A TRIBUTE TO TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR AKA TUPAC AKA 2PAC AKA MAKAVELI

TUPAC AMARU SHAKUR

( June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996 )

Here is my special tribute to one of the greatest Amercian rappers best known as TUPAC AKA 2PAC AKA PAC AKA MAKAVELI

• Born in East Harlem , NYC - June 16, 1971
• Tupac was named after Túpac Amaru, a Peruvian revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain 
• His mother, Afeni Shakur, and his father, Billy Garland, were active members of the Black Panther Party in New York
• Shakur's 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
• "Same Song" was later released as the lead song of the Digital Underground EP
• He then released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now which did not generate any "Top Ten" hits. 
• 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"

• PAC's second record Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z was released in 1993.
• It debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200 and reached Platinum status
• Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z featured hit songs  "Keep Ya Head Up" and "I Get Around"

• In 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life which included Big Syke, Macadoshis, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Rated R 
• Thug Life 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".  This track also appears in the soundtrack to the 1994 film Above the Rim

• On November 30, 1994, Shakur was shot five times and robbed by two armed men in army fatigues after entering the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan. Tupac accused Sean Combs, Andre Harrell, and Biggie Smalls whom he saw after the shooting of setting him up.
  Shakur also suspected his close friend Randy "Stretch" Walker, of being involved in the attack. After this Tupac recorded a diss song towards his former friend and rival, The Notorious B.I.G. called "Hit 'Em Up" , and he recruited three members from the former group Dramacydal together with the three New Jersey rappers and other associates, they formed the original lineup of the Outlawz.

• In 1995 2PAC released his multi-platinum album "Me Against the World" which made its debut on the Billboard 200 and stayed at the top of the charts for four weeks. 
• "Me Against the World" sold 240,000 copies in its first week, and set the record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist at the time

• "Me Against the World" 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
• "Me Against the World" won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards
• The first single "Dear Mama" was released in February 1995, 
• "Dear Mama" was the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, peaking at the ninth spot on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified platinum in July 1995 

• In October 1995, Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, posted a $1.4 million bail pending appeal of a conviction in exchange for Shakur to release three albums under the Death Row label
• "All Eyez on Me" was the fourth studio album by 2Pac, released February 13, 1996 on Death Row Records and Interscope Records and 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". 
• 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.  It sold 566,000 copies in the first week of its release.
• All Eyez on Me won the 1997 Soul Train R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year Award.
• 2PAC also won the Award for Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist at the 24th Annual American Music Awards.

• In 1996, Tupac Shakur released his fifth and final studio album , under the new stage name Makaveli called "The Don Killuminati": The 7 Day Theory (Meaning Makaveli The Don - Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory and commonly shortened to The 7 Day Theory) 
• "The Don Killuminati" was completely finished 7 Days
• In 2005, MTV.com ranked Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory at #9 on their greatest hip hop albums of all time list 
• The album peaked at number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the Billboard 200
• The Don Killuminati: sold 664,000 copies in the first week and was certified 4X Platinum on June 15, 1999

THERE WILL NEVER BE ANOTHER RAPPER OR LYRICIST LIKE PAC - HIS MEMORY WILL LIVE ON THROUGH HIS MUSIC!

MAY HE RIP

INFORMATION SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur