Life and Times of Tupac Shakur

 
    On the date of June 16, 1971, a woman named Afeni Shakur gave birth to a baby boy by the name of Lorsanne Crooks, just shortly after being accused as being a suspect in a plot to bomb a major government building. Later in the young boys life Afeni changed Lorsannefs name to Tupac Amaru Shakur  gTupac Amaruh meaning gshining serpenth and gShakurh meaning gthankful to godh (Tupac.com, Tupac Amaru Shakur).
 Tupacfs family was forced to live in shelters, moving often between the Bronx and Harlem for most of his young life. During this time Shakur claimed that Legs, gAfenifs drug lord boyfriendh had introduced Afeni to crack cocaine and misguided her to such an extant, that the drugs had taken over her life (White, 57).
     In 1983 Tupac was enrolled in the 127th Street Ensemble, witch at that time was a theatre   group in Harlem. In Shakurfs first performance, he played the role of a character named gTravish in the play gA Raisin in the Sunh. The character  gTravish portrayed Tupacfs life almost as he was living it. Travis was a young black male whofs family planned to escape the poverty-stricken streets and move to a wealthy crime ridden neighborhood (White, 5).
     Three years later, Tupacfs family moved to Baltimore and enrolled him into the Baltimore School of Arts. While attending this school Tupac Released his first song under the Pseudonym MC. New York (White, 6,7).
 Not long after releasing his first song, Tupac and his mother moved to Marin City California. Shakur later in his life mentioned gThat school was saving me, you know what Ifm saying h (White, 7).
     In order for the gShining Serpenth to be accepted into the local crew, he became a drug dealer and started to commit major crimes.
 Not long after moving to California Tupacfs father Mutulu Shakur was sentenced to 60 years in prison for being involved in a 1981-armored car robbery. During this time Tupac rediscovers rap and begins performing with other bay area rapperfs. Soon after he had got an audition with the rap group Digital Underground, and was later accepted as a dancer. (White, 38).
     While on tour with Digital Underground, Tupac had received word that his mother Afeni was on crack. This caused a great damper in the relationship between him and his mother. After the news about his mother he had decided that he would have nothing to do with her  until she was sober.
     Shakurfs first recording debut aroused in 1991, when he appeared  with Digital Underground in a song called gThis is a EP Releaseh. After recording with Digital Underground, record companyfs from all around the United States had heard the song and wanted him to sign a record deal with them.
     On the date of November 5th 1991, Tupac released his first album called g2Pacalypse Nowh and soon after ended up going gold.
 Three months later his big screen debut is made in the film gJuiceh, where he played the role of a character named Bishop.
 Just as things where appeared to be going well for Tupac, a unrelated incident soon landed on his doorstep. A 19 year old boy had shot a Texas State Trooper and blamed his actions on Tupacfs album g2Pacalypse Nowh, witch had been playing in his tape deck at the time of the incident.
     Strictly for My Niggaz gTupacfs second albumh is released in February of  1993. This album showed to be a huge success and then went platinum. But again Tupacfs career was dampened when he was arrested for beating up a Limousine driver who had accused him of using drugs in the car. The driver later dropped the charges.
 In July of 93,  Tupac starred in the movie gPoetic Justiceh, along with Janet Jackson. In order for Janet to do the film with Tupac, she demanded that he take a HIV test before the scene where they were to kiss. Shakur  then replied and said he wasnft going to take one.
     On October 31, 1993, Tupac was arrested once again for allegedly shooting two off duty Atlanta Police Officers that he said was harassing a black motorist. It was found that one of the officers had used a gun that was stolen from the evidence room and had threatened Tupac with it. Shakur seemed to shine through once again and the charges were eventually dropped.
     Tupacfs life continued to go in a downward spiral as he was arrested and convicted to fifteen days in a Los Angeles jail for punching the director for his future film. He was then dropped from the cast.
     Again success came knocking on Tupacfs door when he was asked to star in the movie gAbove the Rimh. Shakur accepted the offer and the movie was released in March of 94. He had played the role of a big time drug dealer.
 As things were starting to get better for Tupac, he got cited for being the inspiration for the murder of a Milwaukee police officer. The two teens that brutally murdered the officer said that it was Shakurfs song gSouljahs Storyh that had caused them to snap and murder the officer.
    While Tupac was leaving the Time Square Recording Studio, He was viciously attacked and shot five times. The attackers got away 10,000 dollars worth of jewelry. Less then three hours after the surgery he checked himself out of the hospital and began healing in his wheelchair.
On April 1, 1995, Me Against the World was released and debuted at the number one slot on the Billboardfs Pop Charts. Fueled by the single gDear Mamah, the album went double platinum in seven months.
    While Tupac was in Prison for sexual abuse charges, he came across Death Row Record producer Suge Night. In October of 95, a 1.4 million-dollar bond to release Shakur was filed and Tupac was released not long after. After his release he immediately flew to Los Angles and began recording his 4th album gAll Eyez On Meh, under the label of Death Row Records.
    After exactly one year to the day of Tupacs shooting, his ex-friend gRandy Walkerh was gunned down in Queens New York.
During this time Tupac relentlessly attacked Biggie Smalls, Puff Daddy, and other BadBoy associates that he claimed was involved in the shooting at Time Squares Recording Studios.
    In February of 96, All Eyez On Me was released and was raps first double CD to go quintuple platinum. Not long after the great success, Death Row and BadBoy affiliates had pulled guns on each other in a face off that could have turned into a bloody massacre.
One year passed before Tupac finished his 5th album gMakavelih, witch was suppose to be released in October of 1996, and was to fulfill his contract to Death Row Record Company.
    Shakur then began setting up a separate record company called Makaveli Record. After setting up his new record label he soon fired Death Row's infamous attorney as his manager.
    On September 7, 1996, Tupac, Suge Night, and other friends attended the Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon fight in Las Vegas. As they were leaving the fight heading eastbound on Flamingo Road, Tupac was tragically shot four times in the chest while he was standing out of the sunroof in the rented BMW 750 Sedan.
    The last few days of Tupac's life a series of gang related murders occurred in Las Vegas and Los Angeles, prompting an investigation by the Las Vegas Police Department into possible connections to the Shakur case.
    After six days in critical condition, Tupac Amaru Shakur was pronounced dead at 4:30 PM on September 13th of 1996.