1 In 21 (2Pac - A Tupac Shakur Story) - 2Pac > Reviews > Tupac Biograhy

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Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York. He was born Lesane Parish Crooks but his mother changed his name to Tupac Amaru meaning "shining serpent" and Shakur which means "thankful to god".His mother changed his name so he would not get recongnised, as she and his father where members of the Black Pathers a party who fought for the rights of African Americans.

He is a world famous martyr of gangsta rapper who also starred in many films.He is famous for his music,acting and his fast and eventful lifestyle.

Before 2pac was born his mother was jailed on charges of conspiring to bomb several New York buildings and his father was sentenced to 60 Years in jail for a armored car robbery.Because of these incidents, Tupac later in life said that the FBI were always after him and his family.When his mother got released they moved to Harlem where she became a cocaine addict.With his father away the family experienced hard times and had to live in homless shelters many times.When he did live in a house he used to live without any electricity and had to listen to his radio with batterys.Tupac could never make friends because he was always getting moved about.At the age of 2 Tupac's sister Sekyiwa was born.From childhood everyone called him the "Black Prince" because he was always misbehaving.Tupac was always distressed with his father away and he said that he always use to cry all the time because he couldn't fit in.Tupac used to say to his family and friends that the only thing he wanted to do was make a album and star in a movie.

As a young teen his family moved to Baltimore where he attended The Baltimore School For Performing Arts.This was where he discovered his love for acting and writing songs and poetry.While at the school he started writing rap lyrics and came up with the name MC New York.At the school, Tupac left a lasting impression on his teachers and they said they knew that one day he would become famous.At the school he formed a close relationship with Jada Pinkett who is now Will Smiths wife.Also Tupac came up with the name "Makaveli" which means the don.

Tupac was unable to stay at the school as he moved to Oakland, California.This is where he began hanging with the wrong crowd and got into trouble many times.One such incident involved a six year old boy getting killed after getting caught in a cross-fire between Tupac's gang and a rival gang.By the time he was twenty he had been arrested 8 times and served 8 months in jail for sexual abuse.

One of tupacs childhood heroes was LL COOL J, the great rapper and actor who starred in Films such as Deep Blue Sea and Halloween H20.He used to listen to him on radio while he wrote lyrics by candel light and he then knew that one day he would become a rapper.Tupacs was first inspired to rap when a friend of his was killed while he was playing with a gun.His first rap was about gun control.

Tupac joined a local rap group called "Strictly Dope" as a member of the six people in the band.They performed in local clubs and house partys, but the success was short lived as they struggled to produce a demo tape that they could show the record labels.Tupac later left the group as he said they lacked ambition.Tupac got his break when he was discovered by rap group Digital Underground, when he was found by Shock-G the leader of the group as a hustler.He starred on their successful album"Son of the p".The Group members said that he never let them down and always done the job perfectly.When he was in the group someone shoved a 12 gauge shotgun in his face because of a dispute over a women at a Martin luther King Jr festival.In December 1991 following an arrest for jaywalking Tupac filed a police brutality suit.

In 1992 Tupac released his first album "2pacalypse" which went gold.On the album were the singles "brenda's got a baby" and "trapped" which launched his career like a rocket.Later that year the vice president of the United States attacked the album for its blunt and explicit lyrics.The album was removed from stores as Tupac's music was blamed for 2 incidents in which 3 policemen were killed, all the murderers claimed that the lyrics inspired them.The album was later brought back after his record company appealed.

The success of this album got him the role in the movies "Juice"where he starred as a violent and dangerous character called Bishop and "Poetic Justice" in which he starred beside Janet Jackson.He enjoyed doing the films very much and they were both very successful with Tupac getting rave reviews.The role in Poetic Justice made Tupac a household name and showed that rapping might not be his number one atribute.

In 1993 the films hit the box-office and he released his second album "strictly 4 my N.I.G.G.A.Z" which went on to become a platinum record.The album was similar to his first album but was more successful and was said by the critics to be a masterpiece.He then acted in the basketball film "Above the Rim".

After that he started to run into the law again for getting into a fight with a cab driver for using drugs in the back of his cab.Another more serious incident was for shooting at 2 police officers who were harrasing a black motorist but the charges were dropped.He was due to star in the movie "Menace to Society" but got dropped from the cast after assaulting the director.The incident landed him 14 days in prision.He was also planned to act in the movies "Cool Running","Higher Learning" and "How To Be A Player" but were stopped for various things that would happen later in his life.His career was then brought to a stop on November 18th 1993 by a sexual harrasment case involving a 19 year old women.Despite witnesses saying he was inocent he was jailed for 4 years.

However Before he got sentenced he was the victim of a vicious attack.Tupac was shot 5 times, which included once in the head.The incident happened when he was in the lobby of New Yorks Quad recording studios.The robbers made off with $40,000 worth of jewellrey.When he was in prison he later claimed that the men behind the shooting were Puff Daddy,Notourious BIG,Andre Harrell and his own friend Randy Walker.Tupac had said that he was sleeping with Biggies wife Faith Hill and Tupac thought this was a motive to shooting him because he always fought publicly with him.Randy Walker was himself killed in november 30th 1995(the 1 year anniversary of Tupac's shooting) in a gangland style murder.

Tupac miraculously recovered in New Yorks Beldy Hospital and signed himself out 3 hours after surgery which included getting a testical removed determined to make his trial.2pac began serving his sentence at Riker Island Jail and it was in there when his third album "Me Against the World" was released.The album was very popular and got excellent reviews.The album included the hit single "Dear mama" which he wrote in prison.He became the 1st artist to reach no1 in the album chart while serving a jail sentence.In jail Tupac told his friend Reverend Daughtry that he wanted to marry Jada Pinkett, his friend from Baltimore schools of Arts seeing marrage as a distraction from the horror of jail.But in april of that year Tupac suddenly married Kiesha Morris, a longtime girlfriend in a ceremony at the Clinton Correctional Facility. Tupac only served 8 months of his sentence before Suge Knight the president of Death Row Records arranged parole at $1.4 million in exchange for a 3 Year record deal with Death Row.After he was released from jail the marriage was later annulled.

In 1995 Tupac formed his own group called "Thug Life" which included the members Big Syke,Mophreme,Macadoshis and Rated R and recorded "Pour over a Little Liquor" which was the soundtrack to his future film "Gridlock'd" and went on to go double platinum.Later that year they released there first album "volume 1" on tupacs own record label called "Out Da Gutta".

2pac's first Death Row Record "all eyez on me" went straight to no1 and went quadrupal plainum in just a few months.This double album was done in one day and was said to be his best ever.The album was very different as he took shots at the people who he accused of shooting him.On the album was the hit record "California Love" which featured Andre Young also known as Dre Dre.By 1996 Suge and Tupac were best friends and were unseperable.

Tupac then formed a band called "The Outlawz".The band started with the members Tupac,Big Mal,Felony,K-Dogg,Mutah,Fatal and yak.He then had a word with his other band "Thug Life" and asked if they would become members.Big Skye and Morphreme joined but Rated R couldn't join because of a jail sentence and Macadoshis didn't want to because he didn't like Suge Knight.They were all still members of Thug Life.Later on two other members called Ritzy and Storm joined to make the final 10.They had a highy successful single called "The good die young" as well as appearing on lots of Tupac's own work.

2pac was starting to get tired of Rap music and started to concentrate on acting.During the summer of 1996 he made the 2 films "Bullet" and "Gridlock'd", which were both highly successful.But while making the films his record company Death Row Records was quickly going down hill without Dr Dre who had left and Suge Knight becoming involved in a lot of illegal activities.In august Tupac got engaged to Kidida Jones who had been a life long friend, but had recently became very close to him.

Tupac didn't like Dre, he said that he wasn't doing anything at Death Row and was taking credit for other peoples work.One of those people was Daz Dillinger who did a lot of work on Dre's Highy Successful album "The Chronic" but didn't get any credit.Tupac didn't like him for this and for the fact that Dre never appeared at Snoop Doggy Doggs murder trial, although Tupac seemed more upset then Snoop.The only comment Dre replied with that Tupac didn't hang about with him and didn't know him.The final incident was an interview with Tupac and Knight which many think was the reason that Dre left Death Row.In the interview Suge said Dre was gay and that they didn't want him to be a member of Death Row because he was having an affair with one of his employes while he was married with children.Tupac called him gay on several songs including the hit "To live and die in L.A".

On 7th September 1996 2pac was shot in Las Vegas.He had just watched a heavyweight championship fight between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon and were on their way to a Anti-Violence meeting.Tupac and Suge Knight had stopped at some traffic lights when tupac put his head out of the sunroof to talk to some girls.A white cadillac pulled up beside them and opened fire on the car hitting Tupac 5 times and grazing suge.Immediatly Knight tryed to drive him to hospital but got stuck in traffic, an ambulance then transported him to hospital where thay removed his right lung.After 6 days in critical condition on Friday 13th september at 4:03 2pac was pronounced dead with his mother at his side.He was only 25 when he died.His murder still remains unsolved but police know that he was seen fighting with an unknown man after the boxing match.The only witness who agreed to come forward was killed before the police could get to him.

Tupac was sure that he wouldn't live long and always expressed it in interviews,his videos and his music.He said in one interview that he was sure he wouldn't reach 30.

After his death Death Row released an album called "Makaveli".The cover showed a picture of Tupac nailed to a cross under a crown of thorns, with a map of the country's major gang areas superimposed on it.The album sold over 600,000 copies in its first week.This showed how much Tupac was loved by his fans.The album went Triple platinum.

Six months later the Notourious BIG was killed in a similar incident in L.A. Many thought the murder was caused by a gang who were after suge knight, where as others thought it was because of the east coast/west coast rivalry.

I believe that 2pac will be remembered for many years as a rap and black icon.A quote that tupac used many times was "Everyones at war with different things. I'm at war with my own heart sometimes".My favourite things about his rapping is the way he explains things to his listeners and the way he can make his songs ryhme. His films were also great to watch and he was as good an actor as he was a rap artist.He always spoke his mind and always made his lyrics come to life.