Tupac Shakur

**Tupac Amaru Shakur** (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), better known as **2Pac** or **Makaveli**, was an American rapper, actor, dancer,  record producer and record executive. He is considered by many music enthusiasts to be one of the greatest rappers and actors of all time. He sold many records. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2001. Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground as "MC New York". He eventually branched off as a solo artist.

On June 7, 2003, Tupac was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2004, a biographical movie about Tupac was announced.

## Early life

He was born as **Lesane Crooks** in East Harlem, New York. Crooks was later renamed **Tupac Amaru Shakur** after Túpac Amaru II, a ruler in Peru.  His family later moved to Marin City, California when Tupac was 17. Tupac went to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he found it interesting to read Shakespeare's poems. He got very affected by the beauty of rhyming, choosing the word and expression. He studied poetry, acting, jazz, and ballet.

## Music career

In 1990, Shakur joined with the Oakland, California-based alternative hip hop group Digital Underground. He appeared on two of the group's albums in 1991: _This Is an EP Release_ and _Sons of the P_. Later that year he produced and released his first solo album, _2Pacalypse Now_. The album protested problems such as racism, and made him much more popular.

His second album, _Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.,_ was released in 1993. It contained the hit singles "I Get Around" and "Keep Ya Head Up."

His third album, _Me Against the World,_ was released in 1995. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. He was incarcerated (in prison) at the time.

His fourth album, _All Eyez on Me_ (1996), was the last album released during his lifetime. All Eyez on Me included the _Billboard_ Hot 100 number one singles "How Do U Want It?" and "California Love."

Shakur won the Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap Album in 1996 for ‘Me Against the World’. He received the American Music Award for the Favorite Rap/Hip Hop artist posthumously in 1997.

Several of Shakur's albums were released posthumously. It contained previously recorded material from when he was alive.

## Controversy and Rivalries

Shakur was convicted of assault and sexual assault in separate incidents.

On November 30, 1994, Shakur was shot outside of Quad Studios, a recording studio in Manhattan, New York. Shakur had been invited to record, but was later confronted by three armed men in the lobby, who robbed him of his possessions and shot him multiple times. These nonfatal gunshot wounds incited a feud between Shakur and well known Hip-Hop artist Christopher Wallace, also known as The Notorious B.I.G., as Shakur believed that it was Wallace's associates who assaulted him. This escalated into a rap beef, when Shakur and his labelmates of Death Row Records sided against Wallace and his labelmates of Bad Boy Records. This west coast versus east coast beef eventually led to the killings of both Shakur and Wallace in the 1990's.

## Assassination

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times in a drive-by shooting by someone in a Cadillac car at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died six days later at the Southern Nevada University Medical Center. His murder is still unsolved.

Shakur's friend and labelmate from Death Row Records, Marion "Suge" Knight, was in the car with Shakur. Knight survived the shooting.

In 1998, a prime suspect in Shakur’s murder, Orlando Anderson (aka Baby Lane) was killed in another drive-by shooting.

In 2002, reporter Chuck Phillips wrote in the _Los Angeles Times_ that another rapper called Biggie Smalls (The Notorious B.I.G.) could have paid members of the Crips street gang to kill Shakur and that he could have given them the gun.

### A Suspect Arrested in 2023

On September 29, 2023, Duane "Keefe D" Davis was named as a suspect and was arrested by the Las Vegas Police Department in connection with the murder of Shakur. Keefe D had previously admitted to killing Tupac on July 2, 2018 when he [thought that he was going to die soon, or] was dying from cancer. The trial against Davis, is delayed until February 2026.

There were four people in the car that was used by the suspects during the murder, according to the media. Three of the suspects are dead as of 2023.

### Studio albums

|rowspan="2"|Released|rowspan="2"|Album|colspan="2"|Peak chart positions|colspan="2"|Certifications|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|November 12, 1991|align="center"|_2Pacalypse Now_|align="center"|64|align="center"|13|align="center"|Gold|align="center"||
|align="center"|February 16, 1993|align="center"|_Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z._|align="center"|24|align="center"|4|align="center"|Platinum|align="center"||
|align="center"|March 14, 1995|align="center"|_Me Against the World_|align="center"|1|align="center"|1|align="center"|5× Multi-Platinum|align="center"||
|align="center"|February 13, 1996|align="center"|_All Eyez on Me_|align="center"|1|align="center"|1|align="center"|10x Diamond. 42 Million copies sold Worldwide|align="center"|Platinum|
|align="center"|November 5, 1996|align="center"|_The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory_ (as Makaveli)|align="center"|1|align="center"|1|align="center"|9x Platinum. 35 Million copies sold Worldwide|align="center"|Platinum|

### Studio albums after death

|rowspan="2"|Released|rowspan="2"|Album|colspan="2"|Peak chart positions|colspan="2"|Certifications|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|November 25, 1997|align="center"|_R U Still Down? (Remember Me)_|align="center"|2|align="center"|1|align="center"|6× Multi-Platinum|align="center"||
|align="center"|March 27, 2001|align="center"|_Until the End of Time_|align="center"|1|align="center"|1|align="center"|8× Multi-Platinum|align="center"|4× Platinum|
|align="center"|November 26, 2002|align="center"|_Better Dayz_|align="center"|5|align="center"|1|align="center"|2× Multi-Platinum|align="center"|3× Platinum|
|align="center"|December 14, 2004|align="center"|_Loyal to the Game_|align="center"|1|align="center"|1|align="center"|Platinum|align="center"||
|align="center"|November 21, 2006|align="center"|_Pac's Life_|align="center"|9|align="center"|3|align="center"|3× Multi-Platinum|align="center"||

### Collaboration

|rowspan="2"|Album Artist|rowspan="2"|Released|rowspan="2"|Album|colspan="2"|Peak chart positions|colspan="2"|Certifications|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|Thug Life|align="center"|September 26, 1994|align="center"|_Thug Life: Volume 1_|align="center"|42|align="center"|6|align="center"|Gold|align="center"||
|align="center"|2Pac + Outlawz|align="center"|December 14, 1999|align="center"|_Still I Rise_|align="center"|6|align="center"|2|align="center"|Platinum|align="center"|Gold|

### Compilations

|rowspan="2"|Released|rowspan="2"|Album|colspan="2"|Peak chart positions|colspan="2"|Certifications|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|November 24, 1998|align="center"|_Greatest Hits_|align="center"|3|align="center"|1|align="center"|10x Diamond. 38.5 Million copies sold Worldwide|align="center"|Platinum|
|align="center"|October 17, 2000|align="center"|_The Rose That Grew from Concrete_|align="center"|89|align="center"|28|align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|2003|align="center"|_The Prophet: The Best of the Works_|align="center"||align="center"||align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|October 7, 2003|align="center"|_Nu-Mixx Klazzics_|align="center"|15|align="center"|5|align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|August 6, 2004|align="center"|_2Pac Live_|align="center"|54|align="center"|16|align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|September 20, 2005|align="center"|_The Rose, Vol. 2_|align="center"||align="center"||align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|October 3, 2005|align="center"|_Live at the House of Blues_|align="center"|159|align="center"|48|align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|June 12, 2007|align="center"|_Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988-1991_|align="center"||align="center"||align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|August 14, 2007|align="center"|_Nu-Mixx Klazzics Vol. 2_|align="center"|45|align="center"|8|align="center"||align="center"||
|align="center"|December 4, 2007|align="center"|_Best of 2Pac_|align="center"|65|align="center"|13|align="center"||align="center"||

### Soundtrack appearances

|Released|Album|Chart position|RIAA Certification|Songs|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|style="text-align:center;"|June 29, 1993|style="text-align:center;"|_Poetic Justice_|style="text-align:center;"|23|style="text-align:center;"|Gold|"Definition of a Thug Nigga"|
|style="text-align:center;"|March 22, 1994|style="text-align:center;"|_Above the Rim_|style="text-align:center;"|1|style="text-align:center;"|2× Multi-Platinum|"Pour out a Little Liquor", "Pain"|
|style="text-align:center;"|August 15, 1995|style="text-align:center;"|_The Show: The Soundtrack_|style="text-align:center;"|4|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|"My Block"|
|style="text-align:center;"|November 7, 1995|style="text-align:center;"|_One Million Strong_|style="text-align:center;"|4|style="text-align:center;"||"Runnin'"|
|style="text-align:center;"|April 23, 1996|style="text-align:center;"|_Sunset Park (soundtrack)_|style="text-align:center;"|1|style="text-align:center;"||"High 'Til I Die "|
|style="text-align:center;"|January 17, 1997|style="text-align:center;"|_Gridlock'd_ soundtrack|style="text-align:center;"|1|style="text-align:center;"||"Wanted Dead or Alive", "Out the Moon (Boom, Boom, Boom)", "Never Had a Friend Like Me", "Life's a Traffic Jam"|
|style="text-align:center;"|October 7, 1997|style="text-align:center;"|_Gang Related_ soundtrack|style="text-align:center;"|1|style="text-align:center;"|2× Multi-Platinum|"Life So Hard", "Starin' Through My Rear View", "Made Niggaz", "Lost Souls"|
|style="text-align:center;"|November 11, 2003|style="text-align:center;"|_Tupac: Resurrection_|style="text-align:center;"|2|style="text-align:center;"|Platinum|"Runnin' (Dying to Live)", "One Day at a Time", "Ghost", "The Realist Killaz"|

## Singles

|rowspan="2"|Year|rowspan="2"|Song|colspan="4"|Chart positions|rowspan="2"|Album|rowspan="2"|RIAA Certification|||||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center" rowspan="2"|1991|align="left"|"Brenda's Got a Baby"|align="center"|—|align="center"|23|align="center"|3|align="center"|—|align="left" rowspan="3"|_2Pacalypse Now_|||
|align="left"|"If My Homie Calls"|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|3|align="center"|—|||||||
|align="center"|1992|align="left"|"Trapped"|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|||||
|align="center" rowspan=3|1993|align="left"|"Holler If Ya Hear Me"|align="center"|—|align="center"|110|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left" rowspan="4"|_Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z._|||
|align="left"|"I Get Around" <small>(featuring Digital Underground)</small>|align="center"|11|align="center"|5|align="center"|8|align="center"|—|align="center"|Gold|||||
|align="left"|"Keep Ya Head Up"|align="center"|12|align="center"|7|align="center"|2|align="center"|—|align="center"|Gold|||||
|align="center" rowspan=4|1994|align="left"|"Papa'z Song" <small>(featuring Wycked)</small>|align="center"|87|align="center"|82|align="center"|24|align="center"|—|||||
|align="left"|"Cradle to the Grave" <small>(featuring Thug Life)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|91|align="center"|25|align="center"|—|align="left" rowspan="3"|_Thug Life: Volume 1_|||||
|align="left"|"Pour Out a Little Liquor" <small>(featuring Thug Life)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|||||||
|align="left"|"How Long Will They Mourn Me?" <small>(featuring Thug Life)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|||||||
|align="center" rowspan=7|1995|align="left"|"Dear Mama"|align="center"|9|align="center"|3|align="center"|1|align="center"|27|align="left" rowspan="4"|_Me Against the World_|align="center"|Platinum|
|align="left"|"Can U Get Away" <sup>A</sup>|align="center"|—|align="center"|70|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|||||||
|align="left"|"So Many Tears"|align="center"|44|align="center"|21|align="center"|6|align="center"|—|||||||
|align="left"|"Temptations"|align="center"|68|align="center"|35|align="center"|13|align="center"|—|||||||
|align="left"|"Runnin' (Dying to Live)" <small>(featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Stretch)</small>|align="center"|81|align="center"|57|align="center"|13|align="center"|15|_One Million Strong_||||||
|align="left"|"California Love" <small>(featuring Dr. Dre & Roger Troutman)</small> <sup>1</sup>|align="center" rowspan="2"|1|align="center" rowspan="2"|1|align="center" rowspan="2"|1|align="center"|6|align="left" rowspan="3"|_All Eyez on Me_|align="center" rowspan="2"|5× platinum|||
|align="left"|"How Do U Want It" <small>(featuring K-Ci and JoJo)</small> <sup>1</sup>|align="center"|17|||||||||||||
|align="center" rowspan=6|1996|align="left"|"2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" <small>(featuring Snoop Dogg)</small> <sup>A</sup>|align="center"|—|align="center"|46|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|||||
|align="left"|"Hit 'Em Up" <small>(featuring Outlawz)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left"|_Greatest Hits_|||||
|align="left"|"All Bout U" <small>(featuring Nate Dogg, Hussein Fatal & Yaki Kadafi)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left" rowspan="3"|_All Eyez on Me_|||||
|align="left"|"Life Goes On"|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|15|||||||
|align="left"|"I Ain't Mad at Cha" <small>(featuring Danny Boy)</small> <sup>A</sup>|align="center"|58|align="center"|18|align="center"|—|align="center"|13|||||||
|align="left"|"Toss It Up" <small>(featuring Danny Boy, K-Ci & JoJo and Aaron Hall)</small> <sup>A</sup>|align="center"|—|align="center"|34|align="center"|—|align="center"|15|align="left" rowspan="3"|_The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory_|||||
|align="center" rowspan=4|1997|align="left"|"To Live & Die in L.A."|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|10|||||
|align="left"|"Hail Mary" <sup>A</sup>|align="center"|—|align="center"|12|align="center"|8|align="center"|43|||||||
|align="left"|"I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto"|align="center"|67|align="center"|14|align="center"|18|align="center"|21|align="left" rowspan="2"|_R U Still Down? (Remember Me)_|||||
|align="left"|"Do for Love"|align="center"|21|align="center"|10|align="center"|2|align="center"|12|align="center"|Gold|||||
|align="center" rowspan="2"|1998|align="left"|"Changes"|align="center"|32|align="center"|12|align="center"|1|align="center"|3|align="left"|_Greatest Hits_|||
|align="left"|"Happy Home"|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|17|align="left"|_Until the End of Time_|||||
|align="center"|1999|align="left"|"Unconditional Love"|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left"|_Greatest Hits_|||
|align="center"|2000|align="left"|"Baby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)" <small>(featuring Tha Outlawz)</small>|align="center"|72|align="center"|36|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left"|_Still I Rise_|||
|align="center" rowspan="2"|2001|align="left"|"Until the End of Time" <small>(featuring R.L.)</small>|align="center"|52|align="center"|21|align="center"|—|align="center"|4|align="left" rowspan="2"|_Until the End of Time_|||
|align="left"|"Letter 2 My Unborn"|align="center"|—|align="center"|64|align="center"|—|align="center"|21|||||||
|align="center"|2002|align="left"|"Thugz Mansion" <small>(featuring Nas)</small>|align="center"|19|align="center"|10|align="center"|4|align="center"|24|align="left" rowspan="2"|_Better Dayz_|||
|align="center" rowspan="3"|2003|align="left"|"Still Ballin (Nitty remix)" <small>(featuring Trick Daddy)</small>|align="center"|69|align="center"|31|align="center"|15|align="center"|—|||||
|align="left"|"Runnin' (Dying to Live)" <small>(featuring The Notorious B.I.G.)</small>|align="center"|19|align="center"|11|align="center"|5|align="center"|17|align="left" rowspan="2"|_Tupac: Resurrection_|||||
|align="left"|"One Day at a Time (Em's Version)" <small>(featuring Eminem & Tha Outlawz)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|50|align="center"|51|align="center"|22|align="center"|—|||||
|align="center"|2004|align="left"|"Thugs Get Lonely Too" <small>(featuring Nate Dogg)</small>|align="center"|98|align="center"|55|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left" rowspan="2"|_Loyal to the Game_|||
|align="center"|2005|align="left"|"Ghetto Gospel" <small>(featuring Elton John)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|1|align="center"|1|||||
|align="center" rowspan="2"|2006|align="left"|"Untouchable" <small>(featuring Krayzie Bone of Bone Thugs-n-Harmony)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="center"|—|align="left" rowspan="3"|_Pac's Life_|||
|align="left"|"Pac's Life" <small>(featuring T.I. & Ashanti)</small>|align="center"|—|align="center"|104|align="center"|—|align="center"|21|||||||
|align="center" rowspan="1"|2008|align="left"|"Playa Cardz Right" <small>(featuring Keyshia Cole)</small>|align="center"|63|align="center"|9|align="center"|—|align="center"||||||
- <sup>A</sup> <small>Did not chart on the Hot 100 or Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts (_Billboard_ rules at the time prevented album cuts from charting). Chart peak listed here represents Hot 100 Airplay and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay charts data.</small>
- <sup>1</sup> <small>Double-A-Side in the U.S.</small>

## Filmography

|Year|Title|Role|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1991|_Nothing But Trouble_|Himself|(Brief appearance)|
|1992|_Juice_|Bishop|First starring role|
|1992|_Drexell's Class_|Himself|Season 1: "Cruisin'"|
|1993|_A Different World_|Piccolo|Season 6: "Homie, Don't You Know Me?"|
|1993|_Poetic Justice_|Lucky|Co-starred with Janet Jackson|
|1993|_In Living Color_|Himself|Season 5: "Ike Turner and Hooch"|
|1994|_Above the Rim_|Birdie|Co-starred with Duane Martin, Last movie before Shakur's death|
|1995|_Murder Was the Case: The Movie_|Himself|(Uncredited)|
|1996|_Bullet_|Tank|Released one month after Shakur's death|
|1997|_Gridlock'd_|Ezekiel 'Spoon' Whitmore|Released four months after Shakur's death|
|1997|_Gang Related_|Detective Rodríguez|Shakur's last performance in a movie|
|2003|_Tupac: Resurrection_|Himself|Official documentary film|
|2009|_Notorious_|Himself (archive footage)|Portrayed by Anthony Mackie|
|20??|_Live 2 Tell_|Screenwriter|(Written in 1995)|

## Other websites

- 2Pac Legacy (official website)
- Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation for the Arts
- Tupac Legacy Tour
- pacside
- Tupac Nation

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **embed**: yes


## Infobox (infobox)

- **child**: yes
- **header1**: Logo
- **headerstyle1**: background:#b0c4de
- **data2**:


## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Tupac Shakur
- **image**: 2pac edit cropped further.jpg
- **caption**: Shakur in 1995
- **birth name**: Lesane Parish Crooks
- **birth place**: New York City, New York City, U.S.
- **death place**: Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
- **death cause**: Murder by drive-by shooting
- **education**: Tamalpais High School
- **resting place**: Cremated, ashes given to family
- **years active**: 1989–1996
- **partner**: Kidada Jones (1996)
- **awards**: List of awards and nominations received by Tupac Shakur, Full list
- **signature**: Tupac Shakur's signature.svg