Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; Spanish: Túpac; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time and has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Some of Shakur's music addressed social injustice, political issues, and the marginalization of African Americans, but he was also synonymous with gangsta rap and violent lyrics.
Shakur was born in New York City to parents who were Black Panther Party members. Raised by his mother, Afeni Shakur, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. His debut album 2Pacalypse Now (1991) cemented him as a central figure in West Coast hip-hop for his political rap lyrics. Shakur achieved further critical and commercial success with his subsequent albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995). His Diamond-certified album All Eyez on Me (1996), the first hip-hop double album, abandoned introspective lyrics for volatile gangsta rap. It yielded two Billboard Hot 100-number one singles, "California Love" and "How Do U Want It". Alongside his solo career, Shakur formed the group Thug Life and collaborated with artists like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, and the Outlawz. As an actor, Shakur starred in the films Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), Above the Rim (1994), Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).
In November 1994, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio and experienced legal troubles, including incarceration. He served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges, but was released pending appeal in 1995. Following his release, he signed to Marion "Suge" Knight's label Death Row Records and became embroiled in the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry, which included a high-profile feud with his former friend the Notorious B.I.G. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was murdered by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Paradise, Nevada; he died six days later. On August 31, 2026, South Side Compton Crips member Duane "Keffe D" Davis was convicted of orchestrating Shakur's murder, but the shooter (suspected to be Baby Lane) has not been conclusively identified.
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. Five more albums have been released since Shakur's death, including the acclaimed The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) under the stage name Makaveli, all of which have been certified multi-platinum in the United States. In 2002, Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. 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. His influence in music, activism, songwriting, and other areas of culture has been the subject of academic studies.
Early life
Birth and ancestry Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, to Afeni Shakur (January 10, 1947 – May 2, 2016) and Billy Garland (born March 14, 1949). While his name was listed on his birth certificate (and in public mentions during his infancy) as Parish Lesane Crooks, he was later rechristened in honor of Túpac Amaru II; a descendant of the last Inca ruler, who was executed in Peru in 1781 after his revolt against Spanish rule.
His mother 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." Tupac's surname came from Lumumba Shakur, whom his mother married in November 1968. Their marriage fell apart when it was discovered that Lumumba was not Tupac's biological father.
Shakur's parents, stepfather Mutulu Shakur, godmother, Assata Shakur and godfather Geronimo Pratt had all been active members of the Black Panther Party 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. To not have her son associated with the party, his mother originally listed the surname of her friend, one-time girlfriend, and ex-cellmate Carol Crooks on his birth certificate.
1971–1988: Early life Tupac attended P.S. 028 Wright Brothers elementary school in Harlem, New York around age 12 before moving to Baltimore.
In the 1980s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and struggled with drug addiction. In 1984, his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland. Beginning in 1984, when Shakur was 13, he lived in the Pen Lucy neighborhood with his mother and younger sister at 3955 Greenmount Ave. The home was a two-story rowhouse that had been subdivided into two separate rental units; the Shakur family lived on the first floor. After his death, the block was renamed Tupac Shakur Way.
While living in Baltimore, Shakur 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. He performed in Shakespeare plays—the themes of which he identified in patterns of gang warfare—and as the Mouse King in The Nutcracker ballet. At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur befriended actress Jada Pinkett, who became the subject of some of his poems ("Jada" and "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes"). With his friend Dana "Mouse" Smith as a beatbox, he won competitions for the school's best rapper. Known for his humor, he was popular with all crowds of students.Bastfield 2002, p. 3. He listened to a diverse range of music that included Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinéad O'Connor, and U2.
Shakur dated Mary Baldridge, who was the daughter of the director of the local chapter of the Communist Party USA.Bastfield 2002, pp. 67–68. In 1988, Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area. In nearby Mill Valley, he attended Tamalpais High School, where he performed in several theater productions. Shakur did not graduate from high school, but later earned his GED.
Career
1988–1991: Early career Shakur began recording under the stage name "MC New York" in 1989. That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager. Steinberg organized a concert for Shakur and his rap group Strictly Dope. Steinberg managed to get Shakur signed by Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground. In 1990, Gregory placed him with the Underground as a roadie and backup dancer. At the request of Steinberg, Digital Underground co-founder Jimi "Chopmaster J" Dright worked with Shakur, Ray Luv and Dize, a DJ, on their earliest studio recordings. Dright recalls that Shakur did not work well as part of a group, and added, "this guy was on a mission. From day one. Maybe he knew he wasn't going to be around seven years later." From 1988 to 1991, Dright and Digital Underground produced Shakur's earliest work with his crew at the time, Strictly Dope. The recordings were rediscovered in 2000 and released as The Lost Tapes: Circa 1989. Afeni Shakur sued to stop the sale of the recordings but the suit was settled in June 2001 and rereleased as Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991.
Shakur debuted under the stage name 2Pac on Digital Underground, under a new record label, Interscope Records, on the group's January 1991 single "Same Song". The song was featured on the soundtrack of the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble, starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Chevy Chase, and Demi Moore. He also appeared with the group in the film, marking Shakur's first film appearance credited as a cameo by the Digital Underground. "Same Song" opened the group's January 1991 EP titled This Is an EP Release, while Shakur appeared in the music video. Shakur's early days with Digital Underground made him acquainted with Randy "Stretch" Walker, who along with his brother, dubbed Majesty, and a friend debuted with an EP as a rap group and production team, Live Squad, in Queens, New York. Stretch was featured on a track of the Digital Underground's 1991 album Sons of the P. Becoming fast friends, Shakur and Stretch recorded and performed together often.
1991–1993: 2Pacalypse Now On November 12, 1991, Shakur released his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now thru Interscope Records. Compared to Digital Underground's works, the album explored contemporary social issues in American society at the time, including racism, police brutality, poverty, gang violence, teenage pregnancy and drug abuse. The album generated controversy when Ronald Ray Howard murdered a Texas Highway Patrol trooper and his defense attorney claimed he was influenced by 2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of police brutality. U.S. vice president Dan Quayle criticized the album, making the statement, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." Tupac, finding himself misunderstood, explained, in part:Despite controversy, 2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, and peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Three singles were released: "Trapped", "Brenda's Got a Baby" (No. 23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs), and "If My Homie Calls" (No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs). Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, the Game, and Talib Kweli—cite it as an inspiration. Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage.
In 1992, Shakur made his feature film debut in Juice, in which he plays the film's antagonist, Roland Bishop. Rolling Stones Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure". Multiple actors had auditioned for the role. Shakur accompanied Money-B to the audition and asked producer Neal H. Moritz to read. He was given 15 minutes to rehearse before the audition and secured the role.
1993–1994: Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..., film career, and The Notorious B.I.G. Shakur's second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..., was released in February 1993. A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No. 24 on the Billboard 200. Emphasizing Tupac's sociopolitical views, the song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube and Ice-T. The album's single "I Get Around" is a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The next single, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment, peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The fourth and final single, "Papa'z Song", peaked at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album was certified Platinum in April 1995.
Shakur starred with Janet Jackson in John Singleton's 1993 romance film, Poetic Justice, and portrayed the character, Birdie in the 1994 film, Above the Rim. Director Allen Hughes had originally cast Shakur as the character, Sharif for the 1993 film, Menace II Society, however he was replaced after Shakur assaulted the director on set due to a discrepancy with the script. In 2013, Hughes stated that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie". Singleton initially cast Shakur in his 1995 film Higher Learning, but was fired because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest. Singleton also stated that he had Shakur in mind in the early stages of what became the 2001 film Baby Boy, Tyrese Gibson ultimately landed the role. The set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary".