Tupac Shakur

, the neighborhood of New York City where Shakur was born|alt=A bird's-eye view of New York City, looking north from 96th Street, along Second Avenue, towards East Harlem. The intersection in view is 97th Street. Birth and ancestry Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, to Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland. Born Lesane Parish Crooks, at age one he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur. He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Inca ruler, who was executed in Peru in 1781 after his revolt against Spanish rule. Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur explained, "I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood." Shakur's parents, Afeni Shakur—born Alice Faye Williams (January 10, 1947 – May 2, 2016) in North Carolina—and his biological father, William "Billy" Garland (born March 14, 1949), had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A month before Shakur's birth, his mother was tried in New York City as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial. She was acquitted of over 150 charges. Other family members who were involved in the Black Panthers' Black Liberation Army were convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned, including Shakur's stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, who spent four years as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Mutulu was apprehended in 1986 and subsequently convicted for a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored truck, during which police officers and a guard were killed. Shakur's godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high-ranking Black Panther, was wrongly convicted of murdering a schoolteacher during a 1968 robbery. After he spent 27 years in prison, his conviction was overturned due to the prosecution's having concealed evidence that proved his innocence. Shakur's godmother, Assata Shakur, was a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013, and would remain on the list up until her death in 2025. 1971–1988: Early life yearbook photo, 1988|150px In the 1980s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and struggled with drug addiction. In 1984, his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland. Beginning in 1984, when Shakur was 13, he lived in the Pen Lucy neighborhood with his mother and younger sister at 3955 Greenmount Ave. The home was a two-story rowhouse that had been subdivided into two separate rental units; the Shakur family lived on the first floor. After his death, the block was renamed Tupac Shakur Way. While living in Baltimore, Shakur attended eighth grade at Roland Park Middle School, then ninth grade at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. He performed in Shakespeare plays—the themes of which he identified in patterns of gang warfare—and as the Mouse King in The Nutcracker ballet. At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur befriended actress Jada Pinkett, who became the subject of some of his poems ("Jada" and "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes"). With his friend Dana "Mouse" Smith as a beatbox, he won competitions for the school's best rapper. Known for his humor, he was popular with all crowds of students. He listened to a diverse range of music that included Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinéad O'Connor, and U2. Upon connecting with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA, Shakur dated Mary Baldridge, who was the daughter of the director of the local chapter of the Communist Party USA. In 1988, Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area. In nearby Mill Valley, he attended Tamalpais High School, where he performed in several theater productions. Shakur did not graduate from high school, but later earned his GED. ==Music career==

1988–1991: Early career Shakur began recording under the stage name "MC New York" in 1988. That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager. Steinberg organized a concert for Shakur and his rap group Strictly Dope. Steinberg managed to get Shakur signed by Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground. At the request of Steinberg, Digital Underground co-founder Jimi "Chopmaster J" Dright worked with Shakur, Ray Luv and Dize, a DJ, on their earliest studio recordings. Dright recalls that Shakur did not work well as part of a group, and added, "this guy was on a mission. From day one. Maybe he knew he wasn't going to be around seven years later." From 1988 to 1991, Dright and Digital Underground produced Shakur's earliest work with his crew at the time, Strictly Dope. The recordings were rediscovered in 2000 and released as The Lost Tapes: Circa 1989. Afeni Shakur sued to stop the sale of the recordings but the suit was settled in June 2001 and rereleased as Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991. Shakur debuted under the stage name 2Pac on Digital Underground, under a new record label, Interscope Records, on the group's January 1991 single "Same Song". The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble, starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Chevy Chase, and Demi Moore. Stretch was featured on a track of the Digital Underground's 1991 album Sons of the P. Becoming fast friends, Shakur and Stretch recorded and performed together often. The album generated controversy when Ronald Ray Howard murdered a Texas Highway Patrol trooper and his defense attorney claimed he was influenced by 2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of police brutality. U.S. vice president Dan Quayle criticized the album, making the statement, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." Tupac, finding himself misunderstood, explained, in part:Despite controversies, 2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, and peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Three singles were released: "Trapped", "Brenda's Got a Baby" (No. 23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs), and "If My Homie Calls" (No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs). Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage. In 1992, he starred in Juice, marking Shakur's first acting role, in which he plays the fictional Roland Bishop, a militant and haunting individual. Rolling Stones Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure". Multiple actors had auditioned for the role of Roland Bishop, but none were considered right for the role. Shakur accompanied Money-B to the audition and asked producer Neal H. Moritz to read. A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No. 24 on the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200. An overall more hardcore album, it emphasizes Tupac's sociopolitical views, and has a metallic production quality. The song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube, co-writer of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police", who in his own solo albums had newly gone militantly political, and gangsta rapper Ice-T, who in June 1992 had sparked controversy with his band Body Count's track "Cop Killer". The album also carries the optimistic compassion of another hit, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment, charting No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, Shakur starred in his second film role alongside Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film, Poetic Justice, and played a gangster called Birdie in the 1994 film Above the Rim. A growing film career, he was initially selected for a few films. Director Allen Hughes had cast Shakur as Sharif in the 1993 film Menace II Society but replaced him once Shakur assaulted him on set due to a discrepancy with the script. Nonetheless, in 2013, Hughes appraises that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie". Singleton initially cast Shakur in his 1995 film Higher Learning, but was fired because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest. He also had Shakur in the lead role as mind in the 2001 film Baby Boy, a role played by Tyrese Gibson. Ultimately, after his death, the set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary". single for "Dear Mama"; the Platinum single is among the top-ranked songs in hip-hop history. In 1993, while visiting Los Angeles, the Notorious B.I.G. asked a local drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur and they quickly became friends. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.I.G. to Los Angeles. 1995: Me Against the World Shakur's third album, Me Against the World, was released while he was incarcerated in March 1995. It is now hailed as his magnum opus, and commonly ranks among the greatest, most influential rap albums. The lead single, "Dear Mama", was released in February 1995 with "Old School" as the B-side. It is the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. It ranked No. 51 on the year-end charts. The second single, "So Many Tears", was released in June 1995, reaching No. 6 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and No. 44 on Hot 100. It reached No. 68 on the Hot 100, No. 35 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and No. 13 on the Hot Rap Singles. Shakur won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards. In 2001, it ranked 4th among his total albums in sales, with about 3 million copies sold in the U.S. 1995–1996: All Eyez on Me and Tha Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory While Shakur was imprisoned in 1995, his mother was about to lose her house. Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight in Los Angeles. Reportedly, Shakur's mother promptly received $15,000. In October 1995, Knight visited Shakur in prison again and posted $1.4 million bond. Shakur returned to Los Angeles and joined Death Row with the appeal of his December 1994 conviction pending. It was rap's first double album—meeting two of the three albums due in Shakur's contract with Death Row—and bore five singles. The album shows Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, leaving behind his previous political messages. With standout production, the album has more party tracks and often a triumphant tone. Music journalist Kevin Powell noted that Shakur, once released from prison, became more aggressive, and "seemed like a completely transformed person". As Shakur's second album to hit No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200, The singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Death Row released Shakur's diss track "Hit 'Em Up" as the non-album B-side to "How Do U Want It". In this venomous tirade, the proclaimed "Bad Boy killer" threatens violent payback on all things Bad Boy — B.I.G., Sean Combs, Junior M.A.F.I.A., the company — and on any in the East Coast rap scene, like rap duo Mobb Deep and rapper Chino XL, who allegedly had commented against Shakur about the dispute. Posthumously, All Eyez on Me won R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 1997 American Music Awards, and the album was certified 9× Multi-Platinum in June 1998, and 10× in July 2014. At the time of his death, a fifth solo album was already finished, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the stage name Makaveli. It had been recorded during the summer of 1996 and released that year. The lyrics were written and recorded in three days, and mixing took another four days. In 2005, MTV.com ranked The 7 Day Theory at No. 9 among hip-hop's greatest albums ever, and by 2006 a classic album. Its singular poignance, through hurt and rage, contemplation and vendetta, resonate with many fans. According to George "Papa G" Pryce, Death Row Records' then director of public relations, the album was meant to be "underground", and was not intended for release before the artist was murdered. It peaked at No. 1 on Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and on the Billboard 200, with the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year. On June 15, 1999, it was certified 4× Multi-Platinum. Soon after Shakur's death, three more films starring him were released, Bullet (1996), ''Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related'' (1997). Posthumous albums Later posthumous albums are archival productions, these albums are: • R U Still Down? (1997) • Greatest Hits (1998) • Still I Rise (1999) • Until the End of Time (2001) • Better Dayz (2002) • Loyal to the Game (2004) • ''Pac's Life'' (2006) ==Poetry collection==

Before and during his hip-hop career, Shakur wrote dozens of poems. Some of the most notable poems are from the posthumous poetry book that was released in 1999, The Rose That Grew from Concrete and these are "Can U C The Pride in The Panther", "If I fail", "Family Tree", "The Rose that grew from the concrete" and many others. In 1993 Tupac played a character named "Lucky" in the film titled Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson. Poet and activist Maya Angelou, who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the civil rights movement, wrote the poems used in the 1993 film. In April 2022, handwritten poems written by Tupac when he was 11 years old were up for sale for US$300,000 but only sold for $90,000. The poems were for Jamal Joseph and three other Black Panther Party members while they were incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison. Even at his young age, Shakur's writing dealt with themes such as black liberation, mass incarceration, race, and masculinity. The poems feature a self-portrait of Shakur sleeping, pen in hand, dreaming of the Black Panthers being freed from prison, and signed with a heart and the phrase "Tupac Shakur, Future Freedom Fighter". In October 2023, sexually explicit poems he wrote to Jada Pinkett Smith while in prison went public in the book Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography. Pinkett Smith celebrated Shakur's 50th birthday by showing an unreleased poem on Instagram called "Lost Soulz". According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Green: "He was also a poet and activist who became one of his era's most revolutionary voices." Tupac had passion for theater and admiration of William Shakespeare. Years after Tupac's death, Nas said "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare." ==Personal life==

Shakur became close friends with Jada Pinkett while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts. He helped Pinkett land her first movie role in the film Menace II Society (1993). In turn, Pinkett secured Shakur a guest starring role on the sitcom A Different World in 1993. She appeared in his music videos "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Temptations". In 1995, Pinkett contributed $100,000 towards Shakur's bail as he awaited an appeal on his sexual abuse conviction. Pinkett later revealed that she turned down his marriage proposal while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island in 1995. Speaking about Pinkett, Shakur stated: "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life. We'll be old together. Jada can ask me to do anything and she can have it." Pinkett said Shakur was "one of my best friends. He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime". Shakur befriended Treach when they were both roadies on Public Enemy's tour in 1990. He made a cameo in Naughty by Nature's music video "Uptown Anthem" in 1992. Treach collaborated on Shakur's song "5 Deadly Venomz" and appeared in the music video for Shakur's "Temptations". In 1993, during a police raid of Shakur's room at New York City's Parker Meridian Hotel, a videotape was confiscated which showed Shakur having sex with his then-girlfriend Desiree Smith. Officers were attempting to build their case against Shakur for the alleged sodomy of Ayanna Jackson. In 2022, Smith insisted she was neither underage nor intoxicated at the time of their tryst. In 2011, a sex tape featuring Shakur receiving oral sex from a groupie while rapping and dancing along to one of his own unreleased songs, was sold to a private collector. The video, which was filmed in 1993, also features rapper Money B from Digital Underground. That same year, on an interview with The Source, Shakur criticized record producer Quincy Jones for his interracial marriage to actress Peggy Lipton. Their daughter Rashida Jones responded with an irate open letter. Shakur later apologized to her sister Kidada Jones, whom he began dating in 1996. Shakur and Jones attended Men's Fashion Week in Milan and walked the runway together for a Versace fashion show. Jones was at their hotel in Las Vegas when Shakur was shot. After Shakur was shot in 1994, he recuperated at Jasmine Guy's home. They had met during his guest appearance on the sitcom A Different World in 1993. Shakur also mentioned that Madonna was a supportive friend. Shakur and Rourke formed a bond while filming the movie Bullet in 1994. Rourke recalled that Shakur "was there for me during some very hard times." On April 29, 1995, Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris, a pre-law student. Their marriage was annulled ten months later. Chuck D, Jim Carrey, and Alanis Morissette. In April 1996, Shakur said that he, Morissette, Snoop Dogg, and Suge Knight were planning to open a restaurant together. ==Legal issues==

1993 shooting in Atlanta On October 31, 1993, Shakur was arrested in Atlanta for shooting two off-duty police officers, brothers Mark Whitwell and Scott Whitwell. The Atlanta police claimed the shooting occurred after the brothers were almost struck by a car carrying Shakur while they were crossing the street with their wives. As they argued with the driver, Shakur's car pulled up and he shot the Whitwells in the buttocks and the abdomen. However, there are conflicting accounts that the Whitwells were harassing a black motorist and uttered racial slurs. Shakur was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm as two guns were found in the hotel room. On December 1, 1994, Shakur was acquitted of three counts of sodomy and the associated gun charges, but convicted of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse for "forcibly touching the woman's buttocks" in his hotel room. Jurors have said the lack of evidence stymied a sodomy conviction. Shakur's lawyer characterized the sentence as "out of line" with the groping conviction and the setting of bail at $3 million as "inhumane". Shakur's accuser later filed a civil suit against Shakur seeking $10 million for punitive damages which was subsequently settled. After Shakur had been convicted of sexual abuse, Jacques Agnant's case was separated and closed via misdemeanor plea without incarceration. A. J. Benza reported in New York Daily News Shakur's new disdain for Agnant who Shakur theorized had set him up with the case. Shakur reportedly believed his accuser was connected to and had sexual relations with Agnant and James "Henchman" Rosemond, whom he considered to be behind the 1994 Quad Studios shooting. Shakur was unable to post the $3 million bond to keep himself free until sentencing so he surrendered himself to authorities at the Bellevue Hospital Jail Ward in New York City on December 23, 1994. At the time, he was still recovering from injuries he received on November 30, when he was shot five times and robbed at Quad Studios. On February 7, 1995, he was sentenced to 18 months to years in prison by a judge who decried "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman". In March 1995, Shakur was transferred to Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. While imprisoned, he began reading again, which he had been unable to do as his career progressed due to his marijuana and alcohol habits. Works such as The Prince by Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli and The Art of War by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu sparked Shakur's interest in philosophy, philosophy of war and military strategy. On April 29, 1995, Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris; the marriage was later annulled. He was also visited by Al Sharpton, who helped Shakur get released from solitary confinement. By October 1995, pending judicial appeal, Shakur was incarcerated in New York. 1994 Quad Studios shooting On November 30, 1994, while in New York recording verses for a mixtape of Ron G, Shakur was repeatedly distracted by his beeper. Music manager James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond reportedly offered Shakur $7,000 to stop by Quad Studios, in Times Square, that night to record a verse for his client Little Shawn. Shakur speculated that the shooting had been a set-up. Against medical advice, Shakur checked out of Metropolitan Hospital Center a few hours after surgery and secretly went to the house of the actress Jasmine Guy to recuperate. The next day, Shakur arrived at a Manhattan courthouse bandaged in a wheelchair to receive the jury's verdict for his sexual abuse case. Jimmy Henchman, The accusations were significant to the East–West Coast rivalry in hip-hop; in 1995, months after the robbery, Combs and B.I.G. released the track "Who Shot Ya?", which Shakur took as a mockery of his shooting and thought they could be responsible, so he released a diss song, "Hit 'Em Up", in which he targeted B.I.G., Combs, their record label, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and at the end of "Hit 'Em Up", he mentions rivals Mobb Deep and Chino XL. In March 2008, Chuck Philips, in the Los Angeles Times, reported on the 1994 ambush and shooting. The newspaper later retracted the article since it relied partially on FBI documents later discovered forged, supplied by a man convicted of fraud. In June 2011, convicted murderer Dexter Isaac, incarcerated in Brooklyn, issued a confession that he had been one of the gunmen who had robbed and shot Shakur at Henchman's order. Other criminal or civil cases 1991 Oakland Police Department lawsuit On October 17, 1991, two Oakland Police Department officers stopped Shakur for jaywalking at a downtown intersection. According to Shakur, officers Alex Boyovic and Kevin Rogers asked him for his ID and pressed him about his name before choking him, throwing him to the ground and slamming his head on the concrete. Shakur filed a $10 million lawsuit against the officers for police brutality. Nonetheless, on September 14, 1994, Shakur pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, twenty of them suspended on condition that he complete 35 hours of community service. The prosecution's evidence included a Yo! MTV Raps interview in which Shakur boasted that he had "beat up the director of Menace II Society". Concealed weapon case In 1994, Shakur was arrested in Los Angeles, when he was stopped by police on suspicion of speeding. Police found a semiautomatic pistol in the car, a felony offense because of a prior conviction in 1993 in Los Angeles for carrying a concealed firearm. On April 4, 1996, Shakur was sentenced to 120 days in jail for violating his release terms and failing to appear for a road cleanup job, but was allowed to remain free awaiting appeal. On June 7, his sentence was deferred via appeals pending in other cases. 1995 wrongful death suit On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed outdoors at a festival. For about an hour after the performance, he signed autographs and posed for photos. A conflict broke out and Shakur allegedly drew a legally carried Colt Mustang but dropped it on the ground. Shakur claimed that someone with him then picked it up when it accidentally discharged. About 100 yards (90 meters) away in a schoolyard, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a boy aged 6 on his bicycle, was fatally shot in the forehead. Police matched the bullet to a .38-caliber pistol registered to Shakur. His stepbrother Maurice Harding was arrested in suspicion of having fired the gun, but no charges were filed. Lack of witnesses stymied prosecution. In 1995, Qa'id's mother filed a wrongful death suit against Shakur, which was settled for about $300,000 to $500,000. The case was later dismissed. ==Murder and aftermath==

and Koval Lane, where the murder occurred On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur was in Paradise, Nevada, to attend the Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson boxing match with Suge Knight at the MGM Grand. Afterward in the lobby one of Knight's associates spotted Orlando Anderson, a South Side Compton Crip, and told Shakur he had tried to rob them earlier that year. The hotel's surveillance footage shows the ensuing assault on Anderson. Shakur soon stopped by his hotel room and then headed with Knight to his Death Row nightclub, Club 662, in a black BMW 750iL sedan, part of a larger convoy. At about 11 p.m. on Las Vegas Boulevard, bicycle-mounted police stopped the car for its loud music and lack of license plates. The plates were found in the trunk, and the car was released without a ticket. At about 11:15 p.m. at a stop light, a white, four-door, late-model Cadillac sedan pulled up to the passenger side and an occupant rapidly fired into the car. Shakur was struck four times: once in the arm, once in the thigh, and twice in the chest with one bullet entering his right lung. Shards hit Knight's head. Frank Alexander, Shakur's bodyguard, was not in the car at the time. He would say he had been tasked to drive the car of Shakur's girlfriend, Kidada Jones. Shakur was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was heavily sedated and put on life support. In the intensive-care unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Shakur died from internal bleeding. In 2002, investigative journalist Chuck Philips, after a year of work, reported in the Los Angeles Times that Anderson, a Southside Compton Crip, having been attacked by Suge and Shakur's entourage at the MGM Hotel after the boxing match, had fired the fatal gunshots, but that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had interviewed him only once, briefly, before his death in an unrelated shooting. Philips's 2002 article also alleges the involvement of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and several within New York City's criminal underworld. Both Anderson and Wallace denied involvement, while Wallace offered a confirmed alibi. Music journalist John Leland, in The New York Times, called the evidence "inconclusive". In 2011, via the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI released documents related to its investigation which described an extortion scheme by the Jewish Defense League (classified as "a right wing terrorist group" by the FBI) that included making death threats against Shakur and other rappers, but did not indicate a direct connection to his murder. On July 18, 2023, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department executed a search warrant in connection with Shakur's murder. On September 29, 2023, the AP reported that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had arrested a suspect, Duane "Keefe D" Davis, in Shakur's murder. Police had two months previously served a search warrant at his wife's home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson. Davis pleaded not guilty on November 2, 2023, in Las Vegas. As of February 2025, Davis' trial was set to start on February 9, 2026. As of January 2025, Davis remained incarcerated at the Clark County Detention Center. On September 3, 2025, Davis, who at this point in time still remained at the Clark County Detention Center, On November 18, 2025, Davis' trial would once again be delayed, this time to August 10, 2026. By this point in time, Davis, who was now serving a separate prison sentence for the jailhouse fight conviction, was now incarcerated at Nevada's High Desert State Prison. == Artistry ==

Musical style Shakur's music and philosophical outlook were deeply influenced by a wide range of American, African American, and global influences, including the Black Panther Party, black nationalism, egalitarianism, and the concept of liberty. Moreover, Shakur's artistic sensibilities were enriched by his passion for theater and admiration for the works of William Shakespeare. Notably, he honed his theatrical skills as a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he delved into the psychological complexities inherent in inter-gang warfare and inter-cultural conflicts, reflecting themes explored in Shakespearean dramas. 2Pacalypse Now (1991), showcased his socially conscious perspective. Through powerful tracks like "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped", and "Part Time Mutha", Shakur addressed social injustice, poverty, and police brutality. In doing so, he contributed to the ongoing success of rap groups such as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, while establishing himself as one of the pioneering socially conscious rappers from the West Coast. Nas said in 2002: "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare." Vocal style Singers can manipulate different parts of their body to create various sounds. For instance, the "head voice" involves singing high-pitched tones resonating from the head, while the "chest voice" utilizes the chest area. ==Legacy and remembrance==

museum in Herford, Germany Shakur is considered one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. He was listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by Rolling Stone. He is widely credited as an important figure in hip-hop culture, and his prominence in pop culture in general has been noted. Dotdash, formerly About.com, while ranking him fifth among the greatest rappers, nonetheless notes, "Tupac Shakur is the most influential hip-hop artist of all time. Even in death, 2Pac remains a transcendental rap figure." Yet to some, he was a "father figure" who, said rapper YG, "makes you want to be better—at every level." The online rap magazine AllHipHop held a 2007 roundtable at which New York rappers Cormega, citing tour experience with New York rap duo Mobb Deep, commented that B.I.G. ran New York, but Shakur ran America. Shakur emerged as a celebrated artist, earning recognition for his astonishingly prolific output and unwavering commitment to his craft. According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Green: "He was also a poet and activist who became one of his era's most revolutionary voices." In 2021, Saweetie told Complex that Tupac was "the greatest rapper that ever lived". According to British writer Rob Marriott, he deemed the act of tying a bandana into rabbit ears as one of the most distinctive and instantly recognizable style choices in the world of hip-hop. Regarded as a sex symbol, his unique style helped shape the fashion landscape of the 1990s and continues to influence artists and fashion enthusiasts to this day. In 2010, writing Rolling Stone magazine's entry on Shakur at No. 86 among the "100 greatest artists", New York rapper 50 Cent appraised: According to music journalist Chuck Philips, Shakur "had helped elevate rap from a crude street fad to a complex art form, setting the stage for the current global hip-hop phenomenon." Philips writes, "The slaying silenced one of modern music's most eloquent voices—a ghetto poet whose tales of urban alienation captivated young people of all races and backgrounds." In 2014, BET explained that "his confounding mixture of ladies' man, thug, revolutionary and poet has forever altered our perception of what a rapper should look like, sound like and act like. In 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Lil Wayne, newcomers like Freddie Gibbs and even his friend-turned-rival B.I.G., it's easy to see that Pac is the most copied MC of all time. There are murals bearing his likeness in New York, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Bulgaria and countless other places; he even has statues in Atlanta and Germany. Quite simply, no other rapper has captured the world's attention the way Tupac did and still does." More simply, his writings, published after his death, inspired rapper YG to return to school and get his GED. In 2020, former California Senator and former vice-president Kamala Harris called Shakur the "best rapper alive", which she explained as being because "West Coast girls think 2Pac lives on". According to writer Kevin Powell: "He deserves to be put in the same category as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, as John Lennon, in terms of his global impact." Tupac is regarded as one of the most influential artists in music and popular culture in general and an icon of activism. Final ash placement in Soweto In 2006, on the 10th anniversary of Tupac Shakur's death, his ashes were moved to Soweto. Shakur's mother Afeni transported them to the "birthplace of his ancestors" and conducted a memorial service in what's considered as one of the most renowned South African townships. Afeni Shakur explained that Soweto had been selected due to its significance as the "birthplace of the South African struggle for democracy and against apartheid." The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality donated a five-acre plot of undeveloped land in the Zola area of Soweto to build a memorial honoring Shakur. A portion of the land was designated to be transformed into a park for the benefit of local children as well as aimed at promoting environmental education, pathways, orphanages, bridges, skateboard ramps and a golf range while plans also included the construction of an amphitheater and a museum showcasing South African music and arts. The project was funded by Johannesburg city authorities and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. The memorial was hosted by South African musician and actor Zola 7. Singer Macy Gray and members of the Outlawz were amongst the attendees who paid their respects. Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation In 1997, Shakur's mother founded the Shakur Family Foundation. Later renamed the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, or TASF, it launched with a stated mission to "provide training and support for students who aspire to enhance their creative talents." The TASF sponsors essay contests, charity events, a performing arts day camp for teenagers, and undergraduate scholarships. In June 2005, the TASF opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, or TASCA, in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It closed in 2015. Tupac Memorial Pole in Vegas The Tupac memorial pole in Las Vegas is an unofficial memorial at the site where Shakur was murdered. Fans frequently leave messages and writings on the pole to remember him. Some visitors even coat the pole with graffiti to show their appreciation for the rap star, and some well-wishers have even left offerings at the base of the utility pole. In April 2003, Harvard University cosponsored the symposium "All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero", The papers presented cover his ranging influence from entertainment to sociology. Calling him a "Thug Nigga Intellectual", an "organic intellectual", English scholar Mark Anthony Neal assessed his death as leaving a "leadership void amongst hip-hop artists", as this "walking contradiction" helps, Neal explained, "make being an intellectual accessible to ordinary people." Tracing Shakur's mythical status, Murray Forman discussed him as "O.G.", or "Ostensibly Gone", with fans, using digital mediums, "resurrecting Tupac as an ethereal life force." According to Price, Tupac had surpassed the legacies of John Coltrane and Mahalia Jackson within the tradition of black music. In 2012, the Norwegian University of Oslo organized the course: "Tupac, hiphop og kulturhistorie (Tupac, hip-hop and cultural history)." As Knut Aukrust, Norwegian professor and academic scholar of cultural studies at the University of Oslo, puts it: "Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971–1996) is one of the most famous and controversial representatives of hip-hop culture. He has become an icon with saint status far beyond his fans. References to him and his message appear all over the world, from Barack Obama's slogan about "changes", to Palestinians and Israelis longing for peace in the Middle East, to the people of Groruddalen who want their experiences to be taken on board serious. The course highlights how a single person can fit into a wider network of cultural models and how a local storytelling tradition has become an international cultural phenomenon." In 2008, his estate made about $15 million. On April 15, 2012, at the Coachella Music Festival, rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre joined a Shakur "hologram" (Although the media referred to the technology as a hologram, technically it was a projection created with the Musion Eyeliner), and, as a partly virtual trio, performed the Shakur songs "Hail Mary" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted". There were talks of a tour, but Dre refused. Meanwhile, the Greatest Hits album, released in 1998, and which in 2000 had left the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200, returned to the chart and reached No. 129, while also other Shakur albums and singles drew sales gains. Books In 1999, Tupac's posthumous book was released called The Rose That Grew from Concrete featuring 72 deeply personal, handwritten poems written when Tupac was 19. The poetry collection is used in schools, ranging from middle school to high school English curricula. Film and stage The documentary film Tupac: Resurrection was released in November 2003. It was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2005 Academy Awards. In 2014, the play Holler If Ya Hear Me, based on Shakur's lyrics, played on Broadway, but, among Broadway's worst-selling musicals in recent years, ran only six weeks. In development since 2013, a Shakur biopic, All Eyez on Me, began filming in Atlanta in December 2015. It was released on June 16, 2017, on Shakur's 46th birthday, albeit to generally negative reviews. In August 2019, a docuseries directed by Allen Hughes, Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, was announced. Awards and honors • In 2002, Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2004, Shakur was among the honorees at the first Hip Hop Honors. • In 2006, Shakur's close friend and classmate Jada Pinkett Smith donated $1 million to their high school alma mater, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and named the new theater in his honor. In 2021, Pinkett Smith honored Shakur's 50th birthday by releasing a never before seen poem she had received from him. On June 23, 2010, the Library of Congress added "Dear Mama" to the National Recording Registry, the third rap song. • In 2015, the Grammy Museum opened an exhibition dedicated to Shakur. In his first year of eligibility, Shakur was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017. • In January 2022, the exhibition ''Tupac Shakur: Wake Me When I'm Free'' opened at The Canvas at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. • On May 16, 2023, Oakland City Council voted to name the section of MacArthur Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Van Buren Avenue "Tupac Shakur Way". • On June 7, 2023, Shakur received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His half-sister, Sekyiwa "Set" Shakur, accepted the award in his honor. Rankings • 2002: Forbes magazine ranked Shakur at 10th among top-earning dead celebrities. • 2003: MTV's viewers voted Shakur the greatest MC. • 2005: Shakur was voted No.1 on Vibe's online poll of "Top 10 Best of All Time". • 2006: MTV staff placed him second on its list of "The Greatest MCs Of All Time". • 2007: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame placed All Eyez on Me at No. 90 and Me Against the World at No. 170. • 2010: Rolling Stone magazine placed Shakur at No. 86 among the "100 Greatest Artists". • 2023: Billboard ranked Shakur at number 4 of the top 50 rappers. ==Discography==

Solo studio albums • 2Pacalypse Now (1991) • Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) • Me Against the World (1995) • All Eyez on Me (1996) Posthumous solo studio albums • The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) (as Makaveli) • R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997) • Until the End of Time (2001) • Better Dayz (2002) • Loyal to the Game (2004) • ''Pac's Life'' (2006) Collaborative studio album • Thug Life, Volume I (with Thug Life) (1994) Posthumous collaborative studio album • Still I Rise (with Outlawz) (1999) ==Filmography==

Portrayals in film Documentaries Shakur's life has been explored in several documentaries, most notably the Academy Award-nominated Tupac: Resurrection (2003). • 1996: ''America's Most Wanted'' • 1997: Unsolved Mysteries • 1997: Tupac Shakur: Thug Immortal • 1997: Tupac Shakur: Words Never Die (TV) • 1998: BioRhythm • 2001: Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake... • 2001: Welcome to Deathrow • 2002: Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel • 2002: Biggie & Tupac • 2002: Tha Westside • 2003: 2Pac 4 Ever • 2003: Tupac: Resurrection • 2003: Beef • 2004: Tupac vs. • 2004: Tupac: The Hip Hop Genius (TV) • 2006: So Many Years, So Many Tears • 2006: Remembering Makaveli, Volume 1 • 2006: Rap Sheet: Hip Hop and the Cops • 2007: Tupac Assassination: Conspiracy or Revenge • 2007: Final 24 • 2008: Inside Death Row • 2009: Tupac Assassination II: Reckoning • 2010: 30 for 30: One Night in Vegas • 2010: Famous Crime Scene • 2011: Tupac Uncensored and Uncut: The Lost Prison Tapes • 2011: Pop Profiles • 2011: Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel 2 • 2015: Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders • 2016: Hollywood Homicide Uncovered • 2016: BuzzFeed Unsolved • 2016: Vanity Fair Confidential • 2017: Who killed Tupac? • 2017: Who Shot Biggie & Tupac? • 2017: Tupac Assassination III: Battle for Compton • 2017: Unsung Hollywood • 2017: Snapped Notorious • 2018: Unsolved: Murders of Biggie and Tupac? • 2018: Hip-Hop Evolution • 2018: Death Row Chronicles • 2021: The Life & Death of Tupac Shakur • 2021: A Life in Ten Pictures • 2021: Dark Side of the 90s • 2021: Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and the Murders of Biggie & Tupac • 2022: Deathbed Confessions • 2023: Dear Mama • 2023: Fame Kills: Tupac • 2023: Tupac & Biggie: Worlds Collide ==See also==