2Pacs Life

A look at Tupac Shakur's life Significant events in the life of Tupac Shakur since 1991:

1991

Shakur achieves individual recognition with the album "2Pacalypse Now," which spawned the successful singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got A Baby." As a member of the Grammy-nominated group Digital Underground he appeared on the track "Same Song" from "This is an EP Release" and on the album "Sons Of The P."

1992

Shakur appeared in the Earnest Dickerson film "Juice."

1993

Appeared in John Singleton's release "Poetic Justice" with Janet Jackson.

1994

Release of "Thug Life." Appeared in "Above The Rim." November: Shakur's New York sex assault trial opens. November: Shakur is shot during apparent robbery attempt outside a music studio in New York. December: One day after being shot, Shakur is convicted of sexually abusing a woman he had invited to his hotel room. He is acquitted of sodomy and weapons charges.

1995

Release of "Me Against The World," a multi-million-selling album. February: Sentenced in New York to 4 1/2 years in prison for sex abuse. May: Shakur married longtime girlfriend, Keisha Morris. October: After nearly eight months in prison, Shakur is released on bail while he appeals.

1996

Shakur's fourth solo album, "All Eyez on Me," debuts at No. 1 on Billboard's album chart, goes on to sell about 5 million copies. The song "How Do You Want It California Love" was a top 20 single on Billboard magazine's charts. Acted as a detective in Orion's urban crime thriller "Gang Related." Sept. 7: Shakur shot in Las Vegas. Sept. 13: Shakur pronounced dead at 4:03 p.m. Nov. 5: Shakur's album "Makaveli" is released posthumously.

1997

January: "Gridlock'd" one of the last films Shakur appeared in opens in theaters around the nation. Jan. 27: Shakur was posthumously named favorite rap-hip hop artist at the American Musica Awards. Presenter Brandy accepted the trophy for Shakur's family. Feb. 10: The No. 1 album in the nation this week, the soundtrack to the movie "Gridlock'd," featuring songs by Shakur, among others.

Pacs Death

Timeline of Shakur shooting Times are approximate.

Saturday, Sept. 7 8:30 p.m. - People start leaving the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon fight that was held at the MGM Grand. Tupac Shakur attended the fight which started at 8 p.m. Tyson was declared the winner after 109 seconds in the ring with Seldon. 8:30 to 9 p.m. - Shakur and his bodyguards are involved in a physical altercation with a man near the hotel's Grand Garden. Police do not believe the man was in any way connected to the later shooting of Shakur. 11 p.m. - Suge Knight was stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard by Metro bicycle cops for playing his car stereo too loudly and for not having license plates on his rented vehicle. He was not cited and was released a few minutes later. 11:15 p.m. - Shakur and Marion "Suge" Knight are shot. Shakur had been standing up through the open sun roof of a 1996 BMW 750 sedan that was eastbound on Flamingo Road. Shakur is shot four times in the chest. Shrapnel grazed Knight's head. A total of 13 shots were fired at the car Shakur was in. After the shooting, Shakur's car made a U-turn and head West on Flamingo. Police reached the car on the Strip where it was caught in traffic. An ambulance then picked up Shakur and Knight transporting them to University Medical Center, where Shakur underwent the first of three operations.

Sunday, Sept. 8 11 a.m. - Knight is released from the University Medical Center. 6:20 p.m. - Shakur undergoes a second operation at UMC to repair damage from the bullet wounds.

Monday, Sept. 9 8 p.m. - Metro Police and about 20 friends of Shakur are in an altercation over what police call a "misunderstanding." Tensions are calmed with help from a female friend of Shakur's and four men originally handcuffed during the scuffle are released. No one was arrested. Police have been patrolling outside the hospital out of concern for retaliation after the shooting.

Wednesday, Sept. 11 6 p.m. - Knight, accompanied by his attorneys speaks to METRO Police for about an hour.

Friday, Sept. 13 4:03 p.m. - Shakur dies from his injuries.

2Pacs Last Interview

These are interviews from MTV, Thw Washington Post, and CNN!!!

MTV REPORTS THE DEATH OF TUPAC SHAKUR: SEPTEMBER 13, 1996

Trouble-plagued rapper and actor Tupac Shakur is dead at the age of 25 -- just about a week after sustaining 4 bullet wounds last Saturday night in Las Vegas. Shakur spent the week in the hospital on a respirator in critical condition. The Reverend Jesse Jackson, members of the Nation of Islam, and fellow Death Row Records artist Hammer visited Shakur's bedside on Sunday, when he had one of his lungs removed. Shakur's mother, Afeni -- featured in his "Dear Mama" video -- and other family members kept a vigil at his hospital room in the intensive care unit of University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Early in the week, doctors rated Tupac's chances of survival at one in five, then said his chances had improved on Tuesday, then on Thursday declined to speculate on his prognosis at all. Chris Connelly was on the scene to reconstruct the ultimately fatal events of last Saturday night.

CHRIS CONNELLY: I'm here in Vegas, where the most violent portion of Tupac Shakur's Saturday night was supposed to take place behind me, over there at the MGM Grand Hotel, where Tupac saw Mike Tyson pound Bruce Seldon into submission less than two minutes into their heavyweight bout. The fight ended around 8:55 PM local time, and from there, Tupac headed off to the home of Suge Knight, which is about 5 miles away from here. He's the head of Death Row Records. From there, they were supposed to go to Club 662, that's Knight's club, for a celebration in honor of Tyson, that was going to feature entertainment by people like Run DMC. But the caravan of cars from Knight's house never got to the club.

Tupac and Suge Knight left Knight's home at around 10:30 PM to go to Club 662. By 11:15 that evening, they were heading east on Flamingo, just coming to this intersection here at Koval. They were driving a black BMW 1996 model. Knight was driving, Tupac was in the passenger's seat. Along the passenger's side came a late model white Cadillac. From inside, shots were fired, 14 of them. Tupac was hit four times, twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the thigh. Knight was mildly injured by some bullet fragments; but he promptly floored the car, spinning it completely around and took a U-turn so it instantly headed east on Flamingo.

With Tupac bleeding profusely in the passenger seat, Suge Knight was able to get his vehicle just about a mile away from the site of the shooting, something of a miracle given his condition, the condition of the car -- which had a flat tire -- and the fact that the traffic on the strip after a heavyweight fight in Vegas is something to behold. They made it to this corner here, Las Vegas Boulevard and Harmon Avenue, where they were finally pulled over by the Bike Patrol, who radioed ahead to paramedics, who swept them off to University Medical Center -- their evening out in Las Vegas ending just a few steps away from where it had begun, the MGM Grand.

Shortly before midnight, Tupac was brought here, to UMC's Trauma Center, where he was immediately operated on, and then again about 20 hours later.

DALE PUGH, University Medical Center of Southwest Nevada: He's had a right lung removed, he's back in his room, and again, he remains in critical condition. He's in the intensive care unit.

CONNELLY: Is he conscious? Can he communicate with his doctor?

PUGH: He has been conscious, he is under a lot of medication, so he's pretty sedated at this time. He's severely injured. Suffering multiple gun shot wounds is obviously a terrible insult to the human body, so he's in very critical condition, and he's requiring intensive care, and he is receiving that, right now.

Once again, Tupac Shakur died of those bullet wounds at the age of 25 on Friday, September 13.

Suge Knight, who was released from the hospital Sunday night, finally spoke with police on Wednesday, and told them he "heard something, but saw nothing" last Saturday night, leaving the cops with, as one spokesman put it, "nothing" in the way of leads towards suspects or motives. Police also looked at security camera tapes from the Tyson fight at the MGM Grand, where Tupac and his entourage got into a scuffle with someone, who was ruled out as a suspect, since he was still held by security when Tupac left the building. Because there's a possibility of Tupac's shooting being gang-related, Vegas police got in touch on Thursday with Los Angeles police regarding two shootings that happened in LA this week. The Vegas P.D. has also been in touch with New York City police, for it was there that Tupac Shakur was shot two years ago. Of course, Tupac and trouble have hardly been strangers. Here now is a look back at his turbulent life and career.

MTV: Tupac Shakur's public life began when he joined the seminal Bay Area rap ensemble, Digital Underground, first as a tour dancer, then as a rapper. Tupac demonstrated his range as a performer when his first solo record, "2Pacolypse Now," was on the charts at the same time as his critically-acclaimed feature film debut in the violent, coming of age drama, "Juice." While he maintained a thug image, Tupac was a man of contradictions, recording sentimental raps in support of black women, including "Brenda's Got A Baby," and "Keep Ya Head Up."

(From an interview, March 9, 1994)

TUPAC SHAKUR: Because I was raised by a woman half my life in the... streets, it's like I got the woman's side, then I got real rough, manly values, like, forced on me.

MTV: As Tupac's film credits grew, with John Singleton's "Poetic Justice," he faced the possibility of doing time for assaulting director Alan Hughes, who had dropped him from the cast of "Menace II Society."

TUPAC: If I have to go to jail, I don't even want to be living. I want to just cease to exist for however long they have me there, and then when I come out, I'll be reborn, you know what I'm saying? I'll be taking less problems, and that my mind would be sharper, and the venom would be more potent. So, they shouldn't send me there. They should really try to... It's like, you don't want to throw gasoline on a fire to put it out.

MTV: What followed was a cross-country tour of courtrooms and jail houses: 10 days in a Michigan prison for assaulting a fellow rapper with a baseball bat (April 5, 1993); an arrest for allegedly shooting two off-duty Atlanta police officers, in which charges were eventually dropped (October 31, 1993); and sexual abuse, sodomy -- both, allegedly, against a fan -- and weapons charges in New York City (November 18, 1993). The day before he was convicted of sex abuse in New York, Tupac was shot five times in the lobby of a Times Square recording studio. The crime was officially classified as a robbery; and the police dropped their investigation when Tupac failed to cooperate.

(From an interview with Tabitha Soren, October 27, 1995)

TUPAC: That situation with me is like, what comes around, goes around... karma, I believe in karma. I believe in all of that. I'm not worried about it. They missed. I'm not worried about it unless they come back.

MTV: While serving his sentence for sexual abuse, Tupac's third solo release, "Me Against The World," spent four weeks at number one.

TUPAC: It was a trip. Every time they used to say something bad to me, I'd go, "That's all right. I got the number one record in the country."

MTV: After eight months, Tupac's case was appealed, and Death Row head Suge Knight promptly bailed Tupac out of jail, and took the opportunity to sign him to Death Row Records.

TUPAC (counting a handful of money after being signed to Death Row Records): If you come to Death Row, you will see your art brought to a bigger plateau, and you will be paid one of these days. Death Row...

MTV: Tupac turned his troubles to a career that was bigger than ever. His double album Death Row debut, "All Eyez On Me," sold more than 5 million copies, scored a number one single, and included tracks with new label mate, Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Dr. Dre. With three years past since Snoop's last solo release, and the departure of Death Row Co-Founder, Dr. Dre, to start his own label, Tupac became Death Row's artistic centerpiece, as well as its biggest mouthpiece. Death Row and Tupac shared a common enemy: the New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment. Tupac had earlier implicated Bad Boy Producer, Sean "Puffy" Combs, and star artist, the Notorious B.I.G., in his 1994 shooting.

TUPAC: Bad Boy Records. That's for Bad Boy Records (he winks and holds up the handful of money from signing with Death Row). I love you all.

MTV: But despite his taunts, Tupac realized danger could be around the corner. Back in New York City for this year's Video Music Awards, just three nights before he was shot in Las Vegas, Tupac surrounded himself with bodyguards and clutched a walkie talkie throughout the evening as a security precaution.

TUPAC: We are businessmen. We are not animals. It's not like we're going to see them and rush them and jump on them. If they see us and they want drama, we're goin' to definitely bring it like only Death Row can bring it...

We spoke this week with Ernest Dickerson, who directed Tupac in his big screen debut, "Juice," and asked him what about Tupac might surprise people. Here's what Dickerson told us.

ERNEST DICKERSON, Director, "Juice": I think that he's very introspective. I mean, when we were shooting "Juice," in between takes, he would spend a lot of time by himself, writing. You know, he thinks a lot. He thinks about what's going on in the world, he thinks about what's going on in the neighborhoods. He thinks about what's going on in this country and around the world, and he talks about it in his music. And the thing that I really got from Tupac was that he was always thinking, always at work. His mind was always going.

WASHINGTON POST REPORTS:

Controversial Rapper Critically Injured After Tyson Fight

By Sharon Waxman Special to The Washington Post Monday, September 9 1996; Page D01 The Washington Post

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 8 -- "Gangsta" rap star Tupac Shakur was in critical condition in a Las Vegas hospital today after an assailant pumped four bullets into his head and chest during a drive-by shooting Saturday night.

The 25-year-old rap star was shot as he and Marion "Suge" Knight, chairman of Death Row Records, Shakur's label, were on their way to a nightclub about 11:15 p.m. after watching the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight title fight at the MGM Grand Hotel, police said.

Shakur underwent emergency surgery for multiple gunshot wounds and remained under heavy police and private guard in the trauma-intensive care unit, according to a spokesman for University Medical Center. Knight, 31, was hit in the head by shrapnel and was released from the hospital today.

The shooting was the most serious in a string of violent incidents involving the rap star, who appeared Wednesday at the MTV Video Music Awards, where he and members of his entourage got into an argument with several men in the lobby of New York's Radio City Music Hall. Police were called to break it up.

In November 1994, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio when muggers stealing his jewelry opened fire. He has spent much of the past 2 1/2 years in court or in custody on various charges.

A handsome, swaggering man with long eyelashes and a penchant for showy jewelry, Shakur has been a prominent symbol for gangsta rap music, enthusiastically followed by teenage fans and long criticized by adults for its explicitly violent and sexual images. Saturday's incident underscored the link between some rap stars -- despite their celebrity status -- and the dangerous milieu that gave rise to their music.

In the weekend shooting, Knight was driving with Shakur in a convoy of 10 cars about a quarter-mile from the glittering casino strip when a white Cadillac with four people inside pulled up alongside their black BMW and a passenger opened fire. Local media reports said dozens of witnesses looked on in horror.

Police said they had begun an investigation into the shooting but had no suspects yet. "Drive-by shootings are not unknown here, but they usually occur between rival gang members whose reasons are for retaliation for other shootings," said Las Vegas Police Lt. Marc Maston. "I can't tell you the motivation behind this."

But he said police were optimistic they would find the assailants. "This particular incident apparently had several witnesses. If they are credible, with good information, this should be solvable."

Spokesmen for Death Row Records could not be reached for comment as to possible motives for the shooting. Shakur said earlier this year that he believed the 1994 robbery-shooting was a setup, fueling speculation in the hip-hop industry that rivalry between East Coast and West Coast rap labels may have taken a violent turn.

Shakur himself has had many run-ins with the law in recent years. In June, the singer faced a 120-day sentence for probation violations stemming from offenses including assault and battery and a 1994 sexual abuse conviction in New York. He had been allowed to remain free on $1.4 million bail -- paid by Death Row Records -- pending his appeal.

2Pacs Dads Interview

TO MY SON I love you whenever...forever. Tupac, so much I needed to say, so much you wanted to say. Many conversations between us within the ether, whenever...forever.

The pain inflicted that scarred your soul but not your spirit gave force to your rebellion. Many couldn't see your dreams or understand your nightmares. How could they, Tupac? I knew your love and understood your passion. But you knew of your beginning and saw your end...racing toward it.

You taught and fought through your songs and deeds. RATT-TATT-TATT of words penetrating the contradiction of our existence. Whenever...forever.

Who cares? We cared, Tupac. The Shakurs have been guided by struggle, prepared or not, whenever...forever. We've exposed our existence, naked from fear, to those who would hear the posotive. Who would witness the stress, wear and tear of this lonely path. You couldn't have envaded the effect or the changes. You inherited it, it was in your genes.

But still, you danced your dance, you lived your life. You forced your loyalty on those who would fake and shake at the true vision. You were Tupac.

Like the four seasons, we came to this planet taking form, becoming elements of nature. Some of us are only one season, and others like you were part of many seasons. This dynamic will scare most anyone who realized the burden at such an early stage of life. You fought well. We love you.We understand...forever, whenever.

Please give my love to our family. Ask them to help you on the other side. Tell Zayd, Lumumba, Abu, Brother Leggs, Mtaryi, Attallah, that they are to continue to help us down here. Shakur's love is strong. Whenever...forever.

Friday 13th didn't mean a thing. Life is for living and dying well. Whenever...forever. Allah knows best. We choose the quality of our life. You understand the pain of disappointment in the ones we love. You pushed so many away. Burnt so many bridges so they wouldn't follow you into battles against the demons you were facing. Knowing well to what lengths you would go. This battlefield of reality is littered with many meaningless casualties.

You never yelled out, "Somebody, save me!" You only asked for your soul to be free, whenever...forever. You told us to keep your head up, knowing the pain was coming. Knowing to look for the strength in the heavens. Set your soul free, Tupoac Amaru.

We keep waiting in vain for their love.

Will your levitiation be the awakening of us all? The division unsettling to our dreams and goals? Your passing demanding repentanceand resistnace.

We keep waiting, not in vain. We give you love. Give us love.

To my brother and son, these emotions are hell. I wish you well in the next journey. Whenever...forever.

For now, Tupac, we will hold our heads up. This journey is at an end, your ashes are in the wind. Friends and enemies will have to look to the stars. You are truly a star. A star navigating through the dynamivs of this, your path chosen before you arrived. Lesson's we've gained will materialize after you're gone. Whenever...forever.

Your family will keep the spirit high, for we are Shakurs. We are thankful for what life gives us. Through the pain and the struggle we are blessed by the victory. Go forward, Tupac.

The victories-we will teach your mission, we are thankful for you. We love you, Tupac Shakur. We ain't mad at you, we'll be betterbecause of you.

So now I give you my tears so that I might so that I might assimilate your loss and I can live on in peace.

Knowing I will feed your spirit with my unconditional love, knowing you will need it on your next journey.

"Resistance" and "Thankful"...one's name is the life's program for it's bearer: Tupac Shakur. We will help them to understand your mission and journey.

May Allah bless you for your deeds and forgive your errors.

Tupac come to me and give me strength.

Love always,

Your father, friend, comrade,

Mutulu