Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 - September 13, 1996) was an influential, best-selling hip hop artist, considered by many to be the greatest rapper of all time. His aliases include 2Pac, Pac, and Makaveli. Among his fans especially, he is known as simply "Tupac". The names "Tupac Amaru" and "Shakur" mean Shining Serpent in Quechua and Thankful (to God) in Arabic, respectively. The name "Tupac Amaru" comes from Tupac Amaru II, grandson of the last Sapa Inca (Tupac Amaru). Contrary to popular belief, Tupac Amaru was not Tupac's first given name (nor one he chose himself); his mother re-named him shortly after birth and had his birth certificate changed to reflect the name by which we know him.
Most of Tupac's raps concerned growing up around violence and hardships in ghettos, racial inequality and sometimes his feud with fellow rappers in the United States. A recent VIBE magazine poll showed Tupac Shakur to be the greatest rapper of all time in the public opinion.
EARLY LIFE
Tupac Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks in the Bronx, New York City on June 16, 1971 to Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panthers. Serving jail time on bombing charges while pregnant with Tupac, she faced a sentence of up to three years in prison. Acting as her own attorney, she beat the charges and was released one month before Tupac was born. At first opportunity, Afeni had Tupac's birth certificate changed to reflect his real name, Tupac Amaru, which means "royal serpent" and was the name of an Inca leader and warrior who came to power in 1570.
Shakur said, "I never knew where my father was or who my father was for sure." Although he never had a father, Tupac did have many father-figures. His godfather, Geronimo Pratt, was also a high-ranking Panther. His step-father, Mutulu, was a drug dealer who, according to Shakur, was rarely present to give him the discipline he needed. In the song,
"Tradin War Stories", Tupac refers to Donald Goines as his father figure.
Much of Tupac's upbringing revolved around the Black Panther philosophy. Impoverished during most of his childhood, Tupac, with his mother and half-sister, Sekyiwa (pronounced Setchua), moved between homeless shelters and cheap accommodations around New York City. As a result, he retained few friends and relied on writing
poetry and diary entries to keep himself busy. At the age of 12, Shakur joined a Harlem theatre group and acted as Travis in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.
In 1984 Tupac's mother brought him and his sister to live in Baltimore, Maryland. The Shakurs lived on Greenmount Ave. in East Baltimore. There, Tupac was disliked because of his looks, name, and lack of trendy clothing. He attended Roland Park Middle School, then spent his freshman year at Paul Lawrence Dunbar High. For his sophomore year Tupac was accepted to the Baltimore School for the Arts. He enjoyed his classes there, studying theater, ballet, and other arts. Even at this young age, Shakur was outspoken on the subject of racial equality. His teachers remembered him as being a very gifted student.
He was an avid reader, delving into books on eastern religions, and even entire encyclopedia sets. Hiding his love of literature from his peers, he gained the respect of his peers by acting like a tough guy. Shakur composed his first rap in Baltimore under the name "MC New York". The song was about gun control and was inspired by the fatal shooting of one of his close friends.
Two years later, a drug-addicted Afeni was having trouble finding work (her Panther past did not help, either). She uprooted the family again and brought Tupac and Sekyiwa to live with a family friend in Marin City, California. Tupac described this move from Baltimore and the arts school as "where I got off track". He showed contempt for law enforcement, being hassled occasionally for playing music loudly. In August of 1988, Shakur's stepfather Mutulu was sentenced to sixty years in prison for armed robbery after being on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for several years.
Shakur soon moved in with a neighbor and started selling drugs on the street, but also made friends who helped spark his interest in rap music. One of these was Ray Luv, and with a mutual friend named DJ Dize (Dizz-ee), they started a rap group called Strictly Dope. Their recordings were later released in 2001 under the name Tupac Shakur: The Lost Tapes. Their neighborhood performances brought Tupac enough acclaim to land an audition with Shock G of Digital Underground.
In 1990, Shakur joined as a roadie and dancer for Digital Underground. His early lyrics were unremarkable, and he was viewed ambivalently for his tendency to act like a diva and for his occasionally violent personality. On a song for the Nothing But Trouble movie soundtrack,
Same Song, Tupac was given his first opportunity to rap on a big-time record. In the song, Shock G leads into Tupac's verse by advising Shakur to "Go ahead and rock this."
FORTUNE AND FAME
As a child, Tupac had dreamed of becoming a Shakespearean actor. Though he never achieved this, he did become a respected actor, drawing from his theatre roots. He starred in Juice in 1991 to critical acclaim, hailed by Rolling Stone's Peter Travers as "The film's most magnetic figure." He went on to star in Poetic Justice, Above the Rim, Gridlock'd, Bullet, and Gang Related.
In 1991, Tupac had trouble shopping his solo-debut,
2Pacalypse Now. Eventually, Interscope records agreed to distribute the record; one can credit executives Ted Field and Tom Whally for giving Tupac the chance. Although produced with the help of his Digital Underground crew, the intent of the album was to showcase his individual talent. While Shakur claimed his album was aimed at the problems facing young black males, it was also filled with images of violence by and against police.
2Pac
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