Biography of 2Pac

Rapper 2-Pac (b. Tupac Amaru Shakur) threatened to supplant Luther Campbell and Ice-T as the most demonized figure in hip-hop in the early '90s. The former Digital Underground member became a solo performer with 2Pacalypse Now, then his status soared following a critically acclaimed performance in Juice. His follow-up album also earned a hit with "Keep Your Head Up." But Shakur generated much more negative publicity for several incidents, one of which earned him a criminal record. He was convicted of assault for attacking the Hughes brothers, who'd fired him from the film Menace II Society. He was also awaiting trials on other charges stemming for various incidents. This hadn't stopped his acting career; there were appearances in the films Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson and Above the Rim. While he was serving his jail sentence for sexual battery in early 1995, 2-Pac released Me Against the World on Death Row Records, which entered the US charts at number one and spawned the Top 10 pop single, "Dear Mama." 2-Pac was released from prison in the summer of 1995. In early 1996, he released All Eyez On Me, the first double-disc set of newly recorded material in hip-hop history. It entered the charts at number one. In September of 1996, 2-Pac was shot in the chest as he was riding in a car in Las Vegas. After struggling to stay alive for a week, Tupac Shakur died on September 13, 1996. ~ Ron Wynn