Shakur, Tupac Amaru
1971-1996 · Contribution: 1991-1996
Became one of the most influential and best-selling recording artists in hip-hop history, selling more than 75 million records worldwide, and in 2017 was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the first solo rap artist so honored, in his first year of eligibility
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Impact on the world
Raised by parents active in the Black Panther Party and trained at the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur began his recording career in 1991 with 2Pacalypse Now, establishing himself as a central, socially conscious voice in West Coast hip-hop whose lyrics addressed police brutality, poverty, and the marginalization of Black Americans even as his later work embraced the harder-edged “gangsta rap” style; Vice President Dan Quayle publicly condemned one of his early songs, inadvertently amplifying his national profile. His posthumous double album, Greatest Hits, is one of only nine hip-hop albums ever certified Diamond by the RIAA, and his song “Dear Mama,” a tribute to his mother, was added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry in 2010, making him the third rapper so honored; Rolling Stone ranked him among the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Also an accomplished actor, Shakur starred in films including Juice (1992) and Poetic Justice (1993) before his September 1996 murder in a still-unsolved drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, a crime that saw an arrest made in 2023, more than 27 years later.
Life & background
Born Lesane Parish Crooks on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, New York, and renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur in infancy, he moved with his family to Baltimore and then to the San Francisco Bay Area before launching his music career with the group Digital Underground in 1991. He recorded five studio albums during his lifetime and was fatally shot in Las Vegas, Nevada, on September 7, 1996, dying six days later on September 13 at age 25.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
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