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#3 (permalink) |
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Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996) also known by his stage names: 2Pac, Makaveli, or simply Pac, was an American artist renowned for his rap music, movie roles, poetry, and his social activism. He is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the best selling hip-hop artist, with over 75 million of his albums sold worldwide[1] including over 50 million sales in the United States alone. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up around violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society, and sometimes qualms with other fellow rappers. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social, and racial equality as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and conflicts with the law. Many fans, critics, and industry insiders rank him as the greatest rapper ever.[2][3]
In 1990, Shakur was a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative rap group Digital Underground. Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, gained critical recognition and backlash for its controversial lyrics. Shakur became the target of lawsuits and had other legal troubles. Later on, Shakur was shot five times in a recording studio lobby in Manhattan and was robbed. Following the incident, Shakur grew suspicious that other figures in the rap industry had prior knowledge of the shooting and did not warn him; the controversy would help spark the East Coast-West Coast feud. After serving 11 months of his sentence, Shakur was released from prison on an appeal financed by Marion "Suge" Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records. In exchange for Suge's assistance, Shakur agreed to release three records under the Death Row label. Shakur's fifth album, the first double-disc release in hip hop history All Eyez on Me, counted as two albums. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada, and died six days later on September 13, of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at University Medical Center, Las Vegas. |
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#4 (permalink) |
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Early life
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City.[4] He was named after Túpac Amaru II, an Incan revolutionary who led a Peruvian uprising against Spain and was subsequently sentenced to death. "Shakur" comes from the Arabic word thankful (to God). His mother, Afeni Shakur, was an active member of the Black Panther Party in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Shakur was born just one month after her acquittal on more than 100 charges of "Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks" in the New York Panther 21 court case.[5] Although officially unconfirmed by the Shakur family,[6] several sources list his birth name as either Lesane Parish Crooks[7][8] or Parish Lesane Crooks[9]. Afeni supposedly feared her enemies would attack her son, and disguised their relation using a different last name, only to change it three months[7] or a year[9] later, following her marriage to Mutulu Shakur. Violence and criminality surrounded Tupac from an early age. Shakur's godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery. His stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, spent four years at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list beginning in 1982, when Tupac was a pre-teen. Mutulu was wanted in part for having helped his sister Assata Shakur, Tupac's godmother, to escape from prison in New Jersey, where she had been incarcerated for shooting two state troopers to death in 1973. Mutulu was caught in 1986 and imprisoned for an attempted robbery of a Brinks armored car in which two police officers and a guard were killed.[10] Tupac had a half-sister, Sekyiwa, two years his junior, and an older step-brother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, who appeared on many of his recordings. At age 12, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's famous "127th Street Ensemble." His first major role with this acting troupe was as Travis in A Raisin in the Sun. In 1984, his family relocated to Baltimore, [11] After completing his sophomore year at Paul Lawrence Dunbar High School he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, and jazz. He performed in Shakespeare plays and in the role of the Mouse King in The Nutcracker.[12] Tupac, accompanied by one of his friends, Dana "Mouse" Smith, as his beatbox, won most of the many rap competitions that he participated in and was considered to be the best rapper in his school.[13] Although he lacked trendy clothing, he was one of the most popular kids in his school because of his sense of humor, superior rapping skills, and ability to mix in with all crowds.[14] He developed a close friendship with a young Jada Pinkett (later Jada Pinkett Smith) that lasted until Shakur's death. In the documentary Tupac: Resurrection, Shakur says, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life," and Smith calls Shakur "one of my best friends. He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime." A poem written by Shakur titled "Jada" appears in his book, The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which also includes a poem dedicated to Smith called "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes". In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved once again, this time to Marin City, California, where he attended Tamalpais High School. He joined the Ensemble Theater Company (ETC) to pursue his career in entertainment. His mother's crack addiction led him to move into Leila Steinberg's home with his friend Ray Luv at the age of 17. Leila Steinberg acted as a literary mentor to Shakur, an avid reader. Steinberg has kept copies of the books that Tupac read, which include J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye, Jamaica Kincaid's At the Bottom of the River, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, Eileen Southern's Music of Black Americans, and the feminist writings of Alice Walker and Robin Morgan.[15] Most of these books were read before the age of 20.[16] It has been claimed that Shakur was in fact more well-read and intellectually well-rounded at that age than the average student in the first year class of most Ivy League institutions.[17] In 1989, Leila Steinberg organized a concert with Shakur's group, Strictly Dope. The concert lead to him being signed with Atron Gregory who set him up with Digital Underground. In 1990, he was hired as a back-up dancer and roadie for up-and-coming rap group Digital Underground.[18] |
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#6 (permalink) |
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Viking
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i love tupac.
Many fans (over 83% in a 2002 survey) hold on to the belief that Tupac Shakur may still be alive. There are many suspicious details about his departure that contribute to this. The uncontested facts: After leaving the Tyson fight on Saturday September 7, 1996, Tupac was alledgedly shot 5 times. He lived through the shooting and was taken to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead on Friday September 13, 1996. The suspicious facts: Friday the 13th is a very suspicious day. There were never any pictures released of Tupac in the hospital. In the song "Life Goes On", Tupac raps about his own funeral. The driver of the car in which Tupac was riding, Suge Knight (the executive producer of Death Row Records), didn't show up for questioning about the shooting. The video "I ain't Mad at Cha" was released only a few days after his death. "I ain't Mad at Cha" is track 13 on the album All Eyes On Me. The video shows Tupac as an angel in heaven. In the video, Tupac was shot after leaving a theater with a friend, which is very similar to how he was shot in real life. Interestingly, Tupac dies in his last video released under the name "2Pac". His new video "Toss It Up" from the new album was released under the name "Makaveli". The second video to be released by the name Makaveli is "To Live and Die in L.A." But how could they shoot the second video when he is "dead". Was the video really shot 4 months before his death, back in August of '96? In the video "Hail Mary" released under the name Makaveli, there is a gravestone that says Makaveli. But the gravestone is cracked and there is a hole right in front of it, inferring that Makaveli rose from the dead. A shooting involving Snoop Doggy Dogg occured close to the release of his album Doggystyle. The shooting made Snoop appear more "real" and showed his fans that he really was a gangsta. The shooting gave him respect because everyone that bought his album believed what he was talking about. Within one week of its release, Doggystyle went platnium. Snoop was signed to the same label as Tupac which is Death Row Records. In December '96, Tupac's new album went platinum. In interviews prior to the shooting, Tupac talked about how he wanted to stop rapping and being a gangsta and get out of the limelight. What is the only way Tupac could completly escape the media spotlight ??? (Answer: if the public thought he was dead.) Press wasn't going to be allowed at the funeral, but then the funeral was cancelled for unknown reasons. Tupac always wore a bulletproof vest, no matter where he went. Why did he remove it at a very public event like a Tyson fight? In most of his songs he talks about being buried, so why was he allegedly cremated the day after he "died"? And since when do they cremate someone the day after death in a murder case? Tupac's alias is Makaveli. Though the spelling is different, Machiavelli was a 16th century italian philosopher who advocated the staging of one's death in order to evade one's enemies and gain power. In Machiavelli's book Discourses Upon the First Ten Books of Titus Livy, in Book 2 Chapter XIII he says "a prince who wishes to achieve great things must learn to deceive". This is Machiavelli's main idea and is the connection between Tupac and the writings of Machiavelli. Tupac studied Machiavelli in depth while in prision was a fan and had read his books several times. Perhaps Tupac is taking his advice. Machiaveli wrote two books before his death. Look at what the All Eyez on Me disks are called.. Machiavelli's books were called, "Book 1," and, "Book 2." The CD's of, "All Eyez On Me," are entitled the same One of Machiavelli's books is, "Discourses Upon The First Ten Books Of Titus Livy," which it's claimed Tupac read in jail. In Book 2, Chapter XIII He says, "a prince who wishes to achieve great things must learn to decieve..." This is very similar to verses in some of Tupac's songs. Some say that Tupac modified the Machiavelli name because if you rearrange the letters, they spell, "Am Alive," or, "I Am Alive." The title of the new album by Makaveli (Tupac) is The 7 Day Theory. He was shot on September 7th; and survived on the 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th, and"died" the 13th. Hence the title The 7 Day Theory. Tupac's album All Eyes on Me was released on Feb.13, 1996. Tupac "died" on Sept.13, 1996. It is quite a coincidence that the two dates are exactly 7 months apart. Tupac officially died at 4:03 PM. 4+3 = 7 Also he "died" at an age of 25 years. 2+5 = 7. It seems as if seven is Tupac's number. < There is nothing in the new album that says TUPAC RIP 1971-1996. Wouldn't it make sense to include something like that in the first album after his "death"? The only thing mentioned is "EXIT TUPAC ENTER MAKAVELI". |
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#8 (permalink) | ||||||||||||||||||
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Forum God
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yes i know, they just love him so much. |
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#9 (permalink) |
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Forum God
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Early career
Shakur's professional entertainment career began in early 1991, when he debuted his rap skills on the single "Same Song" from the Digital Underground album This is an EP Release. Also in 1991, he appeared in the music video for "Same Song". In late 1991, after his rap debut, Tupac Shakur performed with Digital Underground again on the album Sons Of The P. Later that year, he released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now. Initially he had trouble marketing his solo debut, but Interscope Records executives Ted Field and Tom Whalley eventually agreed to distribute the record. Shakur claimed his first album was aimed at the problems facing young black males, but it was publicly criticized for its graphic language and images of violence by and against police.[19] In one incident, a young man claimed his killing of a Texas trooper was inspired by the album. Former Vice President Dan Quayle publicly denounced the album as having "no place in our society". 2Pacalypse Now did not do as well on the charts as future albums, spawning no top ten hits. His second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., was released in 1993. Heavily produced by Stretch and the Live Squad, the album generated two hits, "Keep Ya Head Up" and "I Get Around", , the latter featuring guest appearances by members of the Digital Underground. It was originally going to be a Digital Underground track as Tommy Boy Records did not think it would be the smash hit it became so Shock G gave it to Shakur, Tommy Boy became upset afterwards. |
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#10 (permalink) |
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Forum God
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Acting career
In addition to rapping, Shakur began acting in films. He made his first film appearance in the 1991 film Nothing But Trouble. His first starring role was in the 1992 movie Juice as Bishop, a trigger happy teen, for which he was hailed by Rolling Stone's Peter Travers as "the film's most magnetic figure." He went on to star in Poetic Justice (with Janet Jackson) and Above the Rim. After his death, three of his completed films Bullet, Gridlock'd and Gang Related were posthumously released. He had also been slated to star in the Hughes brothers' Menace II Society but was replaced by Larenz Tate after assaulting the directors.[citation needed] Director John Singleton claimed that he wrote the film Baby Boy with Shakur in mind for the leading role.[21] It was eventually filmed with Tyrese Gibson in his place and released in 2001, five years after Shakur's death. The movie features a mural of Shakur in the protagonist's bedroom as well as featuring "Hail Mary" in the movie's score. Later on while he was in prison who wrote the screenplay for an upcoming film "Live 2 Tell" which tells the story of a teenager who becomes a drug lord. |
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| Entry Appreciated By: | dokhtare (15-04-08) |
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