2PAC BIOGRAPHY
Tupac Amaru Shakur, 16 June 1971, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA, d. 13 September 1996, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
Tupac Shakur grew up around nothing but self-delusion. His mother, Alice Faye Williams, thought she was a "revolutionary." She called herself "Afeni Shakur" and associated with members of the ill-fated Black Panther Party, a movement that wanted to feed school kids breakfast and earn civil rights for African Americans.
During her youth she dropped out of high school, partied with North Carolina gang members, then moved to Brooklyn: After an affair with one of Malcolm X's bodyguards, she became political. When the mostly white United Federation of Teachers went on strike in 1968, she crossed the picket line and taught the children herself. After this she joined a New York chapter of the Black Panther Party and fell in with an organizer named Lumumba. She took to ranting about killing "the pigs" and overthrowing the government, which eventually led to her arrest and that of twenty comrades for conspiring to set off a race war. Pregnant, she made bail and told her husband, Lummuba, it wasn't his child. Behind his back she had been carrying on with Legs (a small-time associate of Harlem drug baron Nicky Barnes) and Billy Garland (a member of the Party). Lumumba immediately divorced fer.
Things went downhill for Afeni: Bail revoked, she was imprisoned in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village. In her cell she patted her belly and said, "This is my prince. He is going to save the black nation."
By the time Tupac was born on June 16, 1971, Afeni had already defended herself in court and been acquitted on 156 counts. Living in the Bronx, she found steady work as a paralegal and tried to raise her son to respect the value of an education.
From childhood, everyone called him the "Black Prince." For misbehaving, he had to read an entire edition of The New York Times. But she had no answer when he asked about his daddy. "She just told me, 'I don't know who your daddy is.' It wasn't like she was a slut or nothin'. It was just some rough times."When he was two, his sister, Sekyiwa, was born. This child's father, Mutulu, was a Black Panther who, a few months before her birth, had been sentenced to sixty years for a fatal armored car robbery.
With Mutulu away, the family experienced hard times. No matter where they moved-the Bronx, Harlem, homeless shelters-Tupac was distressed. "I remember crying all the time. My major thing growing up was I couldn't fit in. Because I was from everywhere. I didn't have no buddies that I grew up with."
As time passed, the issue of his father tormented him. He felt "unmanly," he said. Then his cousins started saying he had an effeminate face. "I don't know. I just didn't feel hard. I could do all the things my mother could give me, but she couldn't give me nothing else."
The loneliness began to wear on him. He retreated into writing love songs and poetry. "I remember I had a book like a diary. And in that book I said I was going to be famous." He wanted to be an actor. Acting was an escape from his dismal life. He was good at it, eager to leave his crummy family behind. "The reason why I could get into acting was because it takes nothin' to get out of who I am and go into somebody else."
His mother enrolled him in the 127th Street Ensemble, a theater group in the impoverished Harlem section of Manhattan, where he landed his first role at age twelve, that of Travis in A Raisin in the Sun. "I lay on a couch and played sleep for the first scene. Then I woke up and I was the only person onstage. I can remeber thinking, "This is the best shit in the world!" That got me real high. I was gettin' a secret: This is what my cousins can't do."
In Baltimore, at age fifteen, he fell into rap; he started writing lyrics, walking with a swagger, and milking his background in New York for all it was worth. People in small towns feared the Big Apple's reputation; he called himself MC New York and made people think he was a tough guy.
He enrolled in the illustrious Balitomore School for the Arts, where he studied acting and ballet with white kids and finally felt "in touch" with himself. "Them white kids had things we never seen," he said. "That was the first time I saw there was white people who you could get along with. Before that, I just believed what everyone else said: They was devils. But I loved it. I loved going to school. It taught me a lot. I was starting to feel like I really wanted to be an artist.
By the time he was twenty, Shakur had been arrested eight times, even serving eight months in prison after being convicted of sexual abuse. In addition, he was the subject of two wrongful-death lawsuits, one involving a six-year-old boy who was killed after getting caught in gang-war crossfire between Shakur's gang and a rival group.
In the late eighties, Shakur teamed up with Humpty-Hump (a.k.a. Eddie Humphrey, a.k.a. Gregory "Shock-G" Jacobs) and other Oakland-based rappers to create Digital Underground, a band intent on massive bass beats and frenetic, Parliament-Funkadelic-style rhythms. In 1990, the group released its debut and best album, Sex Packets, a pulsating testament to the boogie power of hip-hop, featuring two classic tracks, "Humpty Dance" and "Doowutchyalike." After an EP of re-mixes in 1991, D.U. released Sons of the P and, the following year, The Body-Hat Syndrome, all on Tommy Boy Records.
In 1992, Shakur entered a most fruitful five-year period. He broke free of D.U. and made his solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, a gangsta rap document that put him in the notorious, high-speed lane to stardom. That same year he starred in Juice, an acclaimed low-budget film about gangs which saw some Hollywood success. In 1993, he recorded and released Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., an album that found Shakur crossing over to the pop charts. Unfortunately, he also found himself on police blotters, when allegations of a violent attack on an off-duty police officer and sexual misconduct arose. The same year, Shakur played a single father and Janet Jackson's love interest in the John Singleton film Poetic Justice.
In November of 1994, he was shot five times during a robbery in which thieves made off with $40,000 worth of his jewelry. Shakur miraculously recovered from his injuries to produce his most impressive artistic accomplishments, including 1995's Me Against the World, which sold two million copies, and the double-CD All Eyez on Me, which sold nearly three million. As his career arc began a steep rise toward fame and fortune, Shakur was shot (most say suspiciously) and killed after watching a Mike Tyson fight with Death Row Records president Marion "Suge" Knight. Though his death was a jolt to his fans and the music community, Shakur himself often said that he expected he'd die by the sword before he reached thirty.
Following his passing, 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. In January of 1997, Gramercy pictures released Gridlock'd, a film in which Shakur played the role of a drug addict to mostly good reviews. His final film, Gang Related, was released in 1997, and Death Row is said to have several unreleased recordings in the vaults for potential future release.
Since his death Shakur's recorded legacy has generated several posthumous releases and hit singles, amid ugly squabblings over his estate. R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (released on his mother's new Amaru label) collects unreleased material from 1992-1994. The Rose That Grew From Concrete is an excellent tribute album from many of rap's new wave, all of whom owe much to his talent and legacy
2PAC FACTS
Name: Tupac Amaru Shakur (born as Lesane Parish Crooks)
Social Security # 546-47-8539
DOB: 6-16-1971 - Brooklyn, NYSocial Security # 546-47-8539
DOD: 9-13-1996 - Las Vegas, NV
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 168 lbs
Marital status: Separated (once maried to Keisha Morris), engaged with Kidda Jones
Occupation: Rapper & Actor
Mother: Alice Fay Walker aka Afeni Shakur
Father: William Garland
Step Father: Jeral Wayne Williams aka Mutulu Shakur
Half Sister: Sekyiwa Shakur
Half Brother: Maurice Harding aka Mopreme Shakur
Godfather: Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt
Aliases: MC New York, 2Pac, Makaveli
Music Groups: One Nation Emcees, Two From The Crew, Strictly Dope, Digital Underground, Thug Life, Outlaw Immortalz/Outlawz
Mother: Afeni Shakur
Biological Father: Billy Garland
Father: Mutulu Shakur
Brother: Maurice Harding a.k.a Mopreme Shakur
Uncle: Lumumba Shakur
Uncle: Zayd Shakur
Godfather: Geronimo Pratt
Tupac Facts:
Tupac Amaru Shakur was named after an Inca Indian chief, "Tupac Amaru" means "Shining serpent" and "Shakur" means "thankful to god" in Arabic.
Tupac shielded Suge Knight from the bullets that were fired on the night of September 7th, 1996 by trying to jump into the back of the car.
Tupac was married to Keisha Morris but the marriage was nullified. In the unreleased song "Ghetto Star" with Bad Azz he says "an addict for a wife, livin the life, of a ghetto star". She has a Tupac tattoo on her arm.
As a young man, Tupac also studied ballet and dance.
Tupac was banned from playing in many states because his concerts were wild. His song Initiated on the Daz CD says "My lyrics so lethal turn coliseums to murder scenes." He was sued by a woman who was shot and paralyzed at a concert he held in 1993. She said he got the crowd to rowdy.
The video for "I Wonder If Heaven Got A Ghetto" was filmed in New Mexico.
E.D.I. Amin and Kastro of The Outlawz say that the "Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory" album was recorded in 7 days. That why it was called that way. They also said that Tupac didn't have a religion but that he believed in God. Kastro said that one of the things Tupac said to him was, "The only thing that comes to a sleeping man is dreams."
"Thug Luv" was just a song that Bizzy, Silk-E-Fine and Tupac were supposed to do but things happened and all of Bone Thugs -n- Harmony came in. Bizzy Bone that Pac came into the studio, wrote his verse in about 10 minutes and then left because he had to go model for Versace. Then he came back and sang with them all laid back.
"Me And My Girlfriend" is about his gun, not his girlfriend.
Tupac said he wanted to move to Arizona and name a daughter Star or a son Michelangelo.
Tupac was planned to act in the movies Cool Runnings, Higher Learning, Menace II Society and How To Be A Player.
When Tupac was 12 years old, his mother enrolled him in Harlems 127thSt Ensemble. He played Travis in "A Raisin in The Sun" in his first acting role.
While doing a show in Marin County Tupac got into an altercation which was handled really bad by the Marin County Sheriffs department, gun shots were fired and a shot from someone's gun ricocheted and killed a little kid.
Stretch was Tupac's friend and was there when Pac got shot the first time. He was later killed exactly 1 year to the date of that shooting. Pac says "and to that n*gga that was down for me, rest his head, switched sides guess his new friends wanted him dead."
Interesting Fact Files:
While still a boy, 2Pac and his family sometimes lived in shelters.
TuPac Amaru is Inca for "shining serpent." Shakur is Arabic for "thankful to God".
Janet Jackson demanded 2Pac take an HIV test before she would do any kissing scenes for the film Poetic Justice.
2Pac didn't have a criminal record before he became a rap star.
In 1992, Vice President Dan Quayle said 2Pac's 2Pacalypse Now "has no place in our society."
2Pac wrote his first rap at 15.
At 15, 2Pac also attended Baltimore School for the Arts where he studied ballet and acting.
Tupac was married to Keisha Morris but the marriage was nullified. In the unreleased song "Ghetto Star" with Bad Azz he says "an addict for a wife, livin the life, of a ghetto star". She has a Tupac tattoo on her arm.
2Pac's Death Row debut album, All Eyez on Me, was rap's first double CD.
While he was in jail, 2Pac's 1995 album, Me Against the World, debuted at No. 1. It went double platinum in 7 months.
Tupac had sex with almost all the women during the filming of the X-rated "How Do U Want It?" video. He collapsed from exhaustion.
2PAC POETRY
The Power Of A Smile
The power of a gun can kill
and the power of Fire can Burn
The power of wind can chill
and the power of the mind can learn
The power of anger can rage
inside until it tears u apart
But the Power of a Smile
especially yours can heal a frozen Heart
Genesis
(The Rebirth of My Heart)
(dedicated 2 Chantel Zagari)
First there was nothing
Not even the faint echo of a song
Loneliness was daily 4 me
until u came along
There was a gleam of stars in your eyes
I thought I'd never feel this way again
But u were the one 2 reach into my heart
And find in me a Friend
I could not ignore the magnetism
that I felt when u were near
And any problems plaguing my mind
would suddenly disappear
It was the rebirth of my heart
The day u became my friend
Because I knew from the moment
I held u that I would find love again
Love Within a Storm
We mad love within a storm
in the midst of passion and chaos
somewhere, somehow our true bond
of friendship was lost
In the eye of the storm
The rain always falls harder
Those who prevail this trauma
will learn 2 bring their love farther
But now the storm has passed
and the seas of our friendship R calm
But as long as I live I will remember
the love within the storm
What Can I Offer Her?
All of my life I dreamed of meeting one
with immense beauty, and once I found her
I would charm her and she?d be mine
forever
I have found her and indeed she is all
I wished for and more but she is
not charmed nor intrigued. Then I
think 2 myself "What can I offer her?"
The tears warm my eyes and blur my
vision. I stick 2 my stance of bravado
and give her the same uninterested look
she gave me. She was so beautiful
But what can I offer her.
Jada
(4 Jada)
u R the omega of my heart
The foundation 4 my conception of Love
when I think of what a Black woman should be
it's u that I First think of
u will never fully understand
how Deeply my Heart Feels 4 u
I worry that we'll grow apart
and I'll end up losing u
u bring me 2 climax without sex
and u do it all with regal grace
u R my Heart in Human Form
a Friend I could never replace
Fallen Star (For Huey Newton)
They could never understand
what u set out 2 do
instead they chose 2
ridicule u
when u got weak
they loved the sight
of your dimming
and flickering starlight
How could they understand what was so intricate
2 be loved by so many, so intimate
they wanted 2 c your lifeless corpse
this way u could not alter the course
of ignorance that they have set
2 make my people forget
what they have done for much 2 long
2 just forget and carry on
I had loved u forever because of who u r
and now I mourn our fallen star
The Rose That Grew From The Concrete
Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it's dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.
And Tomorrow.....
Today is filled with anger, fueled with hidden hate.
Scared of being outkast, afraid of common fate.
Today is built on tragedies which no one wants to face.
Nightmares to humanity and morally disgraced.
Tonight is filled with rage, violence in the air.
Children bred with ruthlessness cause no one at home cares.
Tonight I lay my head down but the pressure never stops,
knawing at my sanity, content when I'm dropped.
But tomorrow I see a change, a chance to build anew,
built on Spirit, intent of heart, and ideas based on truth.
Tomorrow I wake with second wind and strong ideas of pride.
I know I fought with all my heart to keep the dream alive.
In The Event Of My Demise
In the event of my Demise
when my heart can beat no more
I Hope I Die For A Principle
or A Belief that I had Lived 4
I will die Before My Time
Because I feel the shadow's Depth
so much I wanted 2 accomplish
before I reached my Death
I have come 2 grips with the possibility
and wiped the last tear from My eyes
I Loved All who were Positive
In the event of my Demise
In The Depths Of Soli
I exist in the depths of solitude
pondering my true goal
Trying 2 find peace of mind
and still preseerve my soul
CONSTANTLY yearning to be accepted
and from all receive respect
Never compromising but sometimes risky
and that is my only regret
A young heart with an old soul
how can I be in the depths of solitude
when there R 2 inside of me
This Duo within me causes
the perfect opportunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity
Can You See The Pride In The Panther?
Can u c the pride in the pantha
as he glows in splendor and grace
Topping OBSTACLES placed in the way
of the progression of his race
Can u c the pride in the Pantha
as she nurtures her young all alone
The seed must grow regardless
of the fact that it?s planted in stone
Can't u c the pride in the panthas
as they unify as one
The flower blooms with brilliance
and outshines the rays of the sun
March 1st - The Day After April
(dedicated 2 the Divorce of Me & April)
Today I wake and feel even lonelier
But I c positive potential
My heart shook much like the quake
Then the pain was gone
The arctic breeze formed the fortress
Barricading my fragile heart from Pain
It is not that I don't love u
and it was because I did love u
that I must move on
as long as I breathe
I will remember
"WE AS 2"
Why Must U Be Unfaithful
(4 Women)
MEN!
u shouldn't listen 2 your selfish heart
It doesn?t really have a brain
Besides keeping u alive
its existence is in vain
"How could I be so mean,
and say your heart has no place?"
Because mortal men fall in love again
as fast as they change their face
I may be cruel, but think awhile about
The hearts that u have broken
Match that with the empty vows
I am not saying females R perfect
Because men we know it?s not true
But why must u be unfaithful
If her heart is true 2 u!!!!
