Tupac Shakur - Blender

ARTISTS

Tupac Shakur

One of the most important rap artists of all time, Tupac Shakur has left an indelible mark on the hip-hop landscape. Raised by his mother, former Black Panther Afeni Shakur, Tupac studied drama and dance at the Baltimore School for the Arts and began battle rhyming on the side. He got his professional start as a backup rapper and dancer for Digital Underground, appearing on their albums Sons of the P and The Body-Hat Syndrome. He released his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, in 1991 and became a true rap star with its 1993 follow-up, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., which contained the hits “Keep Ya Head Up” and “I Get Around.” In November 1994 Shakur was shot five times during a robbery but recovered to record 1995’s Me Against the World, which was released while Shakur was in prison on charges of sexual abuse. Shortly afterward, Tupac signed with Suge Knight’s Death Row Records and put out All Eyez on Me in 1996, which turned out to be the last album Shakur released in his lifetime. All Eyez on Me was notable for being hip-hop’s first-ever double-disc album of original material, and it seemed that Death Row’s violent, thuggish aesthetic had rubbed off on him; the album contained some of his most violent and confrontational work to date. Unfortunately, the thug life caught up with Shakur in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, as he was shot four times while riding in the passenger seat of Suge Knight’s car. He died six days later. Although the motivation for the shooting was widely speculated, his murder remains unsolved. One of the more controversial aspects of Tupac’s career is his wealth of posthumous releases, which include 1996’s Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, 1999’s Still I Rise and 2002’s Better Dayz, all pieced together from recordings made before his death. A documentary of the rapper’s life, Tupac: Resurrection, was released in theaters in 2003.

Reviews

Features

Blogs related to Tupac Shakur