Tupac Amaru Shakur was born by the name of Lesane Parish Crooks in
Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 16th, 1971, the son of William Garland and Afeni
Shakur, and the stepson of Jeral Wayne Williams (Mutula Shakur). 2Pac
passed from this earth on September 13, 1996, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Like
numerous rappers living on the edge and destined to be famous, he was
murdered, causing his memory to make him a larger-than-life personality.
At the time he was divorced from wife Keisha Morris and engaged to
Kidida Jones. It was his black-panther mother who had changed his name
when he was a child to Tupac Amaru, an Incan phrase that meant
"Shining Serpent." The name "Shakur" came from his stepfather and means
in Arabic "thankful to God." When only two, Tupac, the Black Prince saw
his stepfather sentenced to 60 years for armored car robbery.
At 12, Tupac joined a theatre group and appeared in "A Raisin in the
Sun." Three years later, his family moved to Baltimore where he
enrolled in the Baltimore School for the Arts. It was here that he
composed his first rap under the moniker "MC New York." Two years later,
the family moved to California. By 1990 Tupac had joined the Digital
Underground as an associate performing rap and dance. He recorded his
first song in 1991 with the DU. This was followed by the successful
album "2Pacalypse Now," with hit singles "Brenda's Got A Baby," and
"Trapped." Tupac made his movie debut in "Juice" (1992). The next year
he appeared in the film, "Poetic Justice," along with Janet Jackson,
which made him a rising star in the acting world, and ultimately a
household name. Subsequent releases were highly successful. Two
Milwaukee teens who murdered a police officer, claimed that Tupac's
"Soul Story" had been their inspiration.
Tupac was up for an assault trial and soon after he was shot during a
robbery attempt in New York, outside a music studio, the thieves
escaping with $40,000 worth of jewelry from Tupac. 1995 saw the release
of "Me Against the World," and became a multi-million seller. Tupac was
sentenced to jail, but released on bail during the appeal, and his 1996
solo album (his fourth), "All Eyes on Me," debuted at Number 1 on the
Billboard Album chart, going on to sell 5 million albums. September
that year, Tupac was in Las Vegas and died at the hands of a mysterious
assailant. Former feuding with East Coast rap giant, Notorious B.I.G., brought the latter under
suspicion, but nothing was ever proven.
Following his killing, Shakur's label released an album, The Don
Killuminati, under the pseudonym "Makaveli." The cover depicted Shakur
nailed to a cross under a crown of thorns, with a map of the country's
major gang areas superimposed on it. A year later the movie "Gang
Related," was released with Shakur playing the role of a detective.
Postmortem album "R U Still Down" was released on Amaru Records and hit
quadruple Platinum. In 1998, his second postmortem album was released.
"Greatest Hits" subsequently sold nearly 5 million albums. 1999 saw the
release of a postmortem book of poems by Tupac and that same year Amaru
released "Still I Rise," by 2Pac and The Outlaws, with fifteen
previously unreleased songs. The fourth postmortem album, "Until The
End of Time," came out and became one of the hottest rap albums of 2001.
