Amaru Shakur, better known as Tupac, was born in Brooklyn, NY on June 16th, 1971 to Billy Garland and Afeni Shakur. Billy Garland was an active member of the Black Panther Party. Afeni Shakur, also a black panther, was imprisoned one month before Tupac's birth for a Black Panther plot to bomb banks and department stores.
Tupac grew up in Baltimore, Maryland where as a teenager he attended the Baltimore School of Performing Arts. Tupac and his family later relocated to Oakland, CA where he spent much of his time on the street working as a dancer and guest rapper for the rap group Digital Underground. In 1992, Tupac released his first solo rap album "2Pacalypse Now." This album, which included the hit singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got A Baby" soon went gold. During this time, Tupac also began his acting career by appearing in the hit movie "Juice."
Although Tupac was earning professional success in the early 90's, his personal life was not as sweet. Throughout 1993 and 1994, Shakur spent much of his time in and out of jail on various charges. In March 1993, a limousine driver accused Tupac of using drugs in the vehicle. However, the charges were later dropped. In April 1993, Tupac was sentenced to 10 days in jail for assaulting another rapper.
In October 1993, Tupac was arrested in Atlanta, GA for shooting 2 off duty police officers. Tupac claimed that he swerved to miss hitting the wives of the two policemen. Then, the police officers pointed a gun at him and gunfire followed. In addition, Tupac was also injured in New York City after being shot, allegedly by robbers.
Despite all of Tupac's legal troubles, his 1993 follow-up album "Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z." reached No. 4 and quickly went platinum. He spawned several top 10 singles from this album and in the same year starred in the popular movie "Poetic Justice" with Janet Jackson. He released his third album,"Me Against the World", in 1995. "Me Against the World" debuted at No. 1 and established Tupac as one of the most popular rappers of the 1990's.
In April of 1995, Tupac married Keisha Morris in a ceremony at the Clinton Correctional Facility. However, settling down in marriage did not force Tupac to change his dangerous Gangsta" lifestyle. He continued running into legal troubles and in 1996, signed himself to one of the most dangerous labels in the record industry.
In 1996, Tupac signed a contract to make 3 albums for Death Row Records, which was owned by Suge Knight and rapper Dr. Dre. Tupac's move to Death Row would prove to be a fatal one. Knight had a reputation of using brute force and street tactics to conduct business. However, despite the dangerous atmosphere at Death Row records, Tupac recorded his best-selling album, "All Eyez on Me, to date at Death Row. "All Eyez on Me" was a double album that has sold more than 6 million copies. Tupac's most popular singles, such as "California Love", "How do u want it", and "I ain't mad at cha" came from this album.
Despite all of his rap success,in time, Tupac began concentrating more on acting
instead of rapping, starring in films such as "Bullet" and "Gridlock'd".
In 1996, there were sharp tensions mounting between East Coast and West Coast rappers. Tupac, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dog were all part of Death Row records and the West Coast gang while Sean "Puffy" Combs and Notorious B.I.G. were members of Bad Boy Records and the East Coast camp. On September 7th 1996, Tupac traveled to Las Vegas to watch a Mike Tyson fight. After the fight, he was shot by unknown assailants while riding in a car. He died six days later in a hospital at 4:03 pm without ever having regained consciousness. At the time, there were many rumors circulating that Tupac was shot by one of the members of the East Coast gang.
Tupac's death brought renewed attention to inner city violence, corruption in the rap music industry,and East Coast/West Coast rap feuds. However his shooting to this day still remains a mystery. The cause of his death is the subject of much speculation by fans and industry insiders.
Since his death, Tupac has reached idol status, similar to that of John Lennon or Elvis Presley. Ironically, Shakur's death and the circumstances surrounding it only seemed to fuel his mystique. From greatest hits complilations to tribute records, there has been no shortage of "new" Tupac material since his death. As recent as 2001, 5 years after his death, a Tupac Shakur double album "Until The End of Time" was released.
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