Tupac Shakur is widely considered one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time.
64 Facts About Tupac Shakur
2.
Much of Tupac Shakur's music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against inequality.
3.
Tupac Shakur was born in New York City to parents who were both political activists and Black Panther Party members.
4.
Tupac Shakur's Diamond certified album All Eyez on Me, the first double-length album in hip-hop history, abandoned his introspective lyrics for volatile gangsta rap.
5.
On September 7,1996, Tupac Shakur was shot four times by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas; he died six days later.
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Five more albums have been released since Tupac Shakur's death, including his critically acclaimed posthumous album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory under his stage name Makaveli, all of which have been certified Platinum in the United States.
7.
In 2002, Tupac Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.
8.
Tupac Shakur was born on June 16,1971, in the East Harlem section of Upper Manhattan, New York City.
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Tupac Shakur was named after Tupac Amaru II, the descendant of the last Incan ruler, who was executed in Peru in 1781 after his failed revolt against Spanish rule.
10.
Mutulu Tupac Shakur 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.
11.
Tupac Shakur's godmother, Assata Tupac Shakur, is a former member of the Black Liberation Army, who was convicted of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper and is still wanted by the FBI.
12.
Tupac Shakur attended eighth grade at Roland Park Middle School, then ninth grade at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.
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Tupac Shakur transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts in the tenth grade, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet.
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At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Tupac Shakur befriended actress Jada Pinkett, who became a subject of some of his poems.
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Tupac Shakur listened to a diverse range of music that included Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinead O'Connor, and U2.
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In 1988, Tupac Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Tupac Shakur did not graduate from high school, but he later earned his GED.
18.
Tupac Shakur began recording under the stage name MC New York in 1989.
19.
Steinberg managed to get Tupac Shakur signed by Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground.
20.
In January 1991 Tupac 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".
21.
The song opened the group's January 1991 EP titled This Is an EP Release, while Tupac Shakur appeared in the music video.
22.
Nonetheless, the album carries the single "I Get Around", a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, which became Tupac Shakur's breakthrough, reaching No 11 on the pop singles chart, the Billboard Hot 100.
23.
Still, along with Stretch, Tupac Shakur would perform the first planned single, "Out on Bail", which was never released, at the 1994 Source Awards.
24.
Tupac Shakur won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards.
25.
Tupac Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight in Los Angeles.
26.
Tupac Shakur returned to Los Angeles and joined Death Row with the appeal of his December 1994 conviction pending.
27.
The album shows Tupac Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, leaving behind his previous political messages.
28.
Music journalist Kevin Powell noted that Tupac Shakur, once released from prison, became more aggressive, and "seemed like a completely transformed person".
29.
In 1993, Tupac Shakur starred alongside Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film, Poetic Justice.
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Nonetheless, in 2013, Hughes appraises that Tupac Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie".
31.
Tupac Shakur played a gangster called Birdie in the 1994 film Above the Rim.
32.
Tupac Shakur met Jada Pinkett while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts.
33.
Tupac Shakur will be my friend for my whole life"; and Pinkett said he was "one of my best friends.
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Tupac Shakur befriended Treach when they were both roadies on Public Enemy's tour in 1990.
35.
Tupac Shakur made a cameo in Naughty by Nature's music video "Uptown Anthem" in 1992.
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Tupac Shakur had friendships with other celebrities, including Mike Tyson Chuck D, Jim Carrey, and Alanis Morissette.
37.
Tupac Shakur later apologized to her sister Kidada Jones, who he began dating in 1996.
38.
Tupac Shakur was charged with illegal possession of a firearm as two guns were found in the hotel room.
39.
Tupac Shakur was visited by Al Sharpton, who helped Shakur get released from solitary confinement.
40.
On October 31,1993, Tupac Shakur was arrested in Atlanta for shooting two off-duty police officers, brothers Mark Whitwell and Scott Whitwell.
41.
On November 30,1994, while in New York recording verses for a mixtape of Ron G, Tupac Shakur was repeatedly distracted by his beeper.
42.
Tupac Shakur was unsure, but agreed to the session as he needed the cash to offset legal costs.
43.
Tupac Shakur arrived with Stretch and one or two others.
44.
Against doctor's advice, Tupac 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.
45.
Tupac Shakur posted a $25,000 bond and spent the next few weeks being cared for by his mother and a private doctor at Guy's home.
46.
Tupac Shakur claimed the bat was a part of his show and there was no criminal intent.
47.
Nonetheless, on September 14,1994, Tupac Shakur pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, twenty of them suspended, and ordered to 35 hours of community service.
48.
In early 1994, Tupac Shakur served 15 days in jail after being found guilty of the assault.
49.
In 1994, Tupac Shakur was arrested in Los Angeles, when he was stopped by police on suspicion of speeding.
50.
Tupac Shakur claimed that someone with him then picked it up when it accidentally discharged.
51.
In 1995, Qa'id's mother filed a wrongful death suit against Tupac Shakur, which was settled for about $300,000 to $500,000.
52.
Tupac 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.
53.
Tupac 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.
54.
Frank Alexander, Tupac Shakur's bodyguard, was not in the car at the time.
55.
Tupac Shakur was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was heavily sedated and put on life support.
56.
Tupac Shakur is considered one of the most influential rappers of all time.
57.
Tupac Shakur is widely credited as an important figure in hip hop culture, and his prominence in pop culture in general has been noted.
58.
Tupac Shakur was described as one of the top two American rappers in the 1990s, along with Snoop Dogg.
59.
Quite simply, no other rapper has captured the world's attention the way Tupac Shakur did and still does.
60.
The documentary film Tupac Shakur: Resurrection was released in November 2003.
61.
In 2014, the play Holler If Ya Hear Me, based on Tupac Shakur's lyrics, played on Broadway, but, among Broadway's worst-selling musicals in recent years, ran only six weeks.
62.
Tupac Shakur was 11 years old when he wrote and illustrated the booklet for Jamal Joseph and three other Black Panther Party members while they were incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison.
63.
In 2002, Tupac Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.
64.
In 2004, Tupac Shakur was among the honorees at the first Hip Hop Honors.