With Mutulu away, the family experienced hard times. No matter where they moved-the Bronx, Harlem, homeless shelters- Tupac was distressed. When he first moved to California, Tupac was homeless for 2 years. "I remember crying all the time. My major thing growing up was I couldn't fit in as 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. His mother enrolled him in Harlems 127th St Ensemble. He played Travis in "A Raisin in The Sun" in his first acting role.
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. At the Baltimore School of the arts, Tupac met Jada Pinkett, who would become a close friend of his.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. Tupac was first inspired to rap when a friend of his was killed while he was playing with a gun. His first rap was about gun control.
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 started his career on Tommy Boy Records with the Rap group Digital Underground as a dancer. Tupacs first appearance ever was on Digital Underground's Same Song where he raps wearing West African war clothes in the video. While he was with Digital Underground, someone shoved a 12-gauge shotgun in Tupac's face because of a dispute over a woman at a Martin Luther King Junior festival. 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 jewellery. Shakur miraculously recovered from his injuries to produce his most impressive artistic accomplishments, including 1995's ‘Me against the World’
Tupac’s inspiration into acting was that of Jim Carrey as Tupac was a big fan of Jim Carrey. 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 number one 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. A woman he met at a night-club brought him up on sexual assault charges. Hours before Tupac would be found guilty, men robbed Tupac at gun-point whose intent and purpose is still uncertain. Tupac wrote his hit song "Dear Mama" while in prison. 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 co-starring 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 after being in intensive care for 6 days. Much of what happened on this night remains a mystery to this very day. 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’ (2Pac’s record label) is said to have several unreleased recordings in the vaults for potential future release. Tupac was planned to act in the movies Cool Runnings, Higher Learning, Menace II Society and How To Be A Player. Kidada Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones and fiancé of Tupac, has a tattoo of Tupac on her arm. Tupac wanted to name his first child Star.
September 13th, 2003 will mark the seventh anniversary of Tupac's passing.
Even though Tupac Shakur had many convictions and died as a result of being a “thug”, he is still my favourite rap artist and I believe his albums are really good despite the lyrics being somewhat offensive! Some believe that he is still alive as there are suspicious facts that do not necessarily conclude with fact based answers. They may think what they like as it doesn’t concern me, I just like to listen to his music and watch his films. Suge Knight has now been let out of prison after allegations of him plotting the ‘murder’ and is back to working for Death Row records. However, Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, has set up her own record label dedicated to 2pac and continues to distribute his music.
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