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Tupac Shakur
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"Makaveli" redirects here. For the Italian polymath, see Niccolò Machiavelli.
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Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur (rapper), performing live.jpg
Background information
Also known as 2Pac, Pac, Makaveli, MC New York
Born June 16, 1971
East Harlem, Manhattan
New York City, New York, U.S.
Origin Marin City, California, U.S.
Died September 13, 1996 (aged 25)
Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Genres Hip hop
Occupations Rapper, actor, poet, activist
Years active 1988–1996
Labels Death Row, Interscope
Associated acts Outlawz, Thug Life, Danny Boy, Digital Underground, Dr. Dre, Johnny "J", Ice Cube, Nate Dogg, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg
Website www.2Pac.com
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and briefly as Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor.[1] Shakur has sold over 75 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time.[2] MTV ranked him at number two on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time and Rolling Stone named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time.[3] His double disc album All Eyez on Me is one of the best selling hip hop albums of all time.
Shakur began his career as a roadie, backup dancer, and MC for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground, eventually branching off as a solo artist.[4][5][6] The themes of most of Shakur's songs revolved around the violence and hardship in inner cities, racism and other social problems. Both of his parents and several other of his family were members of the Black Panther Party, whose ideals were reflected in his songs.
During the latter part of his career, Shakur was a vocal participant in the so-called East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry, becoming involved in conflicts with other rappers, producers and record-label staff members, most notably The Notorious B.I.G. and his label Bad Boy Records.[7]
On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot multiple times in a drive-by shooting at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Las Vegas, Nevada.[8] He was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, where he died six days later.[9]
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
2.1 1991–93: Beginnings and rise to fame
2.2 1994–95: Acting and rise to prominence
2.3 1996: Continued success and final album
3 Other ventures
3.1 Death Row Records
3.2 Outlawz
3.3 Acting career
4 Artistry
5 Personal life
6 Legal issues
6.1 1992 shooting
6.2 Attack at Quad Studios
6.3 Sexual assault
6.4 Prison sentence and bail
7 Death
8 Aftermath
9 Legacy
10 Accolades and honors
11 Discography
12 Filmography
12.1 Documentaries
13 See also
14 References
15 Sources
16 External links
Early life
East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, where Shakur was born
Shakur, according to relatives real name Lesane Parish Crooks,[10][11][12] was born on June 16, 1971, in the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City.[13] He was named after Túpac Amaru,[14] an 18th-century South American revolutionary who was executed after leading an indigenous uprising against Spanish rule.[15]
His mother, Afeni Shakur, and his father, Billy Garland, were active members of the Black Panther Party in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The infant boy was born a month after his mother was acquitted of more than 150 charges of "Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks" in the New York "Panther 21" court case.[16][17]
Shakur lived from an early age with people who were convicted of serious criminal offenses and who were imprisoned. His godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high ranking Black Panther, was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery, although his sentence was later overturned. His stepfather, Mutulu, spent four years at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list beginning in 1982. Mutulu was wanted for having helped his sister Assata Shakur (also known as Joanne Chesimard) to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey. She had been imprisoned for killing a state trooper in 1973. Mutulu was caught in 1986 and imprisoned for the robbery of a Brinks armored truck in which two police officers and a guard were killed.[18] Shakur had a half-sister, Sekyiwa, two years his junior, and an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, who appeared in many of his recordings.[19]
At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's 127th Street Repertory Ensemble and was cast as the Travis Younger character in the play A Raisin in the Sun, which was performed at the Apollo Theater. In 1986, the family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland.[20] After completing his second year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet.[21] He performed in Shakespeare plays, and in the role of the Mouse King in the ballet The Nutcracker.[18] Shakur, accompanied by one of his friends, Dana "Mouse" Smith, as his beatbox, won many rap competitions and was considered to be the best rapper in his school.[22] He was remembered as one of the most popular kids in his school because of his sense of humor, superior rapping skills, and ability to mix with all crowds.[23] He developed a close friendship with a young Jada Pinkett (later Jada Pinkett Smith) that lasted until his death.
In the documentary Tupac: Resurrection, Shakur says, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life." Pinkett Smith calls him "one of my best friends. He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime." A poem written by Shakur titled "Jada" appears in his book, The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which also includes a poem dedicated to Pinkett Smith called "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes". During his time in art school, Shakur became affiliated with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA,[24][25] and began dating the daughter of the director of the local Communist Party USA.[26]
In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved to Marin City, California, a residential community located 5 miles (8.0 km) north of San Francisco,[20] where he attended Tamalpais High School in nearby Mill Valley.[27] He began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg in 1989.[28] That same year, Steinberg organized a concert with a former group of Shakur's, "Strictly Dope"; the concert led to him being signed with Atron Gregory. He set him up as a roadie and backup dancer with the hip hop group Digital Underground in 1990.[4][5][6]
Career
1991–93: Beginnings and rise to fame
Shakur's professional entertainment career began in the early 1990s, when he debuted his rapping skills in a vocal turn in Digital Underground's "Same Song" from the soundtrack to the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble and also appeared with the group in the film of the same name. The song was later released as the lead song of the Digital Underground extended play (EP) This is an EP Release, the follow-up to their debut hit album Sex Packets. Shakur appeared in the accompanying music video. After his rap debut, he performed with Digital Underground again on the album Sons of the P. Later, he released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now. Though the album did not generate any "Top Ten" hits, 2Pacalypse Now is hailed by many critics and fans for its underground feel, with many rappers such as Nas, Eminem, Game, and Talib Kweli having pointed to it as inspiration.[29] Although the album was originally released on Interscope Records, rights of it are now owned by Amaru Entertainment. The album's name is a reference to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now.
The album generated significant controversy. Dan Quayle criticized it after a Texas youth's defense attorney claimed he was influenced by 2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of police brutality before shooting a state trooper. Quayle said, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." In connection with such criticisms Tupac told LA Times reporter Chuck Philips that he felt misunderstood.[30] He said, "I started out saying I was down for the young black male, you know, and that was gonna be my thang," Tupac said. "I just wanted to rap about things that affected young black males. When I said that, I didn't know that I was gonna tie myself down to just take all the blunts and hits for all the young black males, to be the media's kicking post for young black males. I just figured since I lived that life I could do that, I could rap about that." [31][32] The record was important in showcasing 2Pac's political conviction and his focus on lyrical prowess. On MTV's Greatest Rappers of All Time List, 2Pacalypse Now was listed as one of 2Pac's "certified classic" albums, along with Me Against the World, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. '2Pacalypse Now went on to be certified Gold by the RIAA. It featured three singles; "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped", and "If My Homie Calls". 2Pacalypse Now can be found in the Vinyl Countdown and in the instruction manual for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, along with the track "I Don't Give a Fuck," which appeared on the in-game radio station, Radio Los Santos.
His second studio album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., was released in February 1993. The album did better than the previous one debuting on number 24 on the Billboard 200. The album contains many tracks emphasizing Tupac's political and social views. This album had more commercial success than its predecessor, and there were noticeable differences in production. While Tupac's first effort had an indie-rap-oriented sound, this album was considered his "breakout" album. It spawned the hits "Keep Ya Head Up" and "I Get Around" and reached platinum status. On vinyl, Side A (tracks 1–8) was labeled the "Black Side" and Side B (tracks 9–16) the "Dark Side." It's known as his tenth-biggest selling album with 1,366,000 units moved as of 2004.[33]
1994–95: Acting and rise to prominence
"Thug Life" redirects here. For the film, see Thug Life (film). For the album, see Thug Life: Volume 1.
In late 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life with a number of his friends, including Big Syke, Macadoshis, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Rated R. The group released their only album Thug Life: Volume 1 on September 26, 1994, which went gold. The album featured the single "Pour Out a Little Liquor," produced by Johnny "J" Jackson, who went on to produce a large part of Shakur's album All Eyez on Me. The group usually performed their concerts without Shakur.[34] The album was originally released by Shakur's label Out Da Gutta Records. Due to criticism about gangsta rap at the time, the original version of the album was scrapped and re-recorded with many of the original songs being cut. Among the notable tracks on the album are "Bury Me a G," "Cradle to the Grave," "Pour Out a Little Liquor" (which also appears in the soundtrack to the 1994 film Above the Rim), "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" and "Str8 Ballin'." The album contains ten tracks because Interscope Records felt many of the other recorded songs were too controversial to release. Although the original version of the album was not completed, Tupac performed the planned first single from the album, "Out on Bail" at the 1994 Source Awards.[35] Although the album was originally released on Shakur's label Out Da Gutta, Amaru Entertainment, the label owned by the mother of Tupac Shakur, has since gained the rights to it. Thug Life: Volume 1 was certified Gold. The track "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" appeared later in 1998 from 2Pac's Greatest Hits album.[36]
The album was very well received, with many calling it the magnum opus of his career. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential hip hop albums of all-time. It is his fourth biggest selling album with 2,439,000 units moved to date.[37] Me Against the World won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards.[38][unreliable source?]
"Dear Mama" was released as the album's first single in February 1995, along with the track "Old School" as the B-side.[39] "Dear Mama" would be the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at the ninth spot on the Billboard Hot 100.[40] The single was certified platinum in July 1995,[41] and later placed at #51 on the year-end charts. The second single, "So Many Tears", was released in June, four months after the first single.[42] The single would reach the number six spot on the Hot Rap Singles chart, and the 44th on the Billboard Hot 100.[40] "Temptations", released in August, was the third and final single from the album.[43] The single would be the least successful of the three released, but still did fairly well on the charts, reaching number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, 35 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and 13 on the Hot Rap Singles charts.[40]
1996: Continued success and final album
All Eyez on Me was the fourth studio album by 2Pac, released on February 13, 1996 by Death Row Records and Interscope Records. The album is frequently recognized as one of the crowning achievements of 1990s rap music.[44] It has been said that "despite some undeniable filler, it is easily the best production 2Pac's ever had on record".[45] It was certified 5× Platinum after just 2 months in April 1996 and 9× platinum in 1998. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love". It featured 5 singles in all, the most of any 2Pac album. Moreover, All Eyez On Me (which was the only Death Row release to be distributed through PolyGram by way of Island Records) made history as the first double-full-length hip-hop solo studio album released for mass consumption. It was issued on two compact discs and four LPs. Chartwise, All Eyez on Me was the second album from 2Pac to hit number-one on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.[46] It sold 566,000 copies in the first week of its release, and was charted on the top 100 with the top one-week Soundscan sales since 1991. The album won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year Award.[47][48][unreliable source?] Shakur also won the Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24th Annual American Music Awards.[49][unreliable source?]
Makaveli The Don - Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, commonly shortened to The 7 Day Theory, is the fifth and final studio album by Tupac Shakur, under the new stage name Makaveli, finished before his death and his first studio album to be posthumously released.[50] The album was completely finished in a total of seven days during the month of August 1996.[51] The lyrics were written and recorded in only three days and mixing took an additional four days. These are among the very last songs he recorded before his fatal shooting on September 7, 1996. In 2005, MTV.com ranked Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory at #9 on their greatest hip hop albums of all time list[52] and, in 2006, recognized it as a classic.[53] The emotion and anger showcased on the album has been admired by a large part of the hip-hop community, including other rappers.[54] Ronald "Riskie" Brent is the creator of the Makaveli Don Killuminati cover painting.[55] George "Papa G" Pryce, Former Head of Publicity for Death Row, claimed that "Makaveli which we did was a sort of tongue and cheek and it was not really to come out and after Tupac was murdered, it did come out. But before that it was going to be a sort of an underground."[56] The album peaked at number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the Billboard 200.[57] The album generated the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year,[58] selling 664,000 copies on the first week. This album was certified 4× Platinum on June 15, 1999.[59]
Other ventures
Death Row Records
Upon his release from Clinton Correctional Facility in 1995, Shakur immediately went back to song recording. He began a new group called Outlaw Immortalz. Shakur began recording his first album with Death Row and released the single "California Love" soon after.
On February 13, 1996, Shakur released his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me. This double album was the first and second of his three-album commitment to Death Row Records. It sold over nine million copies.[60] The record was a general departure from the introspective subject matter of Me Against the World, being more oriented toward a thug and gangsta mentality. Shakur continued his recordings despite increasing problems at the Death Row label. Dr. Dre left his post as house producer to form his own label, Aftermath. Shakur continued to produce hundreds of tracks during his time at Death Row, most of which would be released on his posthumous albums R U Still Down? (Remember Me), Still I Rise, Until the End of Time, Better Dayz, Loyal to the Game and Pac's Life. He also began the process of recording an album with the Boot Camp Clik and their label Duck Down Records, both New York–based, entitled One Nation.[61]
On June 4, 1996, he and Outlawz released the diss track "Hit 'Em Up", a scathing lyrical assault on Biggie and others associated with him. In the track, Shakur claimed to have had sexual intercourse with Faith Evans, Biggie's wife at the time, and attacked Bad Boy's street credibility. Shakur was convinced that some members associated with Bad Boy had known about the '94 attack on him beforehand due to their behavior that night and what his sources told him. After the attack, Shakur immediately accused Jimmy Henchman (an associate of Bad Boy CEO Sean Combs) of orchestrating the attack, according to a 2005 interview with Henchman in Vibe magazine. After the attack, Shakur therefore aligned himself with Suge, Death Row's CEO, who was already bitter toward Combs over a 1995 incident at the Platinum Club in Atlanta, Georgia, which culminated in the death of Suge Knight's friend and bodyguard, Jake Robles; Knight was adamant in voicing his suspicions of Combs' involvement.[62] (In a June 12, 2012 Village Voice article, Chuck Philips reported that Sean Comb's associate Jimmy Henchman, remarkably, admitted to setting up Shakur's ambush during one of nine "Queen For A Day" proffer sessions with the government in autumn of 2011, according to prosecutors).[63]
Outlawz
Main article: Outlawz
When Tupac Shakur recorded "Hit 'Em Up" a diss song towards his former friend and rival, The Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls he recruited three members from the former group Dramacydal whom he had worked with previously, and was eager to work with again. Together with the three New Jersey rappers and other associates, they formed the original lineup of the Outlawz. When 2Pac signed to Death Row upon his release from prison, he recruited his step brother Mopreme Shakur and Big Syke from Thug Life. Hussein Fatal, Napoleon, E.D.I. Mean, Kastro, Yaki Kadafi, and Storm (the only female Outlaw) were also added, and together they formed the original lineup of the Outlaw Immortalz that debuted on 2Pac's multi-platinum smash All Eyez on Me. They later dropped the immortal after the untimely deaths of 2Pac and Yaki Kadafi and moved on as Outlawz without the members of Thug Life. Young Noble was later added and appeared on 2Pac's second Death Row release The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. It was on 2Pac's Makaveli album that Outlawz first came to the greater rap community's notice, appearing on a few songs. The idea behind the group was for each member to have a rap name coinciding with the names of various tyrants or enemies of America, past and present. Outlawz chose in later years to make a backronym out of the letters of their group name Operating Under Thug Laws As Warriorz although it does not stand for the groups name and is used infrequently.
On forming the Outlawz, Shakur gave each of them a name of a dictator/military leader or an enemy of America.
Yaki Kadafi, after Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi
Hussein Fatal, after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
Mussolini (formerly Big Syke), after Italian dictator Benito Mussolini
Komani (Shakur's half brother Mopreme Shakur), after Iranian Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
Kastro, after Cuban leader Fidel Castro
E.D.I. Mean, after Ugandan dictator Idi Amin
Napoleon, after military strategist and leader Napoleon Bonaparte
For himself, Shakur created the alias "Makaveli" from Renaissance Italian philosopher and strategist Niccolò Machiavelli, whose writings inspired Shakur in prison, but who also preached that a leader could eliminate his enemies by all means necessary. He mentioned Makaveli Records a few times before his death. This was supposed to be a music label for up and coming artists that Shakur had an interest in developing or potentially signing, and his own future projects would have also been published through it as well.[64]
Acting career
In addition to rapping and hip hop music, Shakur acted in films. He made his first film appearance in the motion picture Nothing But Trouble, as part of a cameo by the Digital Underground. His first starring role was in the film Juice. In this film, he played the character Roland Bishop, a violent member of the Wrecking Crew, for which he was hailed by Rolling Stone's Peter Travers as "the film's most magnetic figure."[65] He then went on to star with Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice and with Duane Martin in Above the Rim. After his death, three of Shakur's completed films, Bullet, Gridlock'd and Gang Related, were released.[66][67]
He had also been slated to star in the Hughes brothers' film Menace II Society but was replaced by Larenz Tate after assaulting Allen Hughes as a result of a quarrel. Director John Singleton mentioned that he wrote the script for Baby Boy with Shakur in mind for the leading role.[68] It was eventually filmed with Tyrese Gibson in his place and released in 2001, five years after Shakur's death. The film features a mural of Shakur in the protagonist's bedroom as well as featuring the song "Hail Mary" in the film's score.[69]
Artistry
Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in many American, African-American, and world entities, including the Black Panther Party, Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty.
Shakur’s love of theater and Shakespeare also influenced his work. A student of the Baltimore School for the Arts where he studied theater, Shakur understood the Shakespearian psychology of inter-gang wars and inter-cultural conflict. During a 1995 interview, Tupac told the Pulitzer prize-winning Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips:[70]
“ … I love Shakespeare. He wrote some of the rawest stories, man. I mean look at Romeo and Juliet. That's some serious ghetto shit. You got this guy Romeo from the Bloods who falls for Juliet, a female from the Crips, and everybody in both gangs are against them. So they have to sneak out and they end up dead for nothing. Real tragic stuff.
And look how Shakespeare busts it up with Macbeth. He creates a tale about this king's wife who convinces a happy man to chase after her and kill her husband so he can take over the country. After he commits the murder, the dude starts having delusions just like in a Scarface song. I mean the king's wife just screws this guy's whole life up for nothing…”.[70]
”
Chuck Philips made his recorded 1995 and 1993[71] interviews with Tupac available at chuckphilipspost.com on September 13, 2012, the 16th anniversary of Tupac's death.[72] In a European interview[73][74] Philips said that what impressed him the most about Tupac was that he was a poet. Philips said "I like sacred texts, myths, proverbs and scriptures. ... When Tupac came along, I thought he was quite the poet... It wasn’t just how cleverly they rhymed. It wasn’t just the rhythm or the cadence. I liked their attitude. It was protest music in a way nobody had ever thought about before. ...These artists were brave, wise and smart – wickedly smart. The thing about Tupac was he had so many sides. He was unafraid to write about his vulnerabilities."[73][74]
Tupac's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, revealed the socially conscious side of Shakur. On this album, Shakur attacked social injustice, poverty and police brutality on songs "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped" and "Part Time Mutha". His style on this album was highly influenced by the social consciousness and Afrocentrism pervading hip hop in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On this initial release, Shakur helped extend the success of such rap groups as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash, as he became one of the first major socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.[75]
On his second record, Shakur continued to rap about the social ills facing African-Americans, with songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and "Last Wordz". He also showed his compassionate side with the anthem "Keep Ya Head Up", while simultaneously putting his legendary aggressiveness on display with the title track from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. He added a salute to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "I Get Around". Throughout his career, an increasingly aggressive attitude can be seen pervading Shakur's subsequent albums.[76]
The contradictory themes of social inequality and injustice, unbridled aggression, compassion, playfulness, and hope all continued to shape Shakur's work, as witnessed with the release of his incendiary 1995 album Me Against the World. In 1996, Shakur released All Eyez on Me. Many of these tracks are considered by many critics to be classics, including "Ambitionz Az a Ridah", "I Ain't Mad at Cha", "California Love", "Life Goes On" and "Picture Me Rollin".; All Eyez on Me was a change of style from his earlier works. While still containing socially conscious songs and themes, Shakur's album was heavily influenced by party tracks and tended to have a more "feel good" vibe than his first albums. Shakur described it as a celebration of life, and the record was critically and commercially successful.[77]
He had enjoyed and had been influenced by the work of contemporary English and Irish pop musicians as a teenager such as Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinéad O'Connor and U2.[78]
Personal life
Shakur was a voracious reader. He was inspired by a wide variety of writers, including William Shakespeare, Niccolò Machiavelli, Donald Goines, Sun Tzu, Kurt Vonnegut, Mikhail Bakunin, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Khalil Gibran.[citation needed]
Shakur never professed following a particular religion, but his lyrics in singles such as "Only God Can Judge Me" and poems such as The Rose That Grew from Concrete suggest he believed in God. This means many analysts currently describe him as a deist.[79][80][81] He believed in Karma, but rejected a literal afterlife and organized religion.[82] Tupac has had several family members who were members of the Black Panthers; Mutulu Shakur, the step-father of Shakur, Assata Shakur, his step-aunt, Billy Garland the biological father of Tupac and Afeni Shakur his mother. Shakur publicly spoke out against interracial marriage in an interview with Source magazine in 1994,[83] but later retracted these comments.[84]
Legal issues
In October 1991, Tupac filed a $10 million civil suit against the Oakland Police Department, alleging they brutally beat him for jaywalking. Shakur received approximately $43,000 in settlement money, much of which went to pay his lawyer.[85]
On April 5, 1993, Shakur was charged with one count of felonious assault. He was accused of attempting to hit rapper Chauncey Wynn from the group M.A.D. with a baseball bat at a concert at Michigan State University. The incident reportedly began when Shakur became angry and threw a microphone. Shakur pleaded guilty on September 14, 1994 to a misdemeanor in exchange for the dropping of felony assault charges. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 20 of which were suspended, and ordered to perform 35 hours of community service.[86][87]
In October 1993, in Atlanta, two brothers and off-duty police officers, Mark and Scott Whitwell, were with their wives celebrating Mrs. Whitwell's passing of the state bar examination. The officers were drunk and in possession of stolen guns. As they crossed the street, a car with Shakur inside passed by them or "almost struck them." The Whitwells argued with the driver, Shakur and the other passengers, which was joined by a second passing car. Shakur shot one officer in the buttocks and the other in the leg, back or abdomen, according to varying news reports. Mark Whitwell was charged with firing at Shakur's car and later lying to the police during the investigation. Shakur was charged with the shooting. Prosecutors dropped all charges against the parties.[88][89]
In early 1994, he was found guilty of assault on Menace II Society co-director Allen Hughes and served 15 days in jail.[90][91]
1992 shooting
On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed at an outdoor festival, and stayed for an hour afterwards signing autographs and pictures. A confrontation occurred and Shakur drew a legally registered Colt Mustang, and allegedly dropped it. As it was picked up by a member of his entourage, a bullet discharged. About 100 yards away, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a 6-year-old, was pedaling his bicycle at a school playground nearby when a bullet struck him in the forehead and killed him. Although the fatal slug was matched by police to a .38-caliber pistol registered to Shakur, and his stepbrother Maurice Harding was initially arrested on suspicion of firing the weapon, no charges were filed. Marin County prosecutors have said they were stymied by a lack of witnesses. Charges were dropped when Shakur agreed to pay a $300,000 - $500,000 settlement to the parents[92][93] The police "rescued" them and took the two into custody, who were soon released without charge for lack of evidence.
In 1995, a wrongful death suit was brought against Shakur by Qa'id's mother. Ballistics tests proved the bullet that killed the boy was not from Shakur's or any members of his entourage's gun .[citation needed] Shakur's attorney stated that the festival was a "nasty situation," and his client was saddened by the death of the young boy. Shakur's record company settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, reportedly between $300,000 and $500,000.[94][95] Family and close friends of Shakur often stated that the incident haunted Shakur for much of his life. He dedicated several songs to the seven-year-old Qa'id including, "The Good Die Young" and "Nothing to Die for".
Attack at Quad Studios
Shakur was rushed to Bellevue Hospital after a shooting in 1994
On the night of November 30, 1994, the day before the verdict in his sexual abuse trial was to be announced, Shakur was robbed and shot five times by three men in the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan.[96] Tupac told journalist Chuck Philips a year after the attack, that he believed the robbery to be a setup for the attack. Why, he asked would they take jewelry and leave his Rolex watch?.[97]
Shakur would accuse Sean Combs,[98] an associate of Combs named Jimmy Henchman [96] and Biggie among others of setting up the attack in a 1995 interview with Vibe magazine. Vibe changed the names of the accused assailants upon publication.[99] Shakur's song "Against All Odds" has been interpreted as implicating Jimmy Henchman and his associates at Bad Boy records for orchestrating the attack. Later evidence did not implicate Biggie in the studio assault. When Biggie's entourage went downstairs to check on the incident, Shakur was being taken out on a stretcher, still conscious and giving the finger to those around.[100][101]
According to some reports, the doctors who treated Shakur at Bellevue Hospital said he had five bullet wounds; two in the head, two in the groin and one through the arm and thigh. The hospital documents, however, have never been released. In the documentary Biggie & Tupac, Shakur's father is interviewed and said that his son made a point to show him that no damage was inflicted upon his penis and/or testicles. Shakur's father also mentions that when he saw his son's groin, he knew that he was his son. He checked out of the hospital against doctor's orders, three hours after surgery. In the day that followed, Shakur entered the courthouse in a wheelchair and was found guilty of three counts of molestation and not guilty of six others, including sodomy. On February 6, 1995, he was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on the sexual assault charges.[102]
On March 17, 2008, Chuck Philips reported in the Los Angeles Times that Jimmy Henchman ordered a trio of thugs to rough up Shakur.[63][103] The article, based on multiple sources, was retracted by the LA Times because it partially relied on FBI documents which turned out to be forged.[104] but vindicated in 2011 when Dexter Isaac admitted to attacking Tupac on orders from Henchman.[105][106][107] Following Isaac’s public confession, Philips corroborated Isaac as one of his key unnamed sources.[108] In a June 12, 2012 article for The Village Voice, Philips wrote that Jimmy Henchman admitted to setting up Tupac's ambush during one of nine "Queen For A Day" proffer sessions with the government in autumn 2011, according to prosecutors,[63][109] a statement that supported Philips' theory.[109] Henchman was convicted in October 2013 to life plus five years of imprisonment based on multiple crimes which the judge noted had remarkable breadth, intensity and scope. Henchman is being tried for contracting the murder of Lodi Mack, an associate of 50 Cent. But because the ambush at Quad Studios was classified as a robbery by police, Henchman will never stand trial for it as the statute of limitations for robbery has lapsed.[63][96]
Sexual assault
In November 1993, Shakur and others were charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. Shakur denied the charges. According to Shakur, he had prior relations days earlier with the woman that were consensual (the woman admitted she performed oral sex on Shakur). The complainant claimed sexual assault after her second visit to Shakur's hotel room; she alleged that Shakur and his entourage raped her.[110][111] In the ensuing trial, Shakur was found innocent of seven counts of sodomy and other charges, however he was found guilty of sexual abuse for the "unwanted touching of the buttocks". In sentencing Shakur to 1½–4½ years in prison, the judge described the crime as "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman."[112][113] While appearing on the Arsenio Hall Show, Shakur stated he was innocent of all charges and he was hurt that "a women would accuse me of taking something from her" when he was raised by and was surrounded by females.[114] Shakur, did however, admit that he should have been more responsible with the people he surrounded himself with. After serving part of his sentence, Shakur was released on bail pending his appeal. On April 5, 1996, a judge sentenced him to serve 120 days in jail for violating terms of his release on bail.[115]
In October 1995, Shakur's case was on appeal but due to all of his legal fees he could not raise the $1.4 million bail. After serving eleven months of his one-and-a-half year to four-and-a-half year sentence,[116] Shakur was released from the Clinton Correctional Facility due in large part to the help and influence of Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, who posted a $1.4 million bail pending appeal of the conviction in exchange for Shakur to release three albums under the Death Row label.[117]
Prison sentence and bail
Shakur had begun serving his prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility on February 14, 1995. Shortly afterward, he released his multi-platinum album Me Against the World. Shakur became the first artist to have an album at number one on the Billboard 200 while serving a prison sentence. Me Against the World made its debut on the Billboard 200 and stayed at the top of the charts for four weeks. The album sold 240,000 copies in its first week, setting a record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist at the time.[118] While serving his sentence, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, on April 4, 1995; the couple divorced in 1996. Shakur stated he married her "for the wrong reasons".[119]
While imprisoned, Shakur read many books by Niccolò Machiavelli, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and other works of political philosophy and strategy.[120] The works inspired his pseudonym "Makaveli" under which he released the album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. The album presents a stark contrast to previous works. Throughout the album, Shakur continues to focus on the themes of pain and aggression, making this album one of the emotionally darker works of his career. Shakur wrote and recorded all the lyrics in only three days and the production took another four days, combining for a total of seven days to complete the album (hence the name).
Death
Main article: Murder of Tupac Shakur
On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. After leaving the match, one of Knight's associates spotted Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, an alleged Crips gang member from Compton, California, in the MGM Grand lobby. Earlier that year, Anderson and a group of Crips had robbed a member of Death Row's entourage in a Foot Locker store. Knight's associate told Shakur, who attacked Anderson. Shakur's entourage, as well as Knight and his followers, assisted in assaulting Anderson. The fight was captured on the hotel's video surveillance. After the brawl, Shakur went with Knight to go to Death Row-owned Club 662 (now known as restaurant/club Seven). He rode in Knight's 1996 black BMW 750iL sedan as part of a larger convoy, including many in Shakur's entourage.[121]
At around 11:00–11:05 pm, they were halted on Las Vegas Boulevard by Metro bicycle police for playing the car stereo too loudly and not having license plates. The plates were found in the trunk of Knight's car; the party was released without being fined a few minutes later.[122] At about 11:10 pm, while they were stopped at a red light at Flamingo Road near the intersection of Koval Lane in front of the Maxim Hotel, a vehicle occupied by two women pulled up on their left side. Shakur, who was standing up through the sunroof, exchanged words with the two women, and invited them to go to Club 662.[122] At approximately 11:15 pm, a white, four-door, late-model Cadillac with an unknown number of occupants pulled up to the sedan's right side, rolled down a window, and rapidly fired gunshots at Shakur. He was hit in the chest, pelvis, and his right hand and thigh.[9][122] One of the rounds went into Shakur's right lung.[123] Knight was hit in the head by fragmentation, though it is thought[by whom?] that a bullet grazed him.[124] The bodyguard, Frank Alexander, stated that when he was about to ride along with the rapper in Knight's car, Shakur asked him to drive the car of Shakur's fiancée Kidada Jones instead, in case they needed additional vehicles from Club 662 back to the hotel. The bodyguard reported in his documentary, Before I Wake, that shortly after the assault, one of the convoy's cars drove off after the assailant but he never heard from the occupants.[125]
After arriving on the scene, police and paramedics took Knight and a wounded Shakur to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada. According to an interview with the music video director Gobi, while at the hospital, he received news from a Death Row marketing employee that the shooters had called the record label and threatened Shakur.[126] Gobi told the Las Vegas police, but said they claimed to be understaffed.[126] No attackers came.[126] At the hospital, Shakur was heavily sedated, was placed on life support machines, and was ultimately put under a barbiturate-induced coma after repeatedly trying to get out of the bed.[9] While in the critical care unit, on the afternoon of Friday, September 13, 1996, Shakur died of internal bleeding; doctors attempted to revive him but could not stop the hemorrhaging.[9] His mother, Afeni, made the decision to tell the doctors to stop.[123] He was pronounced dead at 4:03 pm (PDT).[9] The official cause of death was noted as respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest in connection with multiple gunshot wounds.[9] Shakur's body was cremated the next day and some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of the Outlawz.[127] His fifth album, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released two months later.
Tupac Quotes About Life Quotes Life Tumblr Lessons Goes on Is Short and Love God is Too Short is LIke a Camera is good .
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