Tupac Shakur
American rapper (1971–1996) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996) was an American rapper and actor, also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, who sold many records. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2010.[1] Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground as "MC New York". He eventually branched off as a solo artist.[2][3][4] He became a West Coast hip hop icon after the release of his first album, 2Pacalypse Now, in 1991.
Tupac Shakur | |
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Born | Lesane Parish Crooks (1971-06-16)June 16, 1971 New York City, U.S. |
Died | September 13, 1996(1996-09-13) (aged 25) |
Cause of death | Murder (drive-by shooting) |
Resting place | Cremated, ashes given to family |
Other names |
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Education | Tamalpais High School |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1989–1996 |
Spouse(s) | Keisha Morris (m. 1995; div. 1996) |
Partner | Kidada Jones (1996) |
Parents |
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Relatives |
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Awards | Full list |
Musical career | |
Origin | Marin County, California, U.S. |
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Formerly of |
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Website | www |
Signature | |
He was born in East Harlem, New York. Tupac moved to Baltimore in 1984. Then, he moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. When he was in high school, he was a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts. Later in his music career, this experience in school becomes his personality of his own music style. He was the son of Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland, who were members of the Black Panther Party. His family was struggling with poverty. They moved homes often, and even had to stay in shelters.
Tupac was involved in the East Coast–West Coast hip hop feud. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died six days later from respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest during his operation. Since Shakur's death, seven more albums have been released. They have all been certified platinum.
Shakur acted in eight movies.
He holds the Guinness World Record for the highest selling rap/hip hop artist, selling 165 million worldwide and 43 million in the US alone. He was even listed as 13th of the top 50 poets of all time (by poetry soup) and the 83rd Greatest artist of all time (by Rolling Stone).[source?] On June 7, 2023, Tupac was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[5]
Shakur was convicted of assault and sexual assault in separate incidents.[6]
His work of music had very big influences on the Hip-hop/rap industry in the US.
In 2014, a biographical movie about Tupac was announced.[7][8] The movie, titled All Eyez on Me, was released on June 16, 2017.