Tupac Shakur

He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Incan ruler, who was executed in Peru in 1781 after his failed revolt against Spanish rule.

Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur explained, "I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, indigenous people in the world. I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood."

Shakur's parents, Afeni Shakur—born Alice Faye Williams in North Carolina—and his biological father, William "Billy" Garland, had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

A month before Shakur's birth, his mother was tried in New York City as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial.

She was acquitted of over 150 charges.

Other family members who were involved in the Black Panthers' Black Liberation Army were convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned, including Shakur's stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, who spent four years among the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

Tupac's surname came from Lumumba Shakur, a Sunni Muslim, whom his mother married in November 1968, their marriage fell apart when it was discovered that Lumumba was not Tupac's biological father.

Shakur had an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, and a half-sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, two years his junior.

Shakur's godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high-ranking Black Panther, was convicted of murdering a schoolteacher during a 1968 robbery.

After spending 27 years in prison, his conviction was overturned due to the prosecution's having concealed evidence that proved his innocence.

Tupac Amaru Shakur (born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper.

He is widely considered one of the most influential and successful rappers of all time.

Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.

Much of Shakur's music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities.

Shakur was born in New York City to parents who were both political activists and Black Panther Party members.

Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, Upper Manhattan, New York City.

While born Lesane Parish Crooks, at age one he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur.

Shakur's godmother, Assata Shakur, is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper.

In the 1980s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and she struggled with drug addiction.

Raised by his mother, Afeni Shakur, he relocated to Baltimore in 1984 and to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988.

In 1984, his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland.

He attended eighth grade at Roland Park Middle School, then ninth grade at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.

He transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts in the tenth grade, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet.

Mutulu Shakur was apprehended in 1986 and subsequently convicted for a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored truck, during which police officers and a guard were killed.

With the release of his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991, he became a central figure in West Coast hip hop for his conscious rap lyrics.

In addition to his music career, Shakur also found considerable success as an actor, with his starring roles in Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), Above the Rim (1994), Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).

During the later part of his career, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio and experienced legal troubles, including incarceration.

Shakur achieved further critical and commercial success with his follow-up albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995).

Shakur served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges, but was released pending an appeal of his conviction in 1995.

Following his release, he signed to Marion "Suge" Knight's label Death Row Records and became heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry.

His Diamond certified album All Eyez on Me (1996), the first double-length album in hip-hop history, abandoned his introspective lyrics for volatile gangsta rap.

On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas; he died six days later.

Five more albums have been released since Shakur's death, including his critically acclaimed posthumous album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) under his stage name Makaveli, all of which have been certified Platinum in the United States.

Following his murder, Shakur's friend-turned-rival, the Notorious B.I.G., was at first considered a suspect due to their public feud; he was also murdered in another drive-by shooting six months later in March 1997, while visiting Los Angeles.

Shakur's double-length posthumous album Greatest Hits (1998) is one of his two releases—and one of only nine hip hop albums—to have been certified Diamond in the United States.

In 2002, Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.

Since 2013, she has been in the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list after she escaped prison in 1979.

In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.

Rolling Stone ranked Shakur among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In 2023, he was awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.