| Selling more than 75 million records world-wide in his | | | | exploitation. Signing with Death Row Records in late |
| all-too-short career, the legend that is Tupac Shakur | | | | 1995, 2Pac released the double-album All Eyez on Me |
| continues to live on today. 2Pac became the unlikely | | | | in the spring of 1996, and the record, as well as its |
| martyr of gangsta rap when he died on September | | | | hit single "California Love," confirmed his superstar |
| 13, 2006, six days after being shot during a drive-by | | | | status. |
| shooting. | | | | Although Shakur was selling records and earning |
| 2pac's young life and career began in relatively normal | | | | praise for his music and acting, he began having |
| fashion. He did well in school, stayed out of trouble | | | | serious altercations with the law (prior to becoming a |
| and was interested in acting, music and | | | | recording artist, he had no police record). He was |
| entertainment. Before he could graduate from high | | | | arrested in 1992 after he was involved in a fight that |
| school, Shakur's family moved to Marin City, CA, | | | | culminated with a stray bullet killing a six-year-old |
| when he was 17 years old. Over the next few years, | | | | bystander; the charges were later dismissed. 2Pac |
| 2pac lived on the streets and began hustling. | | | | was filming Menace II Society in the summer of 1993 |
| Eventually, he met Shock-G, the leader of Digital | | | | when he assaulted director Allen Hughes; he was |
| Underground. The Oakland-based crew decided to | | | | sentenced to 15 days in jail in early 1994. |
| hire him as a dancer and roadie, and as he toured | | | | 2pac was shot just after seeing the Mike |
| with the group, he worked on his own material. | | | | Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand. As he |
| At the onset of his career, it didn't appear that he | | | | was leaving the hotel, 2Pac got into a fight with an |
| would emerge as one of the definitive rappers of the | | | | unnamed young black man. It has been suggested |
| '90s -- he started out as a second-string rapper and | | | | that this was the cause of the drive-by shooting, and |
| dancer for Digital Underground, joining only after they | | | | it has also been suggested that Knight's ties to the |
| had already landed their biggest hit. 2Pac made his | | | | mob and to gangs were the reason; another theory |
| first recorded appearance on the group's spring 1991 | | | | is that the Notorious B.I.G. arranged the shooting as |
| record, This Is an EP Release, and he also appeared | | | | retaliation for 2Pac's comments that he slept with |
| on their second album, Sons of the P. The following | | | | Biggie's wife, Faith Evans. Either way, Shakur was |
| year, he released his own debut, 2Pacalypse Now. | | | | shot four times and was admitted to University of |
| The album became a word-of-mouth hit, as "Brenda's | | | | Nevada Medical Center. He died six days later. |
| Got a Baby" reached the R&B Top 30 and the | | | | The music of 2pac continues to live on today. He is |
| record went gold. | | | | remembered as a true innovator, who would stop at |
| His escalating outlaw reputation helped his 1995 album | | | | nothing to get his views heard and his message |
| Me Against the World enter the charts at number | | | | across. |
| one, and it also opened him up to charges of | | | | |