Mother:
Aferni Shakur
Birth Date/Place:
June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn, NY
Death Date/Place:
September 13, 1996 in Las Vegas, Nevada
Albums:
-2Pacalypse Now (1991)- went
gold
-Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z (1993)- went platinum
-Me Against the World (1995)- went 2xplatinum
-All Eyez On Me (1996)-
went 7xplatinum
-Makaveli - the don killuminati - the 7 day theory
(Released after his death on Tuesday, November 5th, 1996)- went 3xplatinum
-R U still down - remember me (1997)- went 4xplatinum
-Greatest Hits (11-24-1998)- went 2xplatinum in Feb. 26th 1998
Movies:
Juice (1992)
Poetic Justice (1993; with Janet Jackson)
Above the Rim (1994)
Bullet (1995)
Gang related
Gridlock'd
Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known as 2pac, was one of the greatest and most well-known gangta-rap artists before the shooting in Las Vegas in September this year, which ended his life; a in many ways too short life, he was only 25 and had the most of his life in front of him. How many of us who loved and respected 2pac, the music and the man behind it, isn’t wondering how it would be if he would still be alive and able to do all the things that he did so well? I don’t think that there will ever another rap artist who will earn the same respect as 2pac did...
Tupac was born on June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn, NY, a months and 2 days after his mother, Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party, was released from jail on charges of conspiring to bomb several public areas in New York City. Tupac was named after an inca chief named Tupac Amaru, which means ”shining serpent”, Shakur is arabic for ”thankful to God”.
The first years of his life Tupac’s family moved a between the Bronx and Harlem and at times they lived in shelters.
In September, 1983, the 12-year-old Tupac joined a Harlem theatre group and in hs first performance he played Travis in ”A Raisin in the Sun”.
A the age of 14, Tupac’s family moved to Baltimore, MD. In September 1985, Tupac was accepted into Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, where he shows a great talent and potential and makes a lasting impression on his teachers. In Baltimore Tupac also starts writing his first rap lyrics and performs under the name MC New York.
Unfortunately for Tupac he had to quit the school at Baltimore and move along with his family to the slums of Oakland. Aferni became crack addict. Tupac pushed her out of his life for the next three years. The writes poems about his life, this poems will soon become his musik. Then he started hanging around with ”the wrong crowd” and soon got involved with criminals and started selling drugs, starting on the road which later on lead to his own death... In September the same year Tupac’s stepfather, Mutulu Shakur is sentenced to 60 years in prison for his involvement in a 1981 armored-car robbery.
1989, Tupac forms his first rap group "Strictly Dope", which performed in Oakland night clubs.
In 1990 Tupac starts his way up the top of today’s rap music. He joined the rap group Digital Underground first as a roadie, then as a dancer and rapper, and in January 3, 1991 he made his recording debut on Digital Underground’s ”This is an EP Release”.
January 1991, Tupac makes his debut in Digital Undergrounds "Same song" video. Interscope records offers a contract to Tupac, He signs with Interscope and his career is launched.
On November 12, 1991, Tupac’s first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now, is released, from which he took the successful singles ”Trapped” and ”Brenda’s Got A Baby”, which launched his career like a rocket. Shortly after the release of Tupac’s solo album, he files a $10 million lawsuit against the Oakland police for alleged brutality following the arrest for jaywalking. His talents also gave him a role in the motion picture ”Juice”.
On January17, 1992 he made his big screen debut in the Earnest Dickerson film ”Juice”, earning praise for his portrayal of Bishop and is probably best remembered for the line ”I am crazy. And don’t give a f*ck!”
In April, 1992 Ronald Ray Howard,19, shoots a Texas trooper and Howard’s attorney claims that Howard was incited by 2Pacalypse Now, which was in his tapedeck, to kill. The Senate convenes hearings on "gangsta rap".
On August 22, 1992, Tupac had an altercation with some old acquaintances in Marin City, which results in the death of a 6-year-old bystander and the arrest of Tupac’s half brother, Maurice Harding, but he was released due to lack of evidence.
In September, 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle denounces 2Pacalypse Now by saying that it ”has no place in our society”. Tupacs album 2pacalypse now is pulled from strores in USA.
In February, 1993, Tupac released his second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z, which was an even bigger success than his first, and eventually sold platinum.
On March 13, 1993 Tupac got into an fight with a limo driver in Hollywood, who accused Tupac of using drugs in the car. Tupac got arrested but the charges were dropped. On April, 1993, Tupac is arrested again, this time for taking a swing with a baseball bat at a local rapper during a concert, Tupac got sentenced to 10 days in prison.
On July 23, 1993, John Singleton’s
”Poetic Justice” was released where Tupac appeared
along with Janet jackson. The role showed the world that music
may not have been Tupac’s #1 attribute.
On October 31, 1993, Tupac got arrested again, this time for allegedly shooting 2 off-duty Atlanta police officers who were harassing a black motorist, but the charges were eventually dropped.
On november 18, 1993 a 19-year-old woman accused Tupac for sexual harassment.
On March 10, 1994 Tupac got arrested once again for punching out director Allen Hughes after he got dropped from the motion picture ”Menace II Society” and was sentenced to 15 days in prison.
On March 23, 1994, Tupac appears in the movie ”Above the Rim”, where he played a troubled drug dealer. The soundtrack, which featured the song ”Pour Out a Little Liquor”, recorded by Tupac’s group, Thug Life, sold 2 million copies.
On September 7, 1994, 2 Milwaukee tenns murdered a police officer and citeded Tupac’s ”Souljah’s Story” as their inspiration.
On November 30, 1994, Tupac was shot 5 times
and robbed of jewels for about $40,000 in the lobby of Times
Squarerecording studio. Tupac checked himself out of the hospital
less than 3 hours after surgery, the case still remains unsolved.
All this happened while he was on trial for sex and weapon
charges, just hours before he was found guilty. The day after he
was acquitted of sodomy and weapons charges but was found guilty
of sexual abuse.
On February 14, 1995, Tupac was sentenced up to 4 and a half years immediately began serving his time in New York’s Rikers Island penitentiary.
On April 1, 1995, Tupac’s third album, Me against the World, debuted at No.1 on Billboard’s pop chart and fueled by the single ”Dear Mama” the album went double platinum in 7 months.
In October 1995 Death Row Record’s CEO Marion ”Suge” Knight posted $1.4 million in bail to get Tupac out of jail, who immediately flied to L.A to sign with Death Row and start recording his fourth solo album, All Eyez On Me.
In February 1996 the fact that Tupac had been sleeping with Biggie’s wife, Fait Evans, went public. Faith denies the stories.
On February 13, 1996, Tupac’s Death Row debut, All Eyez On Me, rap’s first double CD was released.
On March 29, 1996, Death Row employees and Bad Boy employees face off at the Soul Train awards in Los Angeles, words were exchanged and a gun was pulled.
On April 25, 1996, All Eyez On Me went quintuple platinum.
In May 1996 Tupac and Snoop released ”2 of Americaz Most Wanted”, in the video, caricatures of Biggie and Puffy were punished for setting up Tupac.
On June 4, 1996, Death Row released Tupac’s ”Hit ‘Em Up”, which was a brutal diatribe against Biggie, Bad Boy, Mobb Deep, and others.
On September 4, 1996, Tupac returned to New York for the MTV Music Video Awards and got into a scuffle.
On September 7, 1996, Tupac and Suge Knight left the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas in Suge’s car. A white Cadillac with four people inside pulled alongside at an intersection and one person opened fire. Tupac was hit 4 times while Suhe escaped with minor injuries. Tupac was brought to the University Medical Center.
On Friday, September 13, 1996, Tupac
died after 6 days in critical condition. Tupac Shakur was
pronounced dead at 4.03 pm, his body was later cremated. He was
only 25.
His musik is still alive, we will never forget Pac