Tupac Shakur Tupac Shakur was born in 1971 in New York City. His last name comes from the Arabic word that means “thankful”. His first name also the name of an Incan revolutionary who led an uprising against Spain and was later sentenced to death. Shakur’s birth came just one month after his mother was acquitted on charges of “conspiracy against the United States Government and New York trademarks”. She was a member of the infamous Black Panther Party in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Growing up, several of Shakur’s relatives were arrested on various charges including charges for murder. By age 12, Tupac began acting in school plays. In his sophomore year of high school he transferred into the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he was considered to be one of the most popular students. He befriended people of mixed races including the future actress, Jada Pinkett. The two were very close friends and Tupac even dedicated several poems to her. It was at this time that he began to develop his rapping ability. He was recognized as the most talented rapper in the school. At the school, Tupac also studied acting, jazz, and poetry. He also starred in several high school plays including The Nutcracker, and several other Shakespearean plays. In 1988 Shakur’s family moved to California. The 17-year-old Tupac decided he would continue to pursue an entertainment career. He landed his first job in 1990 as a back up dancer for the rap group, Digital Underground. He recorded his first single, Same Song in 1991. He later began performing as a rapper with the group Digital Underground.
In 1991, Tupac also recorded his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now. The album did not contain any top ten hits and was also denounced by the former vice president, Dan Quayle. He said that the album had no place in our society. Tupac’s intention behind the graphic and violent lyrics was to show the struggles of a young black man in America. His second album, Strictly 4 my N.I.G.G.A.Z., was more successful and garnered two top ten hits. Besides his rap career, Tupac decided he wanted to continue to pursue his other passion, acting. Tupac’s first film was Juice, released in 1991. He later went on to co-star with Janet Jackson in the film Poetic Justice. Beginning in 1991, around the same time Shakur began to rise to fame, Tupac faced several legal battles. The first occurred in 1991 when Tupac sued the Oakland Police Department for brutally beating Shakur over jaywalking. The incident was eventually settled out of court for $42,000. In 1993, Shakur was accused of sexually assaulting and sodomizing a girl who had come back to his hotel room one night. The girl went on to accuse Shakur of encouraging his friends to gang rape her. Although Tupac states that he fell asleep shortly after the girl arrived at the hotel, he felt guilty for anything that may have occurred and did not want any of his friends to go to jail. Shakur took the fall. Even though there was no evidence on the scene of a rape, Tupac was still sentenced to four and a half years in prison. In 1995 Shakur was released from prison on a $1.4 million bail, which was paid by Suge Knight of Death Row Records. Upon release, Tupac immediately went back to work creating records.
In September of 1996 Tupac was fatally shot eight times in a drive-by shooting. He died at the age of 25. To this day the murder remains unsolved, an interesting mystery that has helped him to gain even more fame. Theories even claim that there’s a possibility that the rapper is still alive. |
