Tupac Amaru Shakur

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in the east Harlem part of Manhattan in New York. Growing up, Tupac dealt with many life problems. With his mom, Afeni Shakur, being involved with the Black Panther Party, an African-American organization established in the 1960's and 1970's to promote civil rights and self-defense.

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Struggle and incarceration surrounded Shakur from an early age, with family members continually going to and coming out of jail. It was likely Tupac would be destined to follow the same life of crime. This negative destiny for Shakur’s future was not shared by his mother she had a different plan for him.

Photo of Tupac Shakur. Notice the scars on his chest from previous bullet wounds.

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At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's famous "127th Street Ensemble." His first major role with this acting troupe was as “Travis” in, “A Raisin in the Sun”. In 1984, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland. After completing two years at Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, there he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He performed in Shakespeare plays and in the role of the Mouse King in “The Nutcracker”. Just like the mighty Macbeth’s skills of leading and treachery. Tupac skills were not limited to acting. Accompanied by his best friend, Dana Smith, of a beat Boxer, Tupac dominated the rap competitions that he participated in and was considered the best rapper in his school. In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved again, this time to Marin City, California, where he attended Tamaulipas High School. He joined the Ensemble Theatre Company to pursue his career in entertainment. His mother's crack addiction led him to move into Leila Steinberg's home with his friend Ray Luv at the age of seventeen and he eventually dropped out of high school.

Tupac(left), Snoop Doggy Dog(center), Suge Knight(right), all members of Deathrow Records

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In 1989, Leila Steinberg organized a concert with Shakur's group, Strictly Dope. The concert led to him being signed with Atron Gregory who set him up with Digital Underground. In 1990, he was hired as a back-up dancer and roadie for the up-and-coming rap group. After staying with Digital Underground for about a year Tupac decided to go solo and released his first album 2pocalypse now. Although Tupac released multiple albums in his first year they did not do so well because of the negative content and verbal attacks against the police. Still, Shakur worked through that setback and introduced one of the most influential ideas in the 1990’s, “Thug Life”. Like Macbeth, Tupac, even though he was gaining popularity and now financially successful did not prevent him from experiencing problems in this stage of his life. Shakur became the target of lawsuits and other legal issues. He was shot five times and robbed in the lobby of a recording studio in New York City. Following this attack, Shakur grew suspicious of other entertainers in the rap industry that he believed had prior knowledge of the incident and did not warn him. The controversy helped spark the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry. This rivalry fuelled Tupac’s rage against three rappers and former friends. He accused Uptown Records founder, Andre Harrell, Sean "Puffy" Combs, and Biggie of having knowledge of the robbery that resulted in him being shot and losing thousands of dollars worth of jewellery on the night of November 30, 1994. Sadly, just like Macbeth, he abused his power and the on-goings feuds contributed to his death. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. He died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center. The shooting was rumoured to be the work of the east coast rappers but was never proven.

Tupac's " Last Shot"

This photo was taken moments before Tupac was involved in a fatal drive by shooting. Also, this is the last photo ever taken of Tupac Amaru Shakur.

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Although, Tupac was surrounded by controversy and violence he still lived a remarkable life. He sold over 75,000,000 copies of his albums around the world. He was voted the most successful rapper of all time. He fought for women rights with quotes such as “since we all came from a women, got our name from a women, and our game from a women. I wonder why we take from women, why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it’s time we killed for our women, be real to our women, try to heal our women, because if we don’t we'll have a race of babies that will hate the ladies, who make the babies. And since a man can't make one he has no right to tell a women when and where to create one”. He starred in over a dozen movies and still has movies and music not released. After his funeral, Shakur's body was cremated. Some of his ashes were later mixed with cannabis and smoked by members of Outlawz.

Tupac Immortal

Tupac, loved by his fans to an extent where he was immortalized in a number of statues and sculptures.