Tupac Shakur

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Tupac Amaru Shakur (16 June, 1971-Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA - September 13, 1996-Las Vegas, Nevada, USA), was born Lesane Parrish Crooks. Tupac was an American hip hop artist, poet and actor. He is listed in the Guiness Book of World Records as the best-selling rap/hip-hop artist ever, having sold 67 million albums worldwide (mostly posthumously), 37 million copies in the US alone, and has had 17 top 10 singles in the US. He is consistently ranked by fans, industry insiders and music critics as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Shaped in the genre of Rap, most of Shakur's songs are about growing up around violence and hardships in United States ghettos, racism, and sometimes his feuds with fellow rappers. Tupac is known for the political, economic, and racial equality messages that pervade his work.

He is the first rap/hip hop artist to have a wax model of his created for Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum in Las Vegas. His wax statue is set to be exhibited around April 2006. ^[1]

Early life

Tupac Shakur was raised under difficult circumstances. He knew his biological father, and his stepfather Dr. Mutulu Shakur – brother of the civil rights activist Assata Shakur and father of Tupac's half sister – was a convicted felon. His mother, Afeni Shakur, was a member of the Black Panthers and served jail-time on bombing charges while pregnant with him, facing a sentence of up to three years in prison. Acting as her own attorney, she won the verdict and was released one month before Tupac was born.

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Tupac Shakur

Shakur said, "I never knew where my father was or who my father was for sure." His godfather, Geronimo Pratt, was also a high-ranking Panther.

Much of Shakur's upbringing revolved around the Black Panther philosophy. Tupac lived in impoverished conditons during most of his childhood, along with his mother and half-sister Sekyiwa (pronounced Setchua). He constantly moved between homeless shelters and cheap accommodations around New York City. As a result, he retained few friends and relied on writing poetry and diary entries to keep himself busy. At the age of 12, Shakur joined a Harlem theatre group and acted as "Travis" in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun. Tupac's family exposed him to Professor Cornel West's work at an early age, as well.

In 1986, Shakur's mother brought him and his sister to live in Baltimore, Maryland. They lived on Greenmount Ave. in East Baltimore, where his looks, name, and lack of "trendy" clothing made him unpopular. He attended Roland Park Middle School, then spent his freshman year at Paul Lawrence Dunbar High. Tupac was accepted to the Baltimore School for the Arts for his sophomore year. He enjoyed his classes there, studying theater, ballet, and other arts. It was during this time that Shakur became close friends with another student named Jada Pinkett. Shakur was already outspoken on the subject of racial equality. His teachers remembered him as being a very gifted student. He was an avid reader, delving into books on eastern religions, and even entire encyclopedia sets. Hiding his love of literature from his peers, he gained their respect by acting like a tough guy. Shakur composed his first rap in Baltimore under the name "MC New York". The song was about gun control and was inspired by the fatal shooting of one of his close friends.

Two years later, Afeni was having trouble finding work (reportedly due to drug addiction and her past with the Black Panthers), and moved the family to live with a friend in Marin City, California. Shakur described this move from Baltimore and the arts school as "where I got off track". He showed contempt for law enforcement, being hassled occasionally for playing music loudly. In August of 1988, his stepfather Mutulu was sentenced to sixty years in prison for armed robbery after being on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list for several years. Shakur soon moved in with a neighbor and started selling drugs on the street, but also made friends who helped spark his interest in rap music. One of these was Ray Luv, and with a mutual friend named DJ Dize ("Dizz-ee"), they started a rap group called Strictly Dope. Their recordings were later released in 2001 under the name Tupac Shakur: The Lost Tapes. Their neighborhood performances brought Shakur enough acclaim to land an audition with Shock G of Digital Underground.

In 1990, Shakur was a backup dancer for Digital Underground. His early lyrics were mediocre, and he was viewed ambivalently due to his tendency toward self-important or occasionally violent behavior. On a song for the Nothing But Trouble movie soundtrack, Same Song, Shakur was given his first opportunity to rap on a professional label record. Later, other members from the Digital Underground group, most notably Shock G, would recall being impressed by Tupac's ability to say so much in such a small amount of time, as he had been given only eight bars on the record.

Rise to fame

In 1991, Shakur had trouble marketing his solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now. Eventually, Interscope Records executives Ted Field and Tom Whalley agreed to distribute the record. Although produced with the help of his Digital Underground crew, the intent of the album was to showcase his individual talent. While Shakur claimed his album was aimed at the problems facing young black males, it was also filled with images of violence by and against police. 2Pacalypse Now quickly attracted public criticism, especially after a young man who killed a Texas trooper claimed he was inspired by the album. Former Vice President Dan Quayle publicly denounced the album as having "no place in our society". The album did not do as well as Tupac had hoped on the charts, creating no number one hits. In confidence, Shakur told Shock G that he wanted Shock to pick the beats. While Shakur was a talented rapper, producing was not his forte. Almost all of his songs had original lyrics.

His second CD, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., was heavily produced by Stretch and the Live Squad, and spurred two number one hits: the emotional Keep Ya Head Up and the playful I Get Around.

As a child, Shakur had dreamed of becoming a Shakespearean actor. Though he never achieved this, he did achieve some fame as a movie actor. Tupac's first appearance in a music video was for Digital Underground's hit single Same Song. His first major motion picture appearance was 1991's Nothing But Trouble, where he made an appearance as himself alongside the other members of Digital Underground. His first starring role was in the critically acclaimed 1991 movie Juice, in which he was hailed by Rolling Stone's Peter Travers as "the film's most magnetic figure." He went on to star in Poetic Justice (with Janet Jackson), Above the Rim, Gridlock'd (with Tim Roth), Bullet, and Gang Related. He had also been slated to star in the Hughes brothers' Menace II Society but was replaced by Larenz Tate after assaulting the directors. (John Singleton wrote the film Baby Boy with Shakur in mind for the leading role, but Shakur died before it was made. It was eventually filmed with Tyrese Gibson in his place and released in 2001, five years after Shakur's death.)

Along with Shakur's rise to fame came a series of altercations with the law that further complicated his public image. Before he started his recording career, he had no criminal record. In October of 1991, he was stopped by two Oakland police officers for allegedly jaywalking. He claimed that when he told the police "fuck y'all", he was choked, beaten, and had his head smashed on the pavement. He subsequently filed a ten million dollar lawsuit against the Oakland police department, which was eventually settled for $42,000.

In October 1993, Shakur came upon two off-duty police officers whom he perceived as harassing a black motorist on the side of the road in Atlanta. Shakur got into a fight with them and shot both officers (one in the leg, one in the buttocks). He faced serious charges until it was discovered that both officers were intoxicated during the incident and were using weapons stolen out of an evidence locker. The charges against Shakur were dismissed.

In late 1993, he formed the group Thug Life with a few of his friends, including Big Syke, Macadoshis, his step-brother Mopreme, and Rated R. The group released their first album Thug Life: Volume 1 on Interscope in 1994 which, despite its hardcore content, still managed to be certified as a gold record. The group subsequently disbanded after Shakur's release from prison.

In December 1993, Shakur was charged with sexually abusing a woman in his hotel room. According to his account, he met a female fan at a club, Nell's, who was described to him as wanting to "more than meet [him]". She allegedly gave him oral sex on the dance floor before Shakur took her back to his hotel room. The next night, she visited him before he was set to do a show and was giving him a massage in a hotel room. Some friends who were with him that night interrupted the couple, wanting to enjoy the woman's attentions themselves. Shakur claimed to have left the room disgusted and went to take a nap. The girl, disagreeing with his account, accused him of encouraging the three men, pulling her hair, and sodomizing her. Shakur vehemently denied her account, but on February 7, 1995 was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault.

The first shooting

Shortly before his verdict was announced, Shakur was shot five times in an apparent robbery attempt outside a New York music studio. He recalled the circumstances shortly afterwards in an interview with Vibe magazine.

On the night of November 30, 1994, Shakur, his manager, and two friends had just arrived at a studio to do some recordings for Booker, an acquaintance Shakur didn't quite trust. He was suspicious of two black men in their thirties, both dressed in army fatigues, because neither of them seemed to acknowledge his presence. He noted that he was less wary of them than he should have been because he "had just finished smoking chronic". Shakur simply assumed they must be security for fellow rapper Christopher Wallace, who performed under the stage name The Notorious B.I.G. (also known as "Biggie Smalls" or just "Biggie"), with whom Shakur was still friends at the time.

The two men, whom Shakur described as looking like they were from New York, came at him with identical 9mm handguns, and forced him and his friends to the floor. Their aggression was focused almost exclusively on Shakur, although they did threaten to shoot his friend as well. They forced everybody to lie on the floor, but Shakur remained standing, later saying he had frozen. They demanded he hand over his jewelry, which he refused to do. After grabbing at one of the armed men, Tupac was shot once in the leg, through his scrotum. He fell to the floor, and was shot a further four times, which he later claimed not to have realized; he believed he was being kicked and that his head was being beaten upon the floor. He recalled seeing white light, but never believed he could die. He lay silent, pretending to be dead. He was robbed of the gold jewelry he was wearing, worth over forty thousand dollars.

Upon regaining consciousness, he took the elevator upstairs to safety, where Biggie, rapper/producer Sean Combs (known as Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy or Diddy), rapper James Lloyd (known as Li'l Caesar), and others were waiting. Shakur described his friends as acting very strangely, almost surprised at him being alive. His first words after realizing the severity of his wounds were, "Call my mom and tell her I've been shot." He was also very surprised that his companions at the time of the shooting, who were also wearing jewelry, weren't robbed. In an interview, Diddy and B.I.G. alleged they were very helpful toward Shakur and called an ambulance, which the rapper denied.

There was the question of the involvement of one Jaques Agnant, AKA Hatian Jack, relative of New Jersey recording artist Wyclef Jean, and one King Tut, a New York gangster; none of these claims were ever substantiated, though Tupac references King Tut in the song "Against All Odds." Shakur survived, and left the hospital a day after, against doctor's orders because he was feeling harassed by phone calls and the doctors. He showed up in court a few days afterwards in a wheelchair to face his verdict in the sexual assault case.

Prison sentence

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Tupac in a police mugshot (March 8, 1995)

Shakur began serving his prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility later that February. Soon after, his multi-platinum album, Me Against the World, was released. Shakur has the distinction of being the only artist with an album at number one on the charts while serving a prison sentence. From jail, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, though the marriage was later annulled. He also had time to pursue reading, delving into the works of Niccolò Machiavelli, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and even wrote a screenplay titled Live 2 Tell while incarcerated.

In September, after almost eight months in prison, Shakur was released on parole largely due to the help of Suge Knight, the head of Death Row Records. Suge posted a $1.4 million bail for Shakur, and in exchange Shakur was obliged to release three albums through his label. The rapper was unrepentant and grew even more embittered against the authorities, which showed in his music.

Post-prison

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Album cover from All Eyez On Me (1996).

Immediately after his release from prison, Shakur went back to work recording. He began a new group, Tha Outlawz, and with them released the infamous song "Hit 'Em Up", a bitterly scathing lyrical attack on Biggie Smalls (Christopher Wallace) and others associated with him. Though the two had been friends, Shakur became convinced by Wallace's behavior on the night Shakur was shot that Wallace had had some prior knowledge that Shakur was going to be attacked. Wallace steadfastly denied this but Shakur remained unconvinced. Shakur took the lyrics of Wallace's song "Who Shot Ya?" as being, in effect, Wallace bragging about his involvement in the attack, and the seeds of the East Coast/West Coast hip-hop war were laid. Wallace and Shakur would remain enemies until Shakur's death.

On February 1996, Shakur released his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me. The double album was the first and second of his three-album commitment to Death Row Records. It subsequently went on to sell over 9 million copies and is considered by many to be among the best albums in the genre.

From there, Shakur continued his recordings despite the impending troubles at Death Row, as Dr. Dre left his post as house producer and Suge Knight became more involved in illegal activities. Shakur produced hundreds of tracks during this period, most of which would be released on posthumous albums such as Better Dayz and Until the End of Time. 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. The goal of this project was to bring closure to the East-West feud by bringing together what Shakur thought were the best rappers from both coasts. This remains unreleased, although 2Pac verses from the album have been mined and put on posthumous releases.

The second shooting

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Tupac Shakur.

At a red light on the corner of East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Las Vegas, Nevada, Shakur was shot in a drive-by shooting on September 7, 1996 after attending the boxing match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon. A white Cadillac pulled up to the car that Tupac and Suge Knight were sitting in. They were heading to a night club, and had the music of Tupac's (Then Un-released Cd) The 7 Day Theory playing at high volume. A man then opened the door of the Cadillac, and fired 7 shots at the car. Shakur was hit 3 times (including once in the lung) while attempting to jump in the back seat. He died in hospital on September 13, 1996.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and Compton police, although they never officially solved the case, concluded that Shakur was shot by members of the Southside Crips street gang. Hours before the shooting, Shakur had been involved in a fight in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel after the Tyson-Seldon bout. Shakur started the fight when he noticed 21-year-old Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a reputed member of the Southside Crips, lingering nearby. Anderson had allegedly beaten up one of Shakur's bodyguards in a shopping mall a few weeks earlier, thus prompting Shakur's provocative actions.

After the fight with Anderson, Shakur left the MGM Hotel, went to the hotel with his fiance, Kidada Jones. Then, he met up with Suge Knight to go to Death Row's Club 662 (now restaurant/club Seven) in Las Vegas. The two drove together in Knight's 1996 black BMW 750i sedan (Images 1,2), part of a larger convoy of cars including some of Shakur's friends, tha Outlawz, and bodyguards. Shakur was not wearing a bulletproof vest that night, even though Death Row had provided him with one. At 11:15 P.M., Knight's car stopped at the intersection of East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. A white Cadillac was seen pulling up to the passenger side of the car, with someone inside firing thirteen rounds into the car as Shakur attempted to climb to safety in the back seat.

Shakur was hit four times, twice in the chest, and in his arm and thigh, while Knight was scratched by a piece of flying glass (while later claiming in an interview he had a bullet stuck in his head). The BMW's two passenger tires were also shot out. According to some sources, Suge Knight asked Shakur if he was okay immediately after the shooting. Seeing blood on the back of Knight's head, Shakur replied, "Me? You were the one shot in the mother fucking head."

Knight drove through the busy strip to find the nearest hospital. His car hit a median and caused a third tire to go flat, forcing the car to stop. The police arrived and called in paramedics. Shakur and Knight were taken to the University Medical Center. As the ambulance left the scene, Shakur was heard by paramedics saying "I can't breathe, I can't breathe." Shakur survived on life support for six days, dying on September 13 1996 at 4:03 PM. After his death, Shakur's body was cremated, and family and friends reportedly spread his ashes in the Pacific Ocean near L.A., saying that Shakur would want to be in his beloved city.

Although no one has ever been formally charged, nor publicly identified by the police as a suspect, police sources have indicated that the authorities believe that Anderson (who has since been murdered) and his fellow Southside Crips were behind the shooting, with their immediate motivation being Shakur's involvement in attacking Anderson earlier that night. (Anderson's family has denied that he was involved and further denied that he was even a member of the Crips. Anderson was interviewed in connection with the crime by police prior to his death, but never taken into custody nor charged.) Officers in the Compton Gang Unit claimed that the Crips were bragging about the killing soon after returning to Compton and officers further indicated that they were disappointed with the lack of initiative shown by Las Vegas police in pursuing the killing.

In 2002, an investigation by Chuck Phillips of the Los Angeles Times, while not naming its gang-member sources, stated that Wallace (who, Phillips' article said, was also in Las Vegas that night) met with the Southside Crips who requested that he pay them $1 million in exchange for Shakur's death. The article claimed that Wallace had ties to the Crips from his hiring them for security during west coast appearances, and that he gave the gang members one of his own guns for use in the attack on Shakur. So that Wallace could have the satisfaction of knowing that he had supplied the gun that took his enemy's life, the article claimed, Wallace agreed to pay the requested bounty on the condition that the Crips use that gun.

Because of the acrimony between Wallace and Shakur, general speculation about the possibility of Wallace's involement in the murder had been commonplace from the outset, with Wallace always vehemently denying any involvment. By the time the newspaper article made these specific allegations, however, Wallace himself had been murdered. On Wallace's behalf, his family and associates have claimed that he was not in Las Vegas on that night and repeated the denial that he had anything to do with the incident. A few days after the article ran, they turned over to MTV documentation which seemed to indicate that indeed Wallace had reserved time that night in a recording studio in New York owned by Sean Combs (Puff Daddy). Additionally, they turned over a digital audio tape supposedly from that recording session which was date-stamped as being from September 7/September 8, 1996. Both manager Wayne Barrow and rapper James Lloyd (Lil' Cease) have publicly stated that they were personally with Wallace at that recording session. Lloyd has stated that after the session, they returned to Wallace's home in New Jersey, which is where they watched the boxing match together. Lloyd also denied the article's claim that Bad Boy Records had a practice of hiring Crips for security.

Outside sources have verified that the portion of Phillips' article identifying Anderson and the Southside Crips as the murderers is indeed the prevailing theory among law enforcement. However, beyond the anonymous gang sources cited in that article, no other evidence has come to light which would support the article's linking of Wallace to the crime, and it is not believed that law enforcement personnel in general lend much credence to this portion of the theory.

The high profile nature of the killing and ensuing gang violence caught the attention of British filmmaker Nick Broomfield who made the documentary Biggie & Tupac, which examines the lack of progress in the case by speaking to those close to Wallace, Shakur, and the investigation.

Shakur's close childhood friend — and a member of the Outlawz — Yafeu "Yaki Kadafi" Fula, was in the convoy when the shooting happened and told police he might be able to identify the assailants. He, too, was killed shortly thereafter in New Jersey. In 2000, hip hop magazine The Source ran an interview with another Outlaw, Napoleon. In the article Napoleon claimed his cousin had accidentally shot Fula in the head while intoxicated. Fula's mother, however, maintains her son was murdered over money and Napoleon's cousin made up the accidental shooting story.

The video for the single "I Ain't Mad at Cha", shot a month before his death, showed Tupac being shot and killed and later in heaven jamming with mostly other deceased African-American musicans such as, Billie Holiday, Donny Hathaway, Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong, Marvin Gaye, Miles Davis, Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx, Robert Johnson, and Sammy Davis Jr.

Shakur's last album created while alive was The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. Released two months after his death, this album was portentous and carried a dark vibe from beginning to end. Radio-friendly tracks included "2 live and die in L.A", "Toss it up" and "Krazy".

The entire album was recorded in a seven day timespan, hence the subtitle. Along with hundreds of other theories that sprang up after his death and the release of the album, it was believed for quite a while that within the first few seconds of the album, you could hear someone saying "Suge shot me," or "Suge shot 'em." However, in many independent investigations, including one conducted by MTV, it is believed that the actual quote is "Shouldn't have shot him."

Labelled as being by "Makaveli" - a pseudonym inspired by Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli - and depicting on its cover a crucified Shakur, the album has sold over five million copies.

His plans at time of death

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Tupac Amaru Shakur Peace Garden Courtesy: whileseated.org

Shakur indicated after getting out of jail that he had future plans, including mostly getting out of the rap scene by releasing high-quality, deep albums only once every five years or so. Shakur also desired to give back more to the community, suggesting a Little League to encourage young black kids to keep on the right path. He ran an earlier project called "The Underground Railroad" that aimed to keep youths off drugs by getting them involved in music. His mother Afeni opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in June 2005, to carry on his work, by helping youths accomplish their goals. Afeni Shakur has also indicated in several interviews that the final album of original music will be released in 2006.

Shakur had also mentioned that he was going to start his own movie production company entitled "Euphanasia", and was listed as an employee of this company at his time of death. He was also going to create a record label entitled "Makaveli Records" that would be home to both him and the Outlawz, and stated intent to sign the Wu-Tang Clan and Big Daddy Kane, among others. The Makaveli Record logo is shown on the back cover of The 7 Day Theory.

After his death

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Tupac Shakur.

More of Shakur's recordings have been released posthumously than while he was alive, although there are doubts as to whether he would have considered many of them to be worthy of release. Rights to his music are now owned by Amaru Entertainment, which is controlled by his mother Afeni, and artist royalties are assigned to the Tupac Foundation, which has used the revenue to build the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His mother has said that getting Tupac into a Harlem arts program as a teenager saved him from drugs, and the new center will have a similar philosophy (Rapnews). She launched the clothing line "Makaveli Branded" in 2003, with proceeds going to the center. In 2005 the chart-topping single Ghetto Gospel was released, featuring an Elton John sample. The song was part of Loyal to the Game album produced by artist Eminem. Tupac is also the writer of the screenplay of the upcoming announced film Live 2 Tell debuting in theatres sometime in 2006. He wrote the film project during his jail sentence in 1995. The script is about a drug dealer getting powerful enough to take over the business but after becoming the kingpin he decides to give it all up for love.

The alive theories

Many still believe that the rap legend is still alive. This has led to many '2Pac alive theories'.

This is a list of "evidence." There are countless other theories, mainly based on song lyrics.

The album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory is one of the main foundations supporting the conspiracy theories surrounding 2Pac’s death. 2Pac recorded the album under the name Makaveli, a reference to the political theorist Machiavelli, who wrote of faking one's death to fool enemies. 2Pac studied Machiavelli's writings in prison.

The album cover depicts 2Pac crucified, suggesting not only death, but a resurrection.

Instead of Suge Knight, the executive producer on the album is listed as "Simon." Simon was the apostle who helped Jesus carry the cross and one of the first to witness his resurrection. Some people say Suge Knight (CEO of Death Row records and Executive Producer of All Eyez On Me) is Simon.

The number seven can be connected to Tupac's death in many ways:

2Pac was shot on September 7th.
2Pac died on the seventh day after the shooting.
Of the 12 bullets fired into 2Pac's vehicle, 5 struck him, leaving seven misses.
The digits of 2Pac's recorded time of death (4:03) add toseven.
A voice on the album says, "And if the Lord returns in the coming seven days, then we'll see ya next time."
2Pac's first release on Suge Knight's Death Row label, All Eyez On Me, was released on February 13, 1996 - exactly seven months before his death.
It’s in the album’s title. Many believe that the meaning behind the "seven day theory" (part of the album's title) was that 2Pac would return September 2003, seven years after his death (He did not).

There are other reasons besides those related to the album:

Friday the 13th (the day 2Pac died) is widely regarded as a superstitious day.

Public memorial services in L.A. and Atlanta were canceled. This is unusual for a major celebrity such as 2pac.

While 2Pac's vehicle was shot 12 times, Suge was unharmed. (He claims his head was "grazed" by a bullet).^{[citation needed]}

In spite of the increased police presence due to the major fight taking place that night, the white Cadillac driven by the assailants was never found, and none of the assailants were arrested.

2Pac was cremated, but in the song "Life Goes On", he clearly states his wish to buried, as well as implying that he should have an open casket and a public funeral, in the lines beginning with "Bury me smiling, with G's in my pocket."

In the song "Ain't Hard 2 Find" on the album All Eyez On Me, 2Pac says "I heard rumors I died murdered in cold blood dramatized/pictures of me in my final stage you know momma cried/but that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted..."

The video "I Ain't Mad At Cha was released only a few days after his death. "I Ain't Mad At Cha" is track 13 on the album All Eyez On Me. The video shows 2Pac as an angel in heaven. In the video, Tupac was shot after leaving a theater with a friend; very similar to the real situation.

2Pac dies in his last video released under the name "Tupac". His new video "Toss It Up" from the new album was released under the name "Makaveli."

In the video of the song "Smile" by Scarface and 2Pac, many say that the reason "2Pac" never looks at the camera is that he is played by a look alike. Also the video shows a car very similar to the one in which 2Pac was shot. The car has bullet holes in it's side.

Other less credible evidence: "Makaveli: The Don Killuminati The 7 Day Theory" is an anagram of "Ok on tha 7th u think I'm dead yet I'm really alive".

In the CD booklet of the R U Still Down album, the following is written "Keep the faith in me I wont let u down...love 2Pac." This album was released more than a year after 2Pac's death.

That statute of limitations says that if a person faked his death (which is illegal) for 7 years, he cannot be convicted by the law. This is not true.

There is a law that says that if there are 2 or more physical attempts on one's life, one then has the legal right to change one's identity or to fake one's death to escape one's attackers. This is not true.

Awards

Tupac was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame in 2002. ^[2]

In 2003, MTV's "22 Greatest MCs" countdown listed Tupac as the "number 1 MC", as voted by the viewers. ^[3]

In 2004, a VIBE magazine poll rated Tupac "the greatest rapper of all time" as voted by fans.

In 2005, Top Soundtrack Song of the Year: "Runnin' (Dying To Live)" From TUPAC: RESURRECTION by Tupac featuring The Notorious B.I.G. at the 18th Annual ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Music Awards

Also in 2005, MTV listed Tupac's "The Don Kiluminati: The 7 Day Theory" (released under the pseudonym "Makaveli") as one of the "Top 10 Greatest Hip-Hop Albums of All Time."

Documentary

On November 14 2003, a documentary about the rapper entitled Tupac: Resurrection, was released under the supervision of Afeni Shakur and narrated entirely in Tupac's voice. The movie was nominated for "Best Documentary" in the 2005 Academy Awards. Proceeds will go to a charity set up by Afeni.

Discography

Tupac Shakur still stands as the highest selling hiphop/rap artist of all time, selling over 67 million records worldwide

Albums

Released while living:

2Pacalypse Now (1991) (Gold U.S.)
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. (1993) (Platinum U.S.)
Thug Life: Thug Life Vol. 1 (with Thug Life) (1994) (Gold U.S.)
Me Against the World (1995) (2x Platinum U.S.)
All Eyez on Me (1996) (9x Platinum U.S.)

Released (officially) posthumously:

Makaveli: The Don Killuminati: 7 Day Theory (as Makaveli) (1996) (5x Platinum U.S.)
R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997) (4x Platinum U.S.)
2Pac's Greatest Hits (1998) (9x Platinum U.S.)
Still I Rise (with Tha Outlawz) (1999) (2x Platinum U.S.)
The Rose that Grew from Concrete (2000)
Until the End of Time (2001) (4x Platinum U.S.)
Better Dayz (2002) (3x Platinum U.S.)
Tupac: Resurrection (OST) (2003) (Platinum U.S.)
Nu-Mixx Klazzics ([2003])
2pac Live ([2004])
Loyal to the Game (2004) (Platinum U.S.)
The Rose, Vol. 2 (2005)
Live at the House Of Blues (With the Dogg Pound) ([2005])

Released under the alias of Makaveli:

Makaveli: The Don Killuminati: 7 Day Theory
Makaveli 2: When My Enemies Fall (Bootleg)
Makaveli 3: Hit Em Up (Bootleg)
Makaveli 4: Thug In Me (Bootleg)
Makaveli 5: Thug Passion (Bootleg)
Makaveli 6: Thug 4 Life (Bootleg)
Makaveli 7: Lost Souls (Bootleg)
Makaveli 8: All Eyez On Him (Bootleg)
Makaveli 9: Thugs Don't Die (Bootleg)
Makaveli 10: The Struggle Continues (Bootleg)
Makaveli 11: Ready For War (Bootleg)
Makaveli 12: Resurrection (Bootleg)
Makaveli 13: Retaliation (Bootleg)
Makaveli 14: 2 Sides 2 Every Story (Bootleg)
Makaveli 15: The Remix Album Part 1 (Bootleg)
Makaveli 16: The Remix Album Part 2 (Bootleg)
Makaveli 17: The Dedication (Bootleg)

Singles