Name: Tupac Amaru Shakur
Real name: Lesane Parish Crooks
Alias: 2Pac, Pac, Makaveli
Born: June 16, 1971, East Harlem, New York City, New York, U.S.
Died: September 13, 1996
Height: 5' 11"
Discovered: 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 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.
Albums:
1991 2Pacalypse Now
1993 Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.
1994 Thug Life: Volume 1 (with Thug Life)
1995 Me Against the World
1996 All Eyez on Me
1996 The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
Filmography:
Nothing But Trouble (1991) ... Himself
Juice (1992) ... Bishop
Drexell's Class (1992) ... Himself
A Different World (1993) ... Piccolo
Poetic Justice (1993) ...Lucky (Co-starred with Janet Jackson)
In Living Color (1993) ... Himself
Above the Rim (1994) ... Birdie (Co-starred with Duane Martin)
Murder Was the Case: The Movie (1995) ... Himself
Bullet (1996) ... Tank
Gridlock'd (1997) ... Ezekiel 'Spoon' Whitmore
Gang Related (1997) ... Detective Rodr?guez
Tupac: Resurrection (2003) ... Himself (Official documentary film)
Notorious (2009) ... Himself (archive footage)
Live 2 Tell (20??) ... Screenwriter
Trivia:
Renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur in 1972 by his mother after Tupac Amaru, an Inca who was sentenced to death by the Spaniards. Tupac Amaru, in the Inca language, means "shining serpent".
Son of black panther Afeni Shakur; grew up in Harlem, Baltimore, and Marin County, California.
He had the words "thug life" tattooed across his abdomen.
Was engaged to Kidada Jones
Was going to play the role of Malik in Higher Learning (1995)
Died on a Friday the 13th.
More of his music has been released since his death than was while he was alive.
Appeared in the Salt-N-Pepa video, "Whatta Man."
Founding Member of the Outlawz
Used the name Makaveli which is an altered spelling of Machiavelli, about whom he read while in prison.
In the song "Life Goes On" from the "All Eyez on Me" album, he rhymes about his own funeral.
As a young man, Tupac also studied dance, including ballet.
Tupac is listed as the most successful gangsta MC in the "Guinness Book of World Records."
Grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Jim Carrey was his favorite actor.
Was cast in the movie Woo (1998), but was shot five days before principal photography began.
He was offered a record contract at the age of 13. However, his mother refused to let him sign anything at such a young age. She felt he had a lot to learn about the world before joining the music industry.
He read for the part of "Bubba" in Forrest Gump (1994).
10 albums have been released after his 1996 death; all have gone platinum.
He was voted the 86th Greatest Rock 'n Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
In November 1994, he was robbed and shot five times by a pair of muggers in the lobby of a New York recording studio. Tupac survived the attack, and afterwards frequently boasted of his durability in his lyrics.
Was originally cast in Menace II Society (1993) but was fired after a physical altercation with director Allen Hughes.
As a teenager, he studied drama at Baltimore's School for the Arts, where he rhymed under the name MC New York.
When he was 12 years old, his mother enrolled him in Harlem's 127th St Ensemble. He played Travis in "A Raisin in The Sun" in his first acting role
As a young man, he also studied ballet and dance
His 1996 song "Ghetto Gospel" was released in 2005, with some vocals by Elton John, and went to #1 in the UK, despite the fact he had been dead for eight years.
Was a good friend of fellow hip-hop MC M.C. Hammer, who also was from Oakland, California, USA.
His albums have sold 38 million copies in the USA alone.
Had been rapping since he was 18 years old (1989).
According to Guiness Book of Records 2004, he is the highest selling rap/hip-hop artist selling over 67 million copies worldwide
In a 2005 Rolling Stones Magazine Vote, Tupac was named #6 of the '100 immortal artists of all time' behind the likes of Elvis and Lennon
He is the first rap/hip-hop artist in history to have a wax model of himself set to be placed in Madamme Tussaud's in Las Vegas
Appeared on Forbes' "Top Earning Dead Celebrities" list in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with earnings of $7 million, $12 million and $5 million in each respective year.
Wrote a song, but died before he could finish it. Rap artist Eminem finished the song with his own lyrics and released it shortly afterwards.
First music artist to have a #1 LP while being in jail
The harmonica in "So Many Tears" is a sample from Stevie Wonder's song "That Girl", which spent 9 weeks at number one on the R&B charts in 1982.
His song "Hit 'Em Up", which Shakur considered a "classic battle record" is scathing attack on one-time friend Notorious BIG, Bad Boy Records, and Puff Daddy. In addition, Shakur claimed that he slept with Faith Evans (Notorious BIG's wife) in the song's lyrics.
Was a fan of actor Tim Roth and was delighted to learn he would work with him on "Gridlock'd", released after Shakur's death.
The song "To Live and Die in LA", was called by Shakur (who recorded the song under the name "Makaveli", for the "Seven Day Theory" album) "California Love, part 2-- without gay-ass Dre." It is unknown if "gay-ass Dre" is serious slur against Dr. Dre, who left Shakur's label Death Row records shortly after producing two tracks for "All Eyez On Me".
Shakur considered singer Don McClean (best known as the singer/songwriter of the 1972 hit "American Pie") and Kate Bush as two influences in his life. Shakur also saw McClean's hit "Vincent" (a tale of painter Vincent Van Gogh) as one particular inspiration. In addition, Shakur cited African-American poet Maya Angelou and William Shakespeare as being equally important to him.
Gang member Orlando Anderson, often cited as Tupac's killer, was later murdered himself during an altercation at a LA car wash, on May 29th 1998. It should be noted that Anderson was never charged in the slaying.
He completed the 27 song "All Eyez On Me", considered by many to be his magnum opus, in only two weeks. Often cited as rap's first double album, "All Eyez" sessions began just hours after Shakur was released from jail. Released on February 13th 1996, the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart.
His career triumphs--a number one album and pop single-- both happened on the 13th: Rap's first double album, "All Eyez on Me" (certified by the RIAA as of December 2006 at 9 million copies sold) hit store shelves on February 13th 1996. His only number one pop single "How Do U Want It?", reached the apex of the Hot 100 on July 13th 1996. Sadly, it was on September 13th (a Friday) that Shakur succumbed to injuries sustained in a Las Vegas shooting.
His first album, "2Pacalypse Now" was released November 12, 1991 and was certified gold. It contains 13 songs and reached number 13 on the R&B/Hip-Hop albums.
Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996 at approximately 11:15pm, at the corner of Flamingo and Koval streets.
Shakur renamed his publishing company to "Joshua's Dream" in honor of a young, terminally ill child whose dying wish was to meet him.
His number one single, "California Love" was certified at sales of 2 million copies in 1998.
Tupac used the Roland D70 synthesizer for his album "All Eyez On Me" (as seen in an interview with MTV in 1996).
Recorded close to 150 songs during the final year of his life, and often completed three songs per day in the same period. Shakur also wrote lyrics in the studio and often performed his verses in one take. He felt that rappers who could not perform their verses properly on the first take weren't ready to be rappers. R&B music, on the other hand, was worthy of multiple takes for the vocal tracks, he felt.
Moved out of his mother's house when he was 17.
Along with friends, he founded the "Junior Black Panthers" in his youth.
His favorite singer was Prince.
Mentioned in the rap-rock song "Mope" by Bloodhound Gang, along with personalities like Luciano Pavarotti, The Notorious B.I.G., Falco, Tori Spelling, Bo Jackson and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Tupac died with less than $100,000 in the bank.
Is portrayed by Anthony Mackie in Notorious (2009).
Quotes:
"he [Prince] loves women like I love women.". - Tupac Shakur
"Everybody's at war with different things...I'm at war with my own heart sometimes". In Vibe interview 2/96 - Tupac Shakur
"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real." - Tupac Shakur
"The only thing that comes to a sleeping man is dreams." - Tupac Shakur
"The reason why I could get into acting was because it takes nothing to get out of who I am and go into somebody else." - Tupac Shakur
"I'm not saying I'm gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world." - Tupac Shakur
"I swear, if they hadn't tried to ruin me, I never would have ended up being a rapper. I probably would have been a preacher or something." - Tupac Shakur
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