Tupac Amaru Shakur
DOB: June 16, 1971 - Brooklyn, NY
DOD: September 13, 1996 - Las Vegas, NV
Height: 5'10 Weight: 168
Mother: Afeni Shakur
Father: William Garland
Step Father: Jeral Wayne Williams
AKA Mutula Shakur
Half Sister: Sekyiwa Shakur
Half Brother: Maurice Harding
(Mopreme of Thug Life)
Godfather: Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt
Music Groups: One Nation Emcees, Two From The Crew, Strictly Dope, Digital Underground, Thug Life, Outlaw Immortalz/Outlawz
Aliases: MC New York, 2Pac, Makaveli (the don)
Marital Status: Divorced (Keisha Morris) & Engaged (Kidida Jones)
Tupac Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks in Brooklyn, NY in 1971. While still a small child, his mother changed his name to Tupac Amaru after an Inca Indian revolutionary, "Tupac Amaru", meaning "Shining Serpent". "Shakur" means "Thankful To God" in Arabic.
From childhood, everyone called him the "Black Prince." Formisbehaving, he had to read an entire edition of The New York Times. When he was two, his sister, Sekyiwa, was born. This child's father, Mutulu, was a BlackPanther 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."
By the age of twelve, Tupac had discovered his loves for acting, writing love songs and poetry. As a young teen, his family moved to Baltimore , MD, where he attended The Baltimore School for the Performing Arts studying acting and ballet. At this school, Tupac left a lasting impression on his teachers and was showing tremendous potential. Unfortunately, Tupac was unable to continue his training. He moved to Oakland, California with the rest of his family. That's when Tupac began to, as he called it, "Hang with the wrong crowd."
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.
By the time he was twenty, Tupac 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.
Not held back by his lack of formal education, Tupac joined the Rap group Digital Underground as a dancer. Not long before the group achieved award winning success, Tupac released his own album "2Pacalypse Now", which was also a success. The hit single "Brenda's Got A Baby" launched Tupac's career like a rocket. His stunning talent also got him a role in the motion picture, "Juice". Tupac eventually released a second album "Strictly for my N.I.G.G.A.Z.," which was an even bigger success and introduced Tupac's music onto the pop charts.
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
The highlight of Tupac's acting career came when he appeared in "Poetic Justice" besides Janet Jackson. The role made Tupac a household name and showed the world that music may not be Tupac's #1 attribute. In the midst of a role in the movie "Above the Rim" and a Platinum album "Me against the world," Tupac's rising career was snagged. He was brought up on sexual assault charges by a woman he met at a nightclub. Hours before Tupac would be found guilty, Tupac was robbed at gun point by men whose intent and purpose is still uncertain. Tupac was eventually released at over $1 Million in bail. After his release, Tupac answered his critics by releasing his best album, "All Eyes On Me." "All Eyes On Me" has currently sold over 6 million copies, which is revolutionary for a double CD, especially in Hip Hop music. Tupac also had costarring roles in three other films, "Gridlock'd", "Bullet", and "Gang Related."
On September 7th, Tupac Shakur was shot by unknown gunmen and died on September 13, 1996. Much of what happened on this night remains a mystery to this very day. This picture was taken minutes before the fatal shooting.
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.
Album: Greatest Hits
Song: Changes
(Come on, come on)
I see no changes, wake up in the morning and I ask myself
Is life worth living, or should I blast myself
I'm tired of being poor, and even worse I'm black
my stomach hurts, so I'm looking for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
pull a trigger, kill a nigger, he's a hero
Givin back to the kids, who the hell cares
one less hungry mouth on the welfare
first ship them dope, let them deal to brothers
give them guns, step back and watch them kill each other
It's time to fight back, that's what Huey said
2 shots in the dark, now Huey's dead
I got love for my brothers
but we can never go nowhere unless we share with each other
we gotta start makin changes
learn to see me as a brother instead of 2 distant strangers
and that's how it's supposed be
how can you tell them take a brother if he's close to me
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
but things change, and that's the way it is
come on, come on
that's just the way it is
things will never be the same
that's just the way it is, ahh yeah
X2
I see no changes
all I see is racist faces
misplaced hate, makes disgrace the racist
we under, I wonder what it takes to make this
one better place, let's erase the wasted
take the evil out the people, they'll be actin right
cuz both black and white are smokin crack tonight
and the only time we chill is when we kill each other
it's takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
and I know it's seems Heaven since
we aint ready, to see a black president
it aint a secret of a sealed up fact
penetentiarys packed, and it's filled with blacks
but some things will never change
tried to show another way, but ya stayin in the dope game
now tell me what's a mother to do?
being real don't appeal to the brother in you
- yeah -
You gotta operate the easy way
- I made a G today -
but you made it in a sleezy way
sellin crack to the kids
- I gotta get paid -
well hey, well that's the way it is
chorus
talking ...
we gotta make a change
it's time for us as a people to start making some changes
lets change the way we eat
lets change the way live
lets change the way we treat each other
see our old way wasn't working
so it's on us to do what we gotta do
to survive
and still I see no changes, can't a brother get a little peace?
there's war on the streets
and the war in the Middle East
instead of war on poverty
they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me
and I aint never did a crime I aint have to do
but now I'm back from the locks givin back to you
don't let them jack you up
back you up
crack you up
and pimp smack you up
you gotta learn to hold your own
they get jealous when see you with your mobile phone
but tell the cops they can't touch this
I don't trust this
when they try to rush I bust this
that's the sound of my tool
you say it aint cool
but momma didn't raise no fool
and as long as I stay black
I gotta stay strapped
and I never get to lay back
cuz I always gotta worry bout the payback
some punk that I ruffed up way back
comin back after all these years
rat-tat-tat-tat-tat, that's the way it is
chorus
some things will never change.