Tupac Shakur

Biography

Tupac Shakur was born in Brookly, NY in 1971. Early in his life, he moved to Baltimore , MD, where he attended The Baltimore School for the Performing Arts. At this school, Tupac left a lasting impression on his teachers and was showing tremendous potential.

Unfortunately, Tupac was unable to continue his training. He moved to Oakland, California with the rest of his family. That's when Tupac began to, as he called it, "Hang with the wrong crowd."

Tupac's public life began when he joined the rap group, digital underground, first as a tour dancer, then as a rapper. Not long before thegroup achieved award winning success, Tupac released his first solo album "2pacalypes Now", which was also a success.

While he maitained a thug image, Tupac was a man of contridictions, recording sentimental raps in support of black woman, including Brenda's Got A Baby,and Keep Ya Head Up. "Because I was raised by a woman half my life, then thrown out onto the streets, its like I've got the womans side, thewn I've got the real rough, manly values that were forced onto me."-Tupac Shakur

His stunning talent also got him a role in the motion picture,the violent drama "Juice".

Tupac eventually released asecond album "Strictly for my Niggaz," which was an even bigger success.

The highlight of Tupac's acting career came when he appeared in "Poetic Justice" besides Janet Jackson. The role made Tupac a household name and showed the world that music may not be Tupac's only talent. However he faced a possibility of doing time in prison when he was charged with assaulting the director of Menace II Society, after being dropped from the cast of the movie.

What followed was a tour of courthouses and jailcells for Tupac such as 10 days in prison for assauting a rapper with a baseball bat, and charges for shooting 2 off-duty Atlanta police officers which charges were eventually dropped.

In the midst of a role in the movie "Above the Rim" and a Platnum album "Me against the world," Tupac's rising career was snagged. He was brought up on sexual assault charges by a woman he met at a nightclub. Just 1 day before Tupac would be found guilty, Tupac was shot five times while in a recording studio in New York.

The attack was classed as robbery, however later Tupac accused East-coast rappers including Sean "Puffy" Combs and The Noutorious B-I-G of setting him up. While in prison on sexual abuse charges, Tupac's new album Me Against the world spent 4 weeks at number one on the charts.

Tupac spend 8 months in prison, before Death Row Records producer Suge Knight paid he's 1 million dollar bail and also signed Tupac to Death Row.

After his release, Tupac answered his critics by releasing his Death Row debute, "All eyez on me", which has currently sold more than 6 million copies, and fetured other Death Row memebers Snoop Doggy Dogg, and Dr Dre.

While becoming Death Row's most valuable rapper, Tupac also completed work on two more films,"Gridlock" and Bullet.

Then On September 7, 1996, Tupac and Suge Knight left the Mike Tyson - Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas in Suges car. A white Cadillac with four people inside pulled alongside at an intersection and one person opened fire. Tupac was hit 4 times while Suge escaped with minor injuries. Tupac was brought to the University Medical Center.

On Friday, September 13, 1996, Tupac died after 6 days in critical condition. Tupac Shakur was pronounced dead at 4.03 pm, his body was later cremated. He was only 25. There are many thoeries to Tupac's death, however there is a suspicion that it could have have been the rivalry between the Westcoast and Eastcoast rappers.