Tupac Shakur

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996) was a highly influential, best-selling American hip hop artist, considered by many to be one of the greatest rappers of all time. His aliases included 2Pac aka Makaveli. Among his fans especially, he is remembered simply as "Tupac". The names "Tupac Amaru" and "Shakur" mean Shining Serpent or Royal Serpent in Quechua and Thankful (to God) in Arabic, respectively. The name "Tupac Amaru" comes from Túpac Amaru II, grandson of the last Sapa Inca (Túpac Amaru).

A troubled end

In December 1993, Shakur was charged with sexually abusing a woman in his hotel room. According to his account, he met a female fan at a club, Nell's, who was described to him as wanting to "more than meet ". She allegedly gave him oral sex on the dance floor before Shakur took her back to his hotel room. The next night, she visited him before he was set to do a show and was giving him a massage in a hotel room. Some friends who were with him that night interrupted the couple, wanting to enjoy the woman's attentions themselves. Shakur claimed to have left the room disgusted and went to take a nap. The girl, disagreeing with his account, accused him of encouraging the three men, pulling her hair, and sodomy. On February 7, 1995, Shakur was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for "forcibly touching the buttocks", though he vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Related Topics:
Sexually abusing - Oral sex - Sodomy - February 7 - 1995

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The first shooting

Shortly before his verdict was announced, Shakur was shot five times in an apparent robbery attempt outside a New York music studio. Tupac recalled the circumstances shortly afterwards in an interview with Vibe magazine. He was with his close friend Stretch, manager Freddie Moore, and another friend on the night of November 30, 1994.

Related Topics:
Vibe - November 30 - 1994

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

They arrived at a studio so Shakur could do some recordings for an acquaintance, Booker, whom he didn't quite trust. When they got to the studio, Tupac was suspicious of two black men in their thirties, both dressed in army fatigues, because neither of them seemed to acknowledge his presence. He noted that he was less wary of them than he should have been because he "had just finished smoking chronic". Shakur simply assumed they must be security for The Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie), whom he was still friends with at the time.

Related Topics:
Chronic - The Notorious B.I.G.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The two men, whom Shakur described as looking like they were from New York, came at him with identical 9mm handguns, and forced him and his friends to the floor. Their aggression was focused almost exclusively on Tupac, although they did threaten to shoot Stretch as well. They forced everybody to lie on the floor, but Tupac remained standing. He later said he had frozen. They demanded he hand over his jewelry, which he refused to do. After grabbing at one of the armed men, Tupac was shot in the leg, through his scrotum. He fell to the floor, and was shot a further 4 times, which he later claimed not to have realised; he believed he was being kicked & that his head was being beaten upon the floor. He recalled seeing white light, but never believed he could die. He lay silent, pretending to be dead. He was shot 5 times in total and robbed of the gold jewelry he was wearing, worth several thousand dollars.

Related Topics:
9mm - Handgun

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Upon regaining consciousness, he entered the elevator and went upstairs to safety, where his then-friends Biggie, Puffy, Little Caesar, and others were waiting. Shakur described his friends as acting very strangely, almost surprised at his being alive. His first words after realizing how severe his wounds were, having been shot in the head and the scrotum, were "Oh, shit. Roll me some weed. Call my mom and tell her I've been shot." He was also very surprised that none of his other friends, who were also wearing jewelry weren't robbed.

Related Topics:
Elevator - Puffy - Little Caesar

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He survived, and left the hospital a day after, against doctor's orders because he was feeling harassed by phone calls and the doctors. He showed up in court just few days afterwards in a wheelchair to face his verdict in the sexual assault case.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Prison sentence

Shakur began serving his prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility later that February. Soon after, his multi-platinum album, Me Against the World, was released. Shakur has the distinction of being the only artist with an album at number one on the charts while serving a prison sentence. From jail, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris. He also had time to pursue reading, delving into the works of Niccolò Machiavelli, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and even wrote a screenplay titled Live 2 Tell while incarcerated.

Related Topics:
Prison - Clinton Correctional Facility - Me Against the World - Niccolò Machiavelli

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In September, after almost eight months in prison, Shakur was released on parole largely due to the help of Suge Knight, the head of Death Row Records. Suge posted a $1.4 million bail for Shakur, and in exchange Shakur was obliged to release three albums under Death Row. The singer was unrepentant and grew even more embittered against the authorities, which showed in his music.

Related Topics:
Parole - Suge Knight - Death Row Records

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Tupac, post-prison

Immediately after his release from prison, Tupac Shakur began work on his next album. In February 1996, he released his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me.The album was the first (and second) of three albums that Tupac promised for Death Row Records in exchange for Suge Knight bailing him out of jail. It subsequently went on to sell more than nine million copies and is considered by many to be among the best albums in the genre. He continued his recordings, despite the impending troubles at Death Row as Dr. Dre left his post as house producer and Suge Knight became more involved in illegal activities. At the time that Tupac died, there were hundreds of unreleased Death-Row Era tracks. Most of these have been released on posthumous albums such as Better Dayz and Until the End of Time. There are still several tracks that remain unreleased from the Death Row Era. Tupac also was in the process of recording an album with the Boot Camp Clik and their label, Duck Down Records both New York based, entitled "One Nation". This was to help bring closure to the East-West feud by bringing together what Tupac thought were the best rappers from both coasts. This remains unreleased.

Related Topics:
February - 1996 - All Eyez on Me - Death Row Records - Suge Knight - Dr. Dre - Better Dayz - Until the End of Time - Boot Camp Clik - Duck Down Records

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Acting career

At the time of his death, Tupac was also building on his acting career. John Singleton wrote the film Baby Boy with Shakur in mind for the leading role, but Shakur died before it was made. It was eventually filmed with Tyrese Gibson in his place and released in 2001, five years after Shakur's death. From 1991-1996, Shakur acted in seven films, including the critically acclaimed Juice, Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson, and Gridlock'd with Tim Roth. He had also been slated to star in the Hughes brothers' "Menace II Society" but was replaced by Larenz Tate after assaulting the directors.

Related Topics:
John Singleton - Film - Baby Boy - Tyrese Gibson - 2001 - 1991 - 1996 - Janet Jackson - Gridlock'd - Tim Roth - Menace II Society - Larenz Tate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~