Tupac Shakur
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names
2Pac and
Makaveli, was an American
rapper and
actor.
[1] Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide as of 2010,
[2] making him one of the
best-selling music artists in the world.
Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time.
[3]
The themes of most of Tupac's songs are the violence and hardship in
inner cities, racism, social problems, and conflicts with other rappers
during the
East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur began his career as a
roadie,
backup dancer, and MC for the
alternative hip hop group
Digital Underground.
[4][5][6]
Both of his parents and several other of his family members were members of the
Black Panther Party.
Shakur was involved in an East Coast-West Coast rivalry after a major
feud with East Coast rappers, producers and record-label staff members,
most notably
The Notorious B.I.G. and
Bad Boy Records.
[7]
On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot multiple times in a
drive-by shooting in
Las Vegas,
Nevada. He was taken to the
Southern Nevada University Medical Center, where he died six days later.
[8]
Life and career
1971–1990: Early life and career beginnings
East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, where Shakur was born
Shakur was born in the
East Harlem section of
Manhattan in New York City.
[9] He was named after
Túpac Amaru,
[10] a Peruvian revolutionary who led an
indigenous uprising against Spain and was subsequently executed.
[11] His mother,
Afeni Shakur, and his father, Billy Garland, were active members of the
Black Panther Party
in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The infant boy was born a
month after his mother was acquitted of more than 150 charges of
"Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks"
in the New York "Panther 21" court case.
[12]
Although unconfirmed by the Shakur family, several sources (including the official coroner's report) list his birth name as
Lesane Parish Crooks.
[13]
This name was supposedly entered on the birth certificate because Afeni
feared her enemies would attack her son, and disguised his true
identity using a different last name. She changed it later, following
her separation from Garland and marriage to
Mutulu Shakur.
[14]
Shakur lived from an early age with people who were struggling and who were imprisoned. His godfather,
Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high ranking
Black Panther,
was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery,
although his sentence was later overturned. His stepfather, Mutulu,
spent four years at large on the
FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list beginning in 1982. Mutulu was wanted for having helped his sister
Assata Shakur (also known as Joanne Chesimard) to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey. She had been imprisoned for killing a
state trooper in 1973. Mutulu was caught in 1986 and imprisoned for the
robbery of a Brinks armored truck in which two police officers and a guard were killed.
[15] Shakur had a half-sister, Sekyiwa, two years his junior, and an older stepbrother,
Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, who appeared in many of his recordings.
[16]
At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in
Harlem's
127th Street Repertory Ensemble and was cast as the Travis Younger character in the play
A Raisin in the Sun, which was performed at the
Apollo Theater. In 1986, the family relocated to
Baltimore,
Maryland.
[17] After completing his second year at
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, he transferred to the
Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry,
jazz, and ballet. He performed in
Shakespeare plays, and in the role of the Mouse King in
The Nutcracker.
[15] Shakur, accompanied by one of his friends, Dana "Mouse" Smith, as his
beatbox, won many rap competitions and was considered to be the best rapper in his school.
[18]
He was remembered as one of the most popular kids in his school because
of his sense of humor, superior rapping skills, and ability to mix with
all crowds.
[19] He developed a close friendship with a young
Jada Pinkett (later Jada Pinkett Smith) that lasted until his death.
In the documentary
Tupac: Resurrection,
Shakur says, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole
life." Pinkett Smith calls him "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." A poem written by Shakur
titled "Jada" appears in his book,
The Rose That Grew From Concrete,
which also includes a poem dedicated to Pinkett Smith called "The Tears
in Cupid's Eyes". During his time in art school, Shakur became
affiliated with the Baltimore
Young Communist League USA,
[20][21] and began dating the daughter of the director of the local
Communist Party USA.
[22]
In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved to
Marin City, California, a residential community located 5 miles (8.0 km) north of
San Francisco,
[17] where he attended
Tamalpais High School in nearby
Mill Valley.
[23] He began attending the poetry classes of
Leila Steinberg in 1989.
[24]
That same year, Steinberg organized a concert with a former group of
Shakur's, "Strictly Dope"; the concert led to him being signed with
Atron Gregory. He set him up as a roadie and backup dancer with the
young rap group
Digital Underground in 1990.
[4][5][6]
1990–92: 2Pacalypse Now, police brutality and shooting in Marin City
Shakur's professional entertainment career began in the early 1990s,
when he debuted his rapping skills in a vocal turn in Digital
Underground's "Same Song" from the
soundtrack to the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble and also appeared with the group in the film of the
same name. The song was later released as the lead song of the Digital Underground
extended play (EP)
This is an EP Release, the follow-up to their debut hit album
Sex Packets.
Shakur appeared in the accompanying music video. After his rap debut,
he performed with Digital Underground again on the album
Sons of the P. Later, he released his first solo album,
2Pacalypse Now. Though the album did not generate any "Top Ten" hits,
2Pacalypse Now is hailed by many critics and fans for its underground feel, with many rappers such as
Nas,
Eminem,
Game, and
Talib Kweli having pointed to it as inspiration.
[25] Although the album was originally released on
Interscope Records, rights of it are now owned by
Amaru Entertainment. The album's name is a reference to the 1979 film
Apocalypse Now.
The album generated significant controversy.
Dan Quayle criticized it after a Texas youth's defense attorney claimed he was influenced by
2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of
police brutality
before shooting a state trooper. Quayle said, "There's no reason for a
record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." The
record was important in showcasing 2Pac's political conviction and his
focus on lyrical prowess. On
MTV's
Greatest Rappers of All Time List,
2Pacalypse Now was listed as one of 2Pac's "certified classic" albums, along with
Me Against the World,
All Eyez On Me and
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
2Pacalypse Now went on to be certified Gold by the
RIAA. It featured three singles; "
Brenda's Got a Baby", "
Trapped", and "
If My Homie Calls".
2Pacalypse Now can be found in the Vinyl Countdown and in the instruction manual for
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, along with the track "I Don't Give a Fuck," which appeared on the in-game radio station,
Radio Los Santos.
In October 1991, Tupac filed a $10 million civil suit against the
Oakland Police Department, alleging they brutally beat him for
jaywalking.
[26]
On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed at an outdoor
festival, and stayed for an hour afterwards signing autographs and
pictures. A confrontation occurred in which someone drew a
Colt Mustang,
and accidentally dropped it. As it was picked up, a bullet discharged.
About 100 yards away, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a 6-year-old, was hit and
killed by a bullet at a playground. Some sources report that the child
was the victim of a stray bullet in a shootout between Shakur's
entourage and a rival group.
[27][28] Shakur and Mopreme left in their car and were stopped by an
angry mob. The police "rescued" them and took the two into custody, who were soon released without charge. In 1995, a
wrongful death suit was brought against Shakur by Qa'id's mother.
Ballistics
tests proved the bullet that killed the boy was not from Shakur's or
any members of his entourage's gun. Shakur's attorney stated that the
festival was a "nasty situation," and his client was saddened by the
death of the young boy. Shakur's record company settled the lawsuit for
an undisclosed amount, reportedly between $300,000 and $500,000.
[29]
1993: Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., rape charge and shooting in Atlanta
His second record,
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., was released in 1993. The album did better than the previous one debuting on number 24 on the
Billboard 200.
The album contains many tracks emphasizing 2Pac's political and social
views. This album had more commercial success than its predecessor, and
there were noticeable differences in production. While Tupac's first
effort had an indie-rap-oriented sound, this album was considered his
"breakout" album. It spawned the hits "
Keep Ya Head Up" and "
I Get Around"
and reached platinum status. On vinyl, Side A (tracks 1-8) was labeled
the "Black Side" and Side B (tracks 9-16) the "Dark Side." It's known as
his tenth-biggest selling album with 1,366,000 units moved as of 2004.
[30]
In October 1993, in
Atlanta,
two brothers and off-duty police officers, Mark and Scott Whitwell,
were with their wives celebrating Mrs. Whitwell's recent passing of the
state bar examination. As they crossed the street, a car with Shakur
inside passed by them or "almost struck them." The Whitwells began an
altercation with the driver, Shakur and the other passengers, which was
joined by a second passing car. Shakur shot one officer in the
buttocks,
and the other in the leg, back, or abdomen, according to varying news
reports. There were no other injuries. Mark Whitwell was charged with
firing at Shakur's car and later lying to the police during the
investigation; Shakur was charged with the shooting; the prosecutors
decided to drop all charges against all parties.
[31][32]
In November 1993, Shakur and others were charged with sexually
assaulting a woman in a hotel room. Shakur denied the charges. According
to Shakur, he had prior relations days earlier with the woman that were
consensual. The complainant claimed sexual assault after her second
visit to Shakur's hotel room; she alleged that Shakur and his entourage
raped her.
[33][34]
In the ensuing trial, Shakur was convicted of sexual abuse. In
sentencing Shakur to 1½–4½ years in prison, the judge described the
crime as "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman."
[35][36]
After serving part of his sentence, Shakur was released on bail pending
appeal. On April 5, 1996, a judge sentenced him to serve 120 days in
jail for violating terms of his release on bail.
[37]
1994: Thug Life, Thug Life: Volume 1 and November shooting
In late 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life with a number of his friends, including
Big Syke, Macadoshis, his stepbrother
Mopreme Shakur, and Rated R. The group released their only album
Thug Life: Volume 1 on September 26, 1994, which went gold. The album featured the single "Pour Out a Little Liquor," produced by
Johnny "J" Jackson, who went on to produce a large part of Shakur's album
All Eyez on Me. The group usually performed their concerts without Shakur.
[38] The album was originally released by Shakur's label Out Da Gutta Records. Due to criticism about
gangsta rap
at the time, the original version of the album was scrapped and
re-recorded with many of the original songs being cut. Among the notable
tracks on the album are "Bury Me a G," "
Cradle to the Grave," "Pour Out a Little Liquor" (which also appears in the soundtrack to the 1994 film
Above the Rim),
"How Long Will They Mourn Me?" and "Str8 Ballin'." The album contains
ten tracks because Interscope Records felt many of the other recorded
songs were too controversial to release. Although the original version
of the album was not completed, Tupac performed the planned first single
from the album, "Out on Bail" at the 1994 Source Awards.
[39] Although the album was originally released on Shakur's label Out Da Gutta,
Amaru Entertainment, the label owned by the mother of Tupac Shakur, has since gained the rights to it.
Thug Life: Volume 1 was certified Gold. The track "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" appeared later in 1998 from
2Pac's
Greatest Hits album.
[40]
Shakur was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after a near-fatal shooting in 1994
On the night of November 30, 1994, the day before the verdict in his
sexual abuse trial was to be announced, Shakur was shot five times and
robbed by two armed men in army fatigues after entering the lobby of
Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan. He would later accuse
Sean Combs,
[41] Andre Harrell, and
Biggie Smalls—whom he saw after the shooting—of setting him up. Shakur also suspected his close friend and associate,
Randy "Stretch" Walker, of being involved in the attack. In the documentary,
[which?]
Biggie says that they were in the recording studio and did not know
Shakur would be there. Once they heard he was downstairs, Lil' Cease
went to get him but came back with news that he had just been shot. When
Biggie's entourage went downstairs to check on the incident, Shakur was
being taken out on a stretcher, still conscious and giving
the finger to those around.
[42][43][44]
According to the doctors at
Bellevue Hospital,
where he was admitted immediately following the incident, Shakur had
received five bullet wounds; twice in the head, twice in the groin and
once through the arm and thigh. In the documentary "Biggie and Tupac",
Tupac's father is interviewed and said that Tupac made a point to show
him that no damage was inflicted upon his penis and/or testicles. His
father also mentions that when he saw Tupac's groin, he knew that he was
his son. He checked out of the hospital against doctor's orders, three
hours after surgery. In the day that followed, Shakur entered the
courthouse in a wheelchair and was found guilty of three counts of
molestation, but innocent of six others, including sodomy. On February
6, 1995, he was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in
prison on a sexual assault charge.
[45]
A year later on November 30, 1995, Stretch was killed after being
shot twice in the back by three men who pulled up alongside his green
minivan at 112th Ave. and 209th St. in
Queens Village, while he was driving. His minivan smashed into a tree and hit a parked car.
[46]
On March 17, 2008,
Chuck Philips wrote a
Los Angeles Times article stating that
Jimmy Henchman,
a hip hop talent manager, ordered a trio of thugs to rough up Shakur.
The article, which was later retracted by the LA Times because it
partially relied on FBI documents which turned out to be forged
[47] was thought to be vindicated in 2011 when Dexter Isaac admitted to attacking Tupac on orders from Henchman.
[48][49][50] Following Isaac’s public confession, Philips corroborated Isaac as one (among many) of his key unnamed sources.
[51] In a June 12, 2012 exclusive for the
Village Voice,
Philips reported that Jimmy Henchman admitted to setting up Tupac's
ambush during one of nine "Queen For A Day" proffer sessions with the
government in autumn of 2011, according to prosecutors,
[52][53] key evidence supporting Philips' theory of the attack.
[53]
1995: Prison Sentence, Me Against the World and Bail
Shakur began serving his prison sentence at
Clinton Correctional Facility on February 14, 1995. Shortly afterward, he released his multi-platinum album
Me Against the World. Shakur became the first artist to have an album at number one on the
Billboard 200 while serving a prison sentence.
Me Against the World
made its debut on the Billboard 200 and stayed at the top of the charts
for four weeks. The album sold 240,000 copies in its first week,
setting a record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist
at the time.
[54] While serving his sentence, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, on April 4, 1995; the couple divorced in 1996.
[55] While imprisoned, Shakur read many books by
Niccolò Machiavelli,
Sun Tzu's
The Art of War and other works of
political philosophy and strategy.
[56] He wrote a screenplay titled
Live 2 Tell while incarcerated, a story about an adolescent who becomes a
drug baron.
[57]
The album was very well received, with many calling it the magnum
opus of his career. It is considered one of the greatest and most
influential hip hop albums of all-time. It is his fourth biggest selling
album with 2,439,000 units moved to date.
[58] Me Against the World won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards.
[59]
"
Dear Mama" was released as the album's first single in February 1995, along with the track "Old School" as the
B-side.
[60] "Dear Mama" would be the album's most successful single, topping the
Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at the ninth spot on the
Billboard Hot 100.
[61] The single was certified platinum in July 1995,
[62] and later placed at #51 on the
year-end charts. The second single, "
So Many Tears", was released in June, four months after the first single.
[63] The single would reach the number six spot on the Hot Rap Singles chart, and the 44th on the
Billboard Hot 100.
[61] "
Temptations", released in August, was the third and final single from the album.
[64]
The single would be the least successful of the three released, but
still did fairly well on the charts, reaching number 68 on the
Billboard Hot 100, 35 on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and 13 on the Hot Rap Singles charts.
[61]
In October 1995, Shakur's case was on appeal but due to all of his
legal fees he could not raise the $1.4 million bail. After serving
eleven months of his one-and-a-half year to four-and-a-half year
sentence,
[65] Shakur was released from the
Clinton Correctional Facility due in large part to the help and influence of
Suge Knight,
the CEO of Death Row Records, who posted a $1.4 million bail pending
appeal of the conviction in exchange for Shakur to release three albums
under the Death Row label.
[66]
1996: All Eyez on Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
All Eyez on Me was the fourth
studio album by 2Pac, released February 13, 1996 on
Death Row Records and
Interscope Records. The album is frequently recognized as one of the crowning achievements of 1990s rap music.
[67] It has been said that "despite some undeniable filler, it is easily the best production 2Pac's ever had on record".
[68] It was
certified 5× Platinum after just 2 months in April 1996 and 9× platinum in 1998. The album featured the
Billboard Hot 100
number one singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love". It
featured 5 singles in all, the most of any 2Pac album. Moreover,
All Eyez On Me (which was the only Death Row release to be distributed through
PolyGram by way of
Island Records)
made history as the first double-full-length hip-hop solo studio album
released for mass consumption. It was issued on two compact discs and
four LPs. Chartwise,
All Eyez on Me was the second album from 2Pac to hit number-one on both the
Billboard 200 and the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.
[69]
It sold 566,000 copies in the first week of its release, and was
charted on the top 100 with the top one-week Soundscan sales since 1991.
The album won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year
Award.
[70][71] Shakur also won the Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24th Annual American Music Awards.
[72]
Makaveli The Don - Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, commonly shortened to
The 7 Day Theory, is the fifth and final
studio album
by Tupac Shakur, under the new stage name Makaveli, finished before his
death and his first studio album to be posthumously released.
[73] The album was completely finished in a total of seven days during the month of August 1996.
[74]
The lyrics were written and recorded in only three days and mixing took
an additional four days. These are among the very last songs he
recorded before his fatal shooting on September 7, 1996. In 2005,
MTV.com ranked
Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory at #9 on their greatest hip hop albums of all time list
[75] and, in 2006, recognized it as a classic.
[76]
The emotion and anger showcased on the album has been admired by a
large part of the hip-hop community, including other rappers.
[77] Ronald "Riskie" Brent is the creator of the Makaveli Don Killuminati cover painting.
[78]
George "Papa G" Pryce, Former Head of Publicity for Death Row, claimed
that "Makaveli which we did was a sort of tongue and cheek and it was
not really to come out and after Tupac was murdered, it did come out.
But before that it was going to be a sort of an underground."
[79] The album peaked at number one on the
Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the
Billboard 200.
[80] The album generated the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year,
[81] selling 664,000 copies on the first week. This album was certified 4× Platinum on June 15, 1999.
[82]
Death
On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the
Mike Tyson–
Bruce Seldon boxing match at the
MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After leaving the match, one of Knight's associates spotted 21-year-old
Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, an alleged member of the
Southside Crips, in the MGM Grand lobby. Earlier that year, Anderson and a group of Crips had robbed a member of Death Row's entourage in a
Foot Locker
store. Knight's associate told Shakur, who attacked Anderson. Shakur's
entourage, as well as Knight and his followers, assisted in assaulting
Anderson. The fight was captured on the hotel's
video surveillance.
After the brawl, Shakur went to rendezvous with Knight to go to Death
Row-owned Club 662 (now known as restaurant/club Seven). He rode in
Knight's 1996 black
BMW 750iL sedan as part of a larger
convoy, including many in Shakur's entourage.
[83]
At around 11:00–11:05 pm, they were halted on Las Vegas Boulevard by
Metro bicycle police for playing the car stereo too loudly and not
having license plates. The plates were found in the trunk of Knight's
car; the party was released without being fined a few minutes later.
[84]
At about 11:10 pm, while they were stopped at a red light at Flamingo
Road near the intersection of Koval Lane in front of the Maxim Hotel, a
vehicle occupied by two women pulled up on their left side. Shakur, who
was standing up through the sunroof, exchanged words with the two women,
and invited them to go to Club 662.
[84] At approximately 11:15 pm, a white, four-door, late-model
Cadillac
with an unknown number of occupants pulled up to the sedan's right
side, rolled down a window, and rapidly fired gunshots at Shakur. He was
hit in the chest, pelvis, and his right hand and thigh.
[8][84] One of the rounds ricocheted into Shakur's right lung.
[85] Knight was hit in the head by
fragmentation, though it is thought
[by whom?] that a bullet grazed him.
[86]
The bodyguard, Frank Alexander, stated that when he was about to ride
along with the rapper in Knight's car, Shakur asked him to drive the car
of Shakur's fiancée
Kidada Jones instead, in case they needed additional vehicles from Club 662 back to the hotel. The bodyguard reported in his documentary,
Before I Wake, that shortly after the assault, one of the convoy's cars drove off after the assailant but he never heard from the occupants.
[87]
After arriving on the scene, police and paramedics took Knight and a
wounded Shakur to the University Medical Center. According to an
interview with the music video director Gobi, while at the hospital, he
received news from a Death Row marketing employee that the shooters had
called the record label and threatened Shakur.
[88] Gobi told the Las Vegas police, but said they claimed to be understaffed.
[88] No attackers came.
[88] At the hospital, Shakur was heavily sedated, was placed on life support machines, and was ultimately put under a
barbiturate-
induced coma after repeatedly trying to get out of the bed.
[8] While in the
critical care unit, on the afternoon of Friday, September 13, 1996, Shakur died of
internal bleeding; doctors attempted to revive him but could not stop the hemorrhaging.
[8] His mother, Afeni, made the decision to tell the doctors to stop.
[85] He was pronounced dead at 4:03 pm (
PDT).
[8]
The official cause of death was noted as respiratory failure and
cardiopulmonary arrest in connection with multiple gunshot wounds.
[8] Shakur's body was cremated and some of his ashes were later mixed with
marijuana and smoked by members of the
Outlawz.
[89]
Aftermath
Murder case
In 2002, the
LA Times published a story by
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter
Chuck Philips,
titled "Who Killed Tupac Shakur", based on a yearlong investigation
that reconstructed the crime and the events leading up to it. Evidence
gathered by the paper indicated that: "the shooting was carried out by a
Compton gang called the Southside Crips to avenge the beating of one of
its members by Shakur a few hours earlier. Orlando Anderson, the Crip
whom
Shakur
had attacked, fired the fatal shots. Las Vegas police discounted
Anderson as a suspect and interviewed him only once, briefly. He was
later killed in an unrelated gang shooting." Philips's article also
implicated East Coast music figures including Biggie, Tupac's nemesis at
the time, and several New York criminals.
[90]
Before they died, Notorious B.I.G. and Anderson denied their role in
the murder. In support of their claims, Biggie's family produced
computerized invoices suggesting that Biggie was working in a New York
recording studio the night of the drive-by shooting. His manager Wayne
Barrow and fellow rapper
James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd
made public announcements denying Biggie's role in the crime and
claimed further that they were both with him in the recording studio
during the night of the event.
[91]
Philips' article, however, was based on police affidavits and court
documents as well as interviews with investigators, witnesses to the
crime and members of the Southside Crips who had never before discussed
the killing outside the gang. The main thrust of Philips' article,
implicating Anderson and the Crips, remains the best supported theory of
the murder of Shakur to date.
Artistry
Influences and musical style
Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in many American,
African-American, and World entities, including the Black Panther Party,
Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty.
Tupac’s love of theater and Shakespeare also influenced his work. A
student of the Baltimore school of Arts where he studied theater, Tupac
understood the Shakespearian psychology of inter-gang wars and
inter-cultural conflict. During a 1995 interview, Tupac told the
Pulitzer prize-winning LA Times reporter
Chuck Philips:
[92]
| “ |
… I
love Shakespeare. He wrote some of the rawest stories, man. I mean look
at Romeo and Juliet. That's some serious ghetto shit. You got this guy
Romeo from the Bloods who falls for Juliet, a female from the Crips, and
everybody in both gangs are against them. So they have to sneak out and
they end up dead for nothing. Real tragic stuff.
And look how Shakespeare busts it up with Macbeth. He creates a tale
about this king's wife who convinces a happy man to chase after her and
kill her husband so he can take over the country. After he commits the
murder, the dude starts having delusions just like in a Scarface song. I
mean the king's wife just screws this guy's whole life up for
nothing…”.[93] |
” |
Chuck Philips made his recorded 1995 interview with Tupac available at chuckphilipspost.com on September 13, 2012, the anniversary of
Tupac's death.
[94] In a European interview
[95]
Philips said that what impressed him the most about Tupac was that he
was a poet. Philips said "I like sacred texts, myths, proverbs and
scriptures. ... When Tupac came along, I thought he was quite the
poet... It wasn’t just how cleverly they rhymed. It wasn’t just the
rhythm or the cadence. I liked their attitude. It was protest music in a
way nobody had ever thought about before. ...These artists were brave,
wise and smart – wickedly smart. The thing about Tupac was he had so
many sides. He was unafraid to write about his vulnerabilities."
[95]
Tupac's debut album,
2Pacalypse Now, revealed the socially
conscious side of Shakur. On this album, Shakur attacked social
injustice, poverty and police brutality on songs "Brenda's Got a Baby",
"Trapped" and "Part Time Mutha". His style on this album was highly
influenced by the social consciousness and
Afrocentrism
pervading hip hop in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On this initial
release, Shakur helped extend the success of such rap groups as
Boogie Down Productions,
Public Enemy,
X-Clan, and
Grandmaster Flash, as he became one of the first major socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.
[96]
On his second record, Shakur continued to rap about the social ills
facing African-Americans, with songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and
"Last Wordz". He also showed his compassionate side with the anthem
"Keep Ya Head Up", while simultaneously putting his legendary
aggressiveness on display with the title track from the album
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. he added a salute to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "
I Get Around". Throughout his career, an increasingly aggressive attitude can be seen pervading Shakur's subsequent albums.
[97]
The contradictory themes of social inequality and injustice,
unbridled aggression, compassion, playfulness, and hope all continued to
shape Shakur's work, as witnessed with the release of his incendiary
1995 album
Me Against the World. In 1996, Shakur released
All Eyez on Me. Many of these tracks are considered by many critics to be classics, including "Ambitionz Az a Ridah", "
I Ain't Mad at Cha", "
California Love", "Life Goes On" and "Picture Me Rollin".;
All Eyez on Me
was a change of style from his earlier works. While still containing
socially conscious songs and themes, Shakur's album was heavily
influenced by party tracks and tended to have a more "feel good" vibe
than his first albums. Shakur described it as a celebration of life, and
the record was critically and commercially successful.
[98]
He had enjoyed and had been influenced by the work of contemporary English and Irish pop musicians as a teenager such as
Kate Bush,
Culture Club,
Sinéad O'Connor and
U2.
[99]
Other ventures
Death Row Records
Upon his release from Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur
immediately went back to song recording. He began a new group called
Outlaw Immortalz. Shakur began recording his first album with Death Row and released the single "
California Love" soon after. On February 13, 1996, Shakur released his fourth solo album,
All Eyez on Me.
This double album was the first and second of his three-album
commitment to Death Row Records. It sold over nine million copies.
[100] The record was a general departure from the introspective subject matter of
Me Against the World,
being more oriented toward a thug and gangsta mentality. Shakur
continued his recordings despite increasing problems at the Death Row
label.
Dr. Dre left his post as house producer to form his own label,
Aftermath.
Shakur continued to produce hundreds of tracks during his time at Death
Row, most of which would be released on his posthumous albums
R U Still Down? (Remember Me),
Still I Rise,
Until the End of Time,
Better Dayz,
Loyal to the Game and
Pac's Life. He also began the process of recording an album with the
Boot Camp Clik and their label Duck Down Records, both New York–based, entitled
One Nation.
[101]
On June 4, 1996, he and Outlawz released the
diss track "
Hit 'Em Up",
a scathing lyrical assault on Biggie and others associated with him. In
the track, Shakur claimed to have had sexual intercourse with
Faith Evans, Biggie's wife at the time, and attacked
Bad Boy's
street credibility. Shakur was convinced that some members associated
with Bad Boy had known about the '94 attack on him beforehand due to
their behavior that night and what his sources told him. After the
attack, Shakur immediately accused
Jimmy Henchman
(an associate of Bad Boy CEO Sean Combs) of orchestrating the attack,
according to a 2005 interview with Henchman in Vibe magazine. After the
attack, Shakur therefore aligned himself with Suge, Death Row's CEO, who
was already bitter toward Combs over a 1995 incident at the Platinum
Club in Atlanta, Georgia, which culminated in the death of Suge's friend
and bodyguard, Jake Robles; Suge was adamant in voicing his suspicions
of Combs' involvement.
[102] (In a June 12, 2012
Village Voice article,
Chuck Philips reported that Sean Comb's associate
Jimmy Henchman,
remarkably, admitted to setting up Tupac's ambush during one of nine
"Queen For A Day" proffer sessions with the government in autumn of
2011, according to prosecutors).
[52]
While incarcerated in
Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur read and studied
Niccolò Machiavelli and other published works, which inspired his pseudonym "Makaveli" under which he released the album
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
The album presents a stark contrast to previous works. Throughout the
album, Shakur continues to focus on the themes of pain and aggression,
making this album one of the emotionally darker works of his career.
Shakur wrote and recorded all the lyrics in only three days and the
production took another four days, combining for a total of seven days
to complete the album (hence the name).
Outlawz
When Tupac Shakur recorded "
Hit 'Em Up" a
diss song towards his former friend and rival,
The Notorious B.I.G.,
also known as Biggie Smalls he recruited three members from the former
group Dramacydal whom he had worked with previously, and was eager to
work with again. Together with the three New Jersey rappers and other
associates, they formed the original lineup of the Outlawz. When 2Pac
signed to
Death Row upon his release from prison, he recruited his step brother
Mopreme Shakur and
Big Syke from Thug Life.
Hussein Fatal,
Napoleon,
E.D.I. Mean,
Kastro,
Yaki Kadafi,
and Storm (the only female Outlaw) were also added, and together they
formed the original lineup of the Outlaw Immortalz that debuted on
2Pac's multi-platinum smash
All Eyez on Me.
They later dropped the immortal after the untimely deaths of 2Pac and
Yaki Kadafi and moved on as Outlawz without the members of Thug Life.
Young Noble was later added and appeared on 2Pac's second Death Row release
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
It was on 2Pac's Makaveli album that Outlawz first came to the greater
rap community's notice, appearing on a few songs. The idea behind the
group was for each member to have a rap name coinciding with the names
of various tyrants or enemies of
America, past and present. Outlawz chose in later years to make a
backronym out of the letters of their group name
Operating Under Thug Laws As Warriorz although it does not stand for the groups name and is used infrequently.
On forming the Outlawz, Tupac gave each of them a name of a dictator/military leader or an enemy of America.
For himself, Tupac created the alias "Makaveli" from
Renaissance Italian philosopher and strategist
Niccolo Machiavelli,
whose writings inspired Shakur in prison, but who also preached that a
leader could eliminate his enemies by all means necessary.
He mentioned Makaveli Records a few times before his death. This was
supposed to be a music label for up and coming artists that Shakur had
an interest in developing or potentially signing, and his own future
projects would have also been published through it as well.
[103]
Acting career
In addition to rapping and hip hop music, Shakur acted in films. He made his first film appearance in the motion picture
Nothing But Trouble, as part of a
cameo by the Digital Underground. His first starring role was in the film
Juice. In this story, he played the character Bishop, a trigger happy teen, for which he was hailed by
Rolling Stone's
Peter Travers as "the film's most magnetic figure."
[104] He then went on to star with
Janet Jackson in
Poetic Justice and with
Duane Martin in
Above the Rim. After his death, three of Shakur's completed films,
Bullet,
Gridlock'd and
Gang Related, were released.
[105][106]
He had also been slated to star in the
Hughes brothers' film
Menace II Society but was replaced by
Larenz Tate after assaulting Allen Hughes as a result of a quarrel. Director
John Singleton mentioned that he wrote the script for
Baby Boy with Shakur in mind for the leading role.
[107] It was eventually filmed with
Tyrese Gibson in his place and released in 2001, five years after Shakur's death. The film features a mural of Shakur in the
protagonist's bedroom as well as featuring the song "
Hail Mary" in the film's score.
[108]
Personal life
Shakur was a voracious reader. He was inspired by a wide variety of writers, including
William Shakespeare,
Niccolò Machiavelli,
Donald Goines,
Sun Tzu,
Kurt Vonnegut,
Mikhail Bakunin,
Maya Angelou,
Alice Walker, and
Khalil Gibran. In his book
Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, University of Pennsylvania Avalon Professor of Humanities and African American Studies
Michael Eric Dyson
describes the experience of visiting the home of Shakur's friend and
promoter Leila Steinberg to find "the sea of books" once owned by
Shakur.
[109]
Shakur never professed following a particular religion, but his
lyrics in singles such as 'Only God Can Judge Me' and poems such as
The Rose That Grew from Concrete suggest he believed in God. This means many analysts currently describe him as a
deist.
[110][111][112] He believed in
Karma, but rejected a literal
afterlife and organized religion.
[113]
Tupac has had several family members who were members of the
Black Panthers;
Mutulu Shakur, the step-father of Tupac,
Assata Shakur, his step-aunt, Billy Garland the biological father of Tupac and
Afeni Shakur his mother.
Accolades
Legacy
| “ |
Since his death, Tupac has become an international martyr, a symbol on the level of Bob Marley or Che Guevara, whose life has inspired Tupacistas on the streets of Brazil, memorial murals in the Bronx and Spain, and bandanna-wearing youth gangs in South Africa. |
” |
— Vinyl Ain't Final: Hip Hop and the Globalization of Black Popular Culture[114] |
At a
Mobb Deep concert following the death of Shakur and the release of
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory,
Cormega recalled in an interview that the fans were all shouting "Makaveli,"
[115] and emphasized the influence of
The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory and of Shakur himself even in New York at the height of the media-dubbed 'intercoastal rivalry'.
[116] Tupac Shakur was also one of the few rappers that were paid a tribute during the
Up in Smoke Tour that featured many west coast hip-hop artists.
Shakur is held in high esteem by other
MCs – in the book
How to Rap,
Bishop Lamont notes that Shakur “mastered every element, every aspect” of rapping
[117] and
Fredro Starr of
Onyx says Shakur, "was a master of the flow."
[118] "Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac," wrote
50 Cent. "He didn't sound like anyone who came before him."
[3] About.com for their part named Shakur the most influential rapper ever.
[119]
Statue of Tupac created by Italian artist Paolo Chiasera at Marta Museum in
Herford,
Germany.
To preserve Shakur's legacy, his mother founded the Shakur Family
Foundation (later renamed the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation or TASF) in
1997. The TASF's stated mission is 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. The Foundation officially opened the
Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) in
Stone Mountain, Georgia, on June 11, 2005. On November 14, 2003, a documentary about Shakur entitled
Tupac: Resurrection was released under the supervision of his mother and narrated entirely in his voice. It was nominated for
Best Documentary in the
2005 Academy Awards. Proceeds will go to a charity set up by Shakur's mother Afeni. On April 17, 2003,
Harvard University
co-sponsored an academic symposium entitled "All Eyez on Me: Tupac
Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero." The speakers discussed a
wide range of topics dealing with Shakur's impact on everything from
entertainment to sociology.
[120]
Many of the speakers discussed Shakur's status and public persona, including
State University of New York at Buffalo English professor
Mark Anthony Neal
who gave the talk "Thug Nigga Intellectual: Tupac as Celebrity
Gramscian" in which he argued that Shakur was an example of the "organic
intellectual" expressing the concerns of a larger group.
[121]
Professor Neal has also indicated in his writings that the death of
Shakur has left a "leadership void amongst hip-hop artists."
[122]
Neal further describes him as a "walking contradiction", a status that
allowed him to "make being an intellectual accessible to ordinary
people."
[123]
Professor of Communications Murray Forman, of
Northeastern University, spoke of the
mythical status about Shakur's life and death. He addressed the
symbolism
and mythology surrounding Shakur's death in his talk entitled "Tupac
Shakur: O.G. (Ostensibly Gone)". Among his findings were that Shakur's
fans have "succeeded in resurrecting Tupac as an ethereal life force."
[124]
In "From Thug Life to Legend: Realization of a Black Folk Hero",
Professor of Music at Northeastern University, Emmett Price, compared
Shakur's public image to that of the trickster-figures of
African-American folklore which gave rise to the urban "bad-man" persona
of the post-slavery period. He ultimately described Shakur as a
"prolific artist" who was "driven by a terrible sense of urgency" in a
quest to "unify mind, body, and spirit".
[125]
In
Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur, Michael
Eric Dyson indicated that Shakur "spoke with brilliance and insight as
someone who bears witness to the pain of those who would never have his
platform. He told the truth, even as he struggled with the fragments of
his identity."
[109] At one Harvard Conference the theme was Shakur's impact on entertainment,
race relations, politics and the "hero/martyr".
[126] In late 1997, the
University of California, Berkeley offered a student-led course entitled "History 98: Poetry and History of Tupac Shakur."
[127]
 |
|
 |
Tupac Shakur in Madame Tussauds, New York.
|
In late 2003, the
Makaveli Branded Clothing line was launched by Afeni. In 2005, Death Row released
Tupac: Live at the House of Blues.
The DVD was the final recorded performance of Shakur's career, which
took place on July 4, 1996, and features a plethora of Death Row
artists. In August 2006,
Tupac Shakur Legacy was released. The interactive biography was written by
Jamal Joseph.
It features unseen family photographs, intimate stories, and over 20
removable reproductions of his handwritten song lyrics, contracts,
scripts, poetry, and other personal papers. Shakur's sixth posthumous
studio album,
Pac's Life,
was released on November 21, 2006. It commemorates the 10th anniversary
of Shakur's death. He is still considered one of the most popular
artists in the music industry as of 2006.
[128]
According to
Forbes, in 2008 Shakur's estate made $15 million.
[129] In 2002, they recognized him as a Top Earning Dead celebrity coming in on number ten on their list.
[130]
On April 15, 2012, a "
hologram" of Tupac Shakur (technically a 2-D video projection
[131]) performed his songs "Hail Mary" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" with Snoop Dogg
[132] at the
Coachella Music Festival, the effect was created using an optical illusion called
Pepper's ghost.
[133] The video footage was created by visual effects company
Digital Domain.
[131]
The Wall Street Journal reported Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were in talks
of a possible tour involving the two rappers and the hologram version of
Tupac,
[134] which was later turned down by Dr. Dre.
[135]
Library of Congress
Shakur's hit song "
Dear Mama" is one of 25 songs that were added to the
National Recording Registry
in 2010. The Library of Congress has called "Dear Mama" "a moving and
eloquent homage to both the murdered rapper's own mother and all mothers
struggling to maintain a family in the face of addiction, poverty and
societal indifference." The honor came seven days after what would have
been Shakur's 39th birthday. Shakur is the third rapper to enter the
library, behind
Grandmaster Flash and
Public Enemy.
[136]
Honors
- In a 2005 Rolling Stone magazine vote, Tupac was named No.6 of the '100 immortal artists of all time' behind the likes of Elvis Presley and John Lennon.
- MTV ranked him at No. 2 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time.[137]
- Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame in 2002.[138]
- Ranked No. 3 on VH1's 50 Greatest Hip Hop Artists.
- In 2003, MTV's "22 Greatest MCs" countdown listed Shakur as the "Number 1 MC", as voted by the viewers.[139]
- In 2004, at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors Shakur was honored along with DJ Hollywood, Kool DJ Herc, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C., Rock Steady Crew, and Sugarhill Gang.[140]
- A Vibe magazine poll in 2004 rated Shakur "the greatest rapper of all time" as voted by fans.[141]
- At the First Annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival
held on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, Shakur was honored for his undeniable
voice and talent and as a performer who crossed racial, ethnic,
cultural and medium lines; his mother accepted the award on his behalf.[142]
- In 2008, The National Association Of Recording Merchandisers in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognized him as a very influential artist and has added him in their Definitive 200 list.[143]
- On Wednesday, June 23, 2010, Shakur was inducted to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.[144]
- The seat of the Catholic Church released a list of 12 songs onto the
social networking Web site's streaming music service. Among the artists
included are Mozart, Muse and Dame Shirley Bassey; the list also includes Shakur's song "Changes", which was released two years after his shooting death on a greatest hits album in 1998.[145]
- His double album, All Eyez on Me,
is one of the highest-selling rap albums of all time, with over 5
million copies of the album sold in the United States alone by April
1996; it was eventually certified 9x platinum in June 1998 by the RIAA.[146]
