rap career, he was also a gifted actor, poet and thoughtful while outspoken advocate for the poor and the overlooked in America. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential hip hop albums of all-time. 2Pacs career has earned him six Grammy nominations and three MTV Video Music Award nominations.

2Pacalypse Now went on to be certified Gold by the RIAA. Tupac Shakurs music often glorified the violent, misogynistic, drug-filled thug life led by many 1990s gangsta rappers. Although the album was originally released on Shakur's label Out Da Gutta, Amaru Entertainment, the label owned by the mother of Tupac Shakur, has since gained the rights to it. Tupac's body was cremated. In a documentary, Biggie says that they were in the recording studio and did not know Shakur would be there. Fans have speculated that Tupac faked his death. It's known as his tenth-biggest selling album with 1,366,000 units moved as of 2004. Jones was in Las Vegas with Tupac the night he was shot. (Smalls always denied he knew anything; in 2011 Dexter Isaac, a New York prisoner serving a life sentence for an unrelated crime, claimed he was paid to steal from Tupac by the artist manager and mogul James "Henchman" Rosemond, and shot the rapper during the robbery). With increased fame and success came greater scrutiny of Shakurs gangsta lifestyle. The single was certified platinum in July 1995, and later placed at #51 on the year-end charts. Afeni gave birth to a daughter, Sekiya, two years after Tupac. Tupac did go to jail for 15 days in 1994 for assaulting the director Allen Hughes, who had fired him from the set of the movie Menace II Society for being disruptive. It was issued on two compact discs and four LPs. Today, 2Pac is still considered by many to be one of the biggest influences on modern hip-hop. After joining the Black Panther party, his mother changed his first name to Tupac Amaru, a Peruvian revolutionary who was killed by the Spanish.

2Pacalypse Now can be found in the Vinyl Countdown and in the instruction manual for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, along with the track "I Don't Give a Fuck," which appeared on the in-game radio station, Radio Los Santos. His murder has never been solved.

It was beyond friendship for us. The lack of a clear single on the album limited its radio appeal, but it sold well, especially after U.S. Vice Pres. Omissions? The song was later released as the lead song of the Digital Underground extended play (EP) This is an EP Release, the follow-up to their debut hit album Sex Packets. His popularity was undiminished after his death, and a long succession of posthumous releases (many of them were simply repackaged or remixed existing material, and most were of middling quality) ensured that new 2Pac albums continued to appear well into the 21st century. The album did better than the previous one debuting on number 24 on the Billboard 200. 1 on the charts. Shakur stated he married her "for the wrong reasons". The track "How Long Will They Mourn Me?"

The emotion and anger showcased on the album has been admired by a large part of the hip-hop community, including other rappers. Even today, 2Pacs influence is wide-spread. After serving only eight months of his sentence, 2Pac was out on parole thanks to a 1.4 million dollar bond paid by Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row Records. Mutulu was wanted for having helped his sister Assata Shakur (also known as Joanne Chesimard) to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey. Shakur was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories persist among fans and the media about his murder, two of the most popular being that he faked his death and escaped to Cuba or Malaysia. Soon after his marriage to Morris ended, Tupac began dating Kidada Jones.

The album sold 240,000 copies in its first week, setting a record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist at the time. Shakur was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after a near-fatal shooting in 1994. To date, Tupac has sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

The infant boy was born a month after his mother was acquitted of more than 150 charges of "Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks" in the New York "Panther 21" court case. While serving his sentence, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, on April 4, 1995; the couple divorced in 1996. Shortly afterward, he released his multi-platinum album Me Against the World. That same year, Steinberg organized a concert with a former group of Shakur's, "Strictly Dope"; the concert led to him being signed with Atron Gregory. Quick to capitalize on his most recent success, Shakur returned to Hollywood, where he starred in Bullet (1996) and Gridlockd (1997). African American boxer Joe Louis, who reigned as world heavyweight champion from 1937 until 1949, is regarded as one of his sport's all-time greats. Can you match each 90s song to the artist or artists who first made it a hit? There Shakur took to the streets, selling drugs and becoming involved in the gang culture that would one day provide material for his rap lyrics. Knight, who was involved with the rival Bloods gang, and members of his entourage piled in. He soon stepped up to the mic, making his recording debut in 1991 on Same Song, which soundtracked the Dan Aykroyd comedy Nothing but Trouble. Biggie Smalls, also known as "The Notorious B.I.G.," was a revered hip-hop artist and face of East Coast gangsta rap. While incarcerated 2Pacs latest album at the time,Me Against the World, was number one in the pop charts and would later go double platinum. He was remembered as one of the most popular kids in his school because of his sense of humor, superior rapping skills, and ability to mix with all crowds. In October 1993, Tupac shot and wounded two white off-duty cops in Atlanta one in the abdomen and one in the buttocks after an altercation. 2Pacs music career began to grow as his second album,Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Zincluded two top 20 pop chart tracks:I Get AroundandKeep Ya Head Up. Tupac often complained that he was misunderstood. With his new hip-hop group Outlawz debuting on the album, All Eyez on Me was an unapologetic celebration of the thug lifestyle, eschewing socially conscious lyrics in favor of gangsta-funk hedonism and menace. He was most prolific in the music industry, selling over 75 million albums. He also wrote songs that uplifted women and emphasized the importance of fatherhood. It reached No. His mother, Afeni Shakur, and his father, Billy Garland, were active members of the Black Panther Party in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "I felt I needed a daddy to show me the ropes and I didn't have one.". Now signed with Death Row Records, Shakur went on to createAll Eyez on Me, which featured hitsHow Do You Want ItandCalifornia Love. and Prodigy of Mobb Deep. Dan Quayle criticized the song Souljas Story during the 1992 presidential campaign. It also reached No. 2Pacs unapologetic lyrics were relevant, important, and reflective of the hard lives led by many. That same year Shakur joined the ranks of other rappers-turned-actors, such as Ice Cube and Ice-T, when he was cast in the motion picture Juice, an urban crime drama. READ MORE: How Biggie and Tupac Went From Friends to Music's Biggest Rivals. Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996, six days after an unknown gunman in a white Cadillac shot him four times in the chest at a stoplight in Las Vegas. His girlfriend Kidada and his mother Afeni were both with him in his final days. The third single from the album, "How Do You Want It," also reached No. In the day that followed, Shakur entered the courthouse in a wheelchair and was found guilty of three counts of molestation, but innocent of six others, including sodomy. On September 7, Tupac was in Las Vegas with Knight to watch a Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand hotel. "Thug Life" redirects here. When Tupac's third solo album came out on March 14, 1995, he was in jail. That album, All Eyez on Me (1996), was a two-disc paean to the thug life that Shakur embodied. The album's name is a reference to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now. In 1990 he joined Digital Underground, an Oakland-based rap group that had scored a Billboard Top 40 hit with the novelty single The Humpty Dance. Shakur performed on two Digital Underground albums in 1991, This Is an EP Release and Sons of the P, before his solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, later that year. In 1997,Shakur was honored by the American Music Awards as theFavoriteHip Hop Artist.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'hiphopscriptures_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_9',117,'0','0'])};if(typeof __ez_fad_position != 'undefined'){__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-hiphopscriptures_com-medrectangle-4-0')}; Born on June 16 1971 in New York City, Shakurs parents were both members of the Black Panther Party whose militant style and provocative ideologies for civil rights would come to influence 2Pacs music. ', Pinkett-Smith was featured in the 2017 movie on Tupac All Eyez on Me. While serving time in prison, Tupac wrote a letter to Madonna, where he ended relations with the pop star because of her race. 2Pacalypse Now was a radical break from the dance party sound of Digital Underground, and its tone and content were much closer to the works of Public Enemy and West Coast gangsta rappers N.W.A. When Biggie's entourage went downstairs to check on the incident, Shakur was being taken out on a stretcher, still conscious and giving the finger to those around. She had a cameo in his music video for 'Strictly 4 My Niggaz. She will be my friend for my whole life." Afeni had been in jail in New York City on bombing charges before she gave birth to her son. It is his fourth biggest selling album with 2,439,000 units moved to date. A year later on November 30, 1995, Stretch was killed after being shot twice in the back by three men who pulled up alongside his green minivan at 112th Ave. and 209th St. in Queens Village, while he was driving. Sean Combs has produced big-name artists like Mariah Carey, created the Sean John clothing line and recorded his own platinum albums, starting with 'No Way Out' in 1997. Roy Horn was half of the headlining Las Vegas magical duo Siegfried & Roy who survived severe injuries after an onstage tiger attack. Like you said, I havent been the kind of friend I know I am capable of being, he said, adding that hed grown both spiritually and mentally and was no longer the young man with limited experience with [an] extremely famous sex symbol.. On MTV's Greatest Rappers of All Time List, 2Pacalypse Now was listed as one of 2Pac's "certified classic" albums, along with Me Against the World, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.