Tupac Shakur#Sexual assault conviction

File:Eastharlem01.jpg, the neighborhood of New York City where Shakur was born|alt=A bird's-eye view of New York City, looking north from 96th Street, along Second Avenue, towards East Harlem. The intersection in view is 97th Street.]]

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City to Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland.{{cite book|first=Norman|last=Abjorensen|date=2017|title=Historical Dictionary of Popular Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6ZyrDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA455|location=Lanham, Maryland|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|page=455|isbn=978-1-5381-0214-5}}{{cite book|first=Jeremy|last=Prestholdt|date=2019|title=Icons of Dissent: The Global Resonance of Che, Marley, Tupac and Bin Laden|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXKfDwAAQBAJ&pg=103|location=Oxford|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=103|isbn=978-0-1906-3214-4}}{{cite book|first=Jim|last=Cullen|date=2017|title=Democratic Empire: The United States Since 1945|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jI4jDAAAQBAJ&pg=245|location=Chichester, West Sussex|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|page=245|isbn=978-1-119-02735-5}}{{cite book|editor-last1=Hoye|editor-first1=Jacob|editor-last2=Ali|editor-first2=Karolyn|editor-link2=Karolyn Ali|date=2003|title=Tupac: Resurrection 1971–1996|url=https://archive.org/details/tupacresurrectio00shak/page/9/mode/1up|location=New York|publisher=Atria Books|page=9|isbn=0-7434-7434-1}} While born Lesane Parish Crooks, at age one he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur.{{cite web |title=Tupac Shakur and Tupac Amaru |url=http://charlesfwalker.com/tupac-shakur-tupac-amaru/ |last=Walker |first=Charles F. |date=February 26, 2014 |access-date=June 30, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140227015606/http://charlesfwalker.com/tupac-shakur-tupac-amaru/ |archive-date=February 27, 2014}}{{cite web|first=Cathy|last=Scott |url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1996/oct/02/22-year-old-arrested-in-tupac-shakur-killing/#axzz2TfQ6LDHS |title=22-year-old arrested in Tupac Shakur killing|newspaper=Las Vegas Sun|date=October 2, 1996|access-date=September 13, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053735/http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1996/oct/02/22-year-old-arrested-in-tupac-shakur-killing/ |archive-date=September 21, 2013}}{{cite web|title=Tupac Coroner's Report|url=http://www.cathyscott.com/artcls/Tupac%20Coroners%20Report.html |publisher=Cathy Scott|access-date=July 24, 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723212104/http://www.cathyscott.com/artcls/Tupac%20Coroners%20Report.html|archive-date=July 23, 2011}}{{cite web|first=Debra D.|last=Bass |url=http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1997/sep/04/book-chronicling-shakur-murder-set-to-hit-stores/#axzz2TfQ6LDHS |title=Book chronicling Shakur murder set to hit stores|newspaper=Las Vegas Sun |access-date=September 13, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006084722/http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/1997/sep/04/book-chronicling-shakur-murder-set-to-hit-stores/ |archive-date=October 6, 2014|date=September 4, 1997}} He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Incan ruler, who was executed in Peru in 1781 after his revolt against Spanish rule.{{cite web|title=Colonial and Neocolonial Latin America (1750–1900) | first = Sarah | last = Cline |url=http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/2c/Col&NeoColonLatAmSCline034.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705072901/http://www.history.ucsb.edu/faculty/marcuse/classes/2c/Col%26NeoColonLatAmSCline034.pdf|archive-date=July 5, 2010|access-date=October 14, 2010}} Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur 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, a Sunni Muslim, whom his mother married in November 1968. Their marriage fell apart when it was discovered that Lumumba was not Tupac's biological father.{{Cite web |last=McBride |first=Earnest |date=January 31, 2023 |title=Dr. Mutulu Shakur given special honors after prison release |url=https://jacksonadvocateonline.com/dr-mutulu-shakur-given-special-honors-after-prison-release/ |access-date=February 25, 2024 |website=Jackson Advocate |language=en-US}}{{Cite magazine |last=Kreps |first=Daniel |date=May 3, 2016 |title=Afeni Shakur, Activist and Tupac Shakur's Mother, Dead at 69 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/afeni-shakur-mother-of-tupac-shakur-and-activist-dead-at-69-64694/ |access-date=February 25, 2024 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}{{Cite news |last=Johnson |first=Rudy |date=July 19, 1970 |title=Joan Bird and Afeni Shakur, Self-Styled Soldiers in the Panther 'Class Struggle' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/19/archives/joan-bird-and-afeni-shakur-selfstyledsoldiers-in-the-panther-class.html |access-date=February 25, 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

Shakur had an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, and a half-sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, two years his junior.{{cite web|title=Exclusive: Mopreme Shakur Talks Tupac; Rapper's B-Day Celebrated|url=http://allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2010/06/15/22267493.aspx|publisher=AllHipHop|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618021222/http://www.allhiphop.com/stories/news/archive/2010/06/15/22267493.aspx|archive-date=June 18, 2010|access-date=July 28, 2010}}

Shakur's parents, Afeni Shakur—born Alice Faye Williams (January 10, 1947 – May 2, 2016), in North Carolina—and his biological father, William "Billy" Garland (born March 14, 1949), had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{cite web|title=Rare Interview With Tupac's Biological Father |url=http://mycolumbuspower.com/2916523/rare-interview-with-tupacs-biological-father-video/ |date=December 30, 2013 |publisher=Power 107.5 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807221354/http://mycolumbuspower.com/2916523/rare-interview-with-tupacs-biological-father-video/ |archive-date=August 7, 2016}} 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.{{Cite book|last=Scott|first=Cathy|title=The Killing of Tupac Shakur|title-link=The Killing of Tupac Shakur|publisher=Huntington Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0929712208|location=Las Vegas, Nevada}}{{cite web|title=Afeni Shakur|url=http://www.2paclegacy.com/images/assets/bio_afeni_shakur/afeni_shakur_biography.pdf |publisher=2Pac Legacy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080409074113/http://www.2paclegacy.com/images/assets/bio_afeni_shakur/afeni_shakur_biography.pdf |archive-date=April 9, 2008 |access-date=April 23, 2008}}

Other family members who were involved in the Black Panthers' Black Liberation Army were convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned, including Shakur's stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, who spent four years as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Mutulu Shakur was apprehended in 1986 and subsequently convicted for a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored truck, during which police officers and a guard were killed.{{Cite book|first=Randall|last=Sullivan|title=LAbyrinth: A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal |publisher=Grove Press |location=New York City |date=January 3, 2003 |isbn=0-8021-3971-X}}

Shakur's godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high-ranking Black Panther, was wrongly convicted of murdering a schoolteacher during a 1968 robbery. After he spent 27 years in prison, his conviction was overturned due to the prosecution's having concealed evidence that proved his innocence.{{cite web|title=Geronimo Pratt: Black Panther leader who spent 27 years in jail for a crime he did not commit|website=The Independent|date=October 23, 2011|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/geronimo-pratt-black-panther-leader-who-spent-27-years-in-jail-for-a-crime-he-did-not-commit-2297384.html}}{{cite news |last1=Martin |first1=Douglas |title=Elmer G. Pratt, Jailed Panther Leader, Dies at 63 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/04/us/04 |access-date=January 16, 2021 |work=The New York Times |date=June 3, 2011}}

Shakur's godmother, Assata Shakur, is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted in 1977 of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper. Since 2013, she has been in the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list after she escaped prison in 1979.{{Cite news |title=Aging Fugitive Joanne Chesimard Is First Woman on Most Wanted Terrorists List |language=English |date=May 2, 2013 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/joanne-chesimard-woman-fbi-wanted-terrorists-list/story?id=19092683 |access-date=March 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118052014/https://abcnews.go.com/US/joanne-chesimard-woman-fbi-wanted-terrorists-list/story?id=19092683 |archive-date=January 18, 2024 |url-status=live}}{{Cite book |last=Shakur |first=Assata |date=1987 |title=An Autobiography of Assata Shakur |others=Lennox S. Hinds (foreword) |publisher=Lawrence Hill Books |isbn=0-88208-221-3}}

File:Tupac Shakur 1988 Yearbook.jpg yearbook photo, 1988|150px]]

In the 1980s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and struggled with drug addiction.{{Cite web |last=Alemoru |first=Kemi |date=May 4, 2016 |title=The colourful life of Tupac's mother Afeni Shakur |url=https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/30996/1/the-colourful-life-of-tupac-s-mother-afeni-shakur |access-date=December 19, 2021 |website=Dazed |language=en}} In 1984, his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland.{{Cite web|last=Lewis|first=John|date=September 6, 2016|title=Tupac Was Here|url=https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/artsentertainment/legendary-rapper-tupac-shakur-spent-his-formative-years-in-baltimore/|access-date=December 19, 2021|website=Baltimore Magazine|language=en-US}} Beginning in 1984 when Shakur was 13, he lived in the Pen Lucy neighborhood with his mother and younger sister at 3955 Greenmount Ave.{{Cite web |last=McMillian |first=Cameron |date=2022-11-18 |title=Tupac Shakur's teenage home in Baltimore up for sale |url=https://www.wmar2news.com/news/local-news/tupac-shakurs-teenage-home-in-baltimore-is-up-for-sale |access-date=2024-04-13 |website=WMAR 2 News Baltimore |language=en}} The home was a two-story rowhouse that had been subdivided into two separate rental units; the Shakur family lived on the first floor.{{Cite news |last=Macias |first=TJ |date=November 20, 2022 |title=Tupac Shakur's childhood home lists for $179K. Look at 'a piece of Baltimore history' |url=https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article268928282.html |access-date=April 12, 2024 |work=Miami Herald}} After his death, the block was renamed Tupac Shakur Way.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-11-21 |title=Tupac Shakur's Baltimore childhood home listed for sale |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/tupac-shakurs-baltimore-childhood-home-listed-for-sale/ |access-date=2024-04-13 |website=CBS News |language=en-US}}

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.{{cite news |last=King |first=Jamilah |date=November 15, 2012 |title=Art and Activism in Charm City: Five Baltimore Collectives That Are Facing Race |url=https://colorlines.com/article/art-and-activism-charm-city-five-baltimore-collectives-are-facing-race/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130512024439/http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/11/baltimore_arts_and_culture.html |archive-date=May 12, 2013 |access-date=April 11, 2013 |newspaper=Colorlines |publisher=ARC}}{{Cite news |last=Case |first=Wesley |date=March 31, 2017 |title=Tupac Shakur in Baltimore: Friends, teachers remember the birth of an artist |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/food-drink/bal-tupac-shakur-baltimore-school-for-arts-hall-of-fame-induction-story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190901235954/https://www.baltimoresun.com/food-drink/bal-tupac-shakur-baltimore-school-for-arts-hall-of-fame-induction-story.html |archive-date=September 1, 2019 |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun}} He performed in Shakespeare plays—the themes of which he identified in patterns of gang warfare{{Cite news|last=Philips|first=Chuck|date=October 25, 1995|title=Tupac Shakur: 'I am not a gangster'|work=Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-tupac-qa-story.html|access-date=September 26, 2020|archive-date=September 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200916234535/https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-tupac-qa-story.html|url-status=live}}—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").{{Cite book |last=Shakur |first=Tupac |url=https://archive.org/details/rosethatgrewfrom00shak |title=The rose that grew from concrete |date=1999 |publisher=Pocket Books |isbn=978-0-671-02844-2 |location=New York}} With his friend Dana "Mouse" Smith as a beatbox, he won competitions for the school's best rapper.{{Cite book|last=Bastfield|first=Darrin Keith|title=Back in the Day: My Life and Times with Tupac Shakur|publisher=Da Capo Press|year=2002|isbn=978-0-345-44775-3|page = 5 }} 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.{{Cite book |last=Golus |first=Carrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VndZuYv9u4kC&q=tupac+kate+bush&pg=PA26 |title=Tupac Shakur |date=December 28, 2006 |isbn=9780822566090 |publisher=Lerner Publications |access-date=March 29, 2012 |archive-date=December 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208044704/https://books.google.com/books?id=VndZuYv9u4kC&q=tupac+kate+bush&pg=PA26 |url-status=live }}

Upon connecting with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA,{{Cite web |title=Happy birthday to our brother and comrade, #TupacShakur! This is his Young Communist League membership card from when he lived in Baltimore, Maryland. #RestInPower #SolidarityForever |url=https://twitter.com/communistsusa/status/1140414143943589888 |date=June 17, 2019 |website=Twitter |publisher=Communist Party USA |access-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-date=May 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511025903/https://twitter.com/communistsusa/status/1140414143943589888 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Van Nguyen |first=Dean |date=May 18, 2021 |title=The Hip-Hop Road to Socialism |url=https://jacobin.com/2021/05/socialist-hip-hop-tupac-biggie-jay-z-killer-mike-paris-coup-noname-immortal-technique-marxman-hasel |access-date=March 15, 2023 |website=jacobin.com |language=en-US |quote=Tupac himself appears to have been a member of the Young Communist League at one point, too.}} 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.{{Cite book |last1=Sandy |first1=Candace |title=How Long Will They Mourn Me? |last2=Marie Daniels |first2=Dawn |publisher=Random House Publishing Group |year=2010 |isbn=9780307757449 |pages=10 |quote=Tupac's leadership abilities emerged with his involvement with the Young People's Communist League, where he worked with his then girlfriend, Mary Baldridge, whose father was the head of the Baltimore Communist Party}}{{Cite book |last1=McQuillar |first1=Tayannah Lee |title=Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon |last2=Johnson |first2=Fred L. |publisher=Hachette Books |year=2010 |isbn=9780786745937 |quote=Tupac and his white girlfriend Mary Baldridge, a student in the high school's dance department.}}

In 1988, Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area.{{cite web | first = Preezy | last = Brown | url = https://www.vibe.com/2016/11/tupac-2pacalypse-now-anniversary | title = How '2Pacalypse Now' Marked The Birth Of A Rap Revolutionary | date = November 12, 2016 | work = Vibe | access-date = March 22, 2018 | archive-date = March 23, 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180323031237/https://www.vibe.com/2016/11/tupac-2pacalypse-now-anniversary/ | url-status = live }}{{Cite web |last=Ruskin |first=Zack |date=2019-08-23 |title=Tupac Shakur's Life in Marin |url=https://marinmagazine.com/people/tupac-shakurs-life-in-marin/ |access-date=2024-10-08 |website=Marin Magazine |language=en-US}} In nearby Mill Valley, he attended Tamalpais High School,{{Cite news |last1=Marriott |first1=Michel |last2=Brooke |first2=James |last3=LeDuff |first3=Charlie |last4=Lorch |first4=Donatella |date=September 16, 1996 |title=Shots Silence Angry Voice Sharpened by the Streets |pages=A–1 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/16/us/shots-silence-angry-voice-sharpened-by-the-streets.html|url-status=live |access-date=August 21, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825100514/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/16/us/shots-silence-angry-voice-sharpened-by-the-streets.html |archive-date=August 25, 2009}} where he performed in several theater productions.{{Cite book |last=Robinson |first=Staci |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oc8MEQAAQBAJ&dq=Tupac++Tamalpais+High+School+theater&pg=PA129 |title=Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography |date=2024-10-22 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1-5247-6105-9 |language=en}} Shakur did not graduate from high school, but later earned his GED.

Shakur began recording under the stage name MC New York in 1988.{{Cite web|last=Chung|first=James|date=February 25, 2020|title=These Were Tupac's Startling Last Words|url=https://www.spin.com/photos/these-were-tupacs-startling-last-words/|access-date=January 30, 2022|website=SPIN|language=en-US}} That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager.{{cite web|title=Leila Steinberg|url=http://www.hearteducation.org/leila.html |publisher=Assemblies in Motion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213024039/http://www.hearteducation.org/leila.html|archive-date=February 13, 2008 |access-date=January 25, 2009}} 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.{{cite book|last1=Sandy|first1=Candace|title=How Long Will They Mourn Me?: The Life and Legacy of Tupac Shakur|last2=Daniels|first2=Dawn Marie|date=December 8, 2010|publisher=Random House Publishing Group|isbn=9780307757449|page=15}}

{{See also|Stretch (rapper)|Live Squad}}

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. The song opened the group's January 1991 EP titled This Is an EP Release, while Shakur appeared in the music video.

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."{{Cite magazine |last=Weingarten |first=Christopher R. |date=April 6, 2017 |title=I Get Around: The Oral History of 2Pac's Digital Underground Years |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/i-get-around-the-oral-history-of-2pacs-digital-underground-years-125475/ |access-date=April 22, 2023 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}

From 1988 to 1991, Dright and Digital Underground produced Shakur's earliest work with his crew at the time, Strictly Dope.{{Citation |title=2Pac – The Lost Tapes Album Reviews, Songs & More {{!}} AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-lost-tapes-mw0000606961 |access-date=April 22, 2023 |language=en}} The recordings were rediscovered in 2000 and released as The Lost Tapes: Circa 1989.{{Cite web |date=June 17, 2007 |title=Tupac Shakur Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991 – Hip Hop Galaxy |url=http://www.hiphopgalaxy.com/Tupac-Shakur-Beginnings-The-Lost-Tapes-1988-1991-hip-hop-5231.html |access-date=April 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070617024101/http://www.hiphopgalaxy.com/Tupac-Shakur-Beginnings-The-Lost-Tapes-1988-1991-hip-hop-5231.html |archive-date=June 17, 2007 }} 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.{{Cite magazine |date=June 9, 2001 |title=Shakur Estate Settles With Chopmaster J; Lil Mo's 'True Story' Finally Comes To Light |pages=24 |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HBQEAAAAMBAJ |access-date=April 22, 2023}}

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.{{cite news|last=Jones|first=Charisse|date=December 1, 1995|title=Rapper slain after chase in Queens|page=B 3|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/01/nyregion/rapper-slain-after-chase-in-queens.html|url-status=live|access-date=May 17, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408090314/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/12/01/nyregion/rapper-slain-after-chase-in-queens.html|archive-date=April 8, 2020}} 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.

{{Main|2Pacalypse Now}}

Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now—alluding to the 1979 film Apocalypse Now—arrived in November 1991. Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, Game, and Talib Kweli—cite it as an inspiration.{{cite web|title=MTV – They Told Us|website=MTV|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index15.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423100616/http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index15.jhtml|archive-date=April 23, 2006|access-date=April 26, 2011}} Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage.{{cite journal|last=Vaught|first=Seneca|date=Spring 2014|title=Tupac's Law: Incarceration, T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E., and the Crisis of Black Masculinity|url=https://www.academia.edu/8258642/Tupacs_Law_Incarceration_and_the_Crisis_of_Black_Masculinity |url-status=live|journal=Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men|volume=2|pages=93–94|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306233517/http://www.academia.edu/8258642/Tupacs_Law_Incarceration_and_the_Crisis_of_Black_Masculinity|archive-date=March 6, 2017|access-date=June 28, 2016|number=2|doi=10.2979/spectrum.2.2.87|s2cid=144439620}}

U.S. Vice President Dan Quayle said, "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:

{{Blockquote|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.

Philips-1995-interview>{{cite web |last=Philips|first=Chuck|date=September 13, 2012|title=Tupac Shakur Interview 1995 |work =The Chuck Philips Post |url=http://chuckphilipspost.com|url-status=live |access-date=October 30, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131022001021/http://chuckphilipspost.com/ |archive-date=October 22, 2013}}{{cite news |last=Sami |first=Yenigun |date=July 19, 2013 |title=20 Years Ago, Tupac Broke Through|newspaper=National Public Radio.com|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/07/19/203360557/in-1993-tupac-breaks-through|url-status=live|access-date=October 30, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030040028/http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2013/07/19/203360557/in-1993-tupac-breaks-through|archive-date=October 30, 2013}}}}

2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, half a million copies sold. The album addresses urban Black concerns said to remain relevant to the present day.

{{Main|Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...}}

Shakur's second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z..., was released in February 1993.{{Cite web |title=Revisiting 2Pac's 'Strictly 4 My N.*.*.*.*.Z...' (1993) {{!}} Retrospective Tribute |url=https://albumism.com/features/tribute-celebrating-25-years-of-2pac-strictly-4-my-niggaz |access-date=April 11, 2022 |website=Albumism |language=en-US}} A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No. 24 on the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/2pac/chart-history/tlp/|title=2Pac – Album chart history|magazine=Billboard|accessdate=June 14, 2021}} An overall more hardcore album, it emphasizes Tupac's sociopolitical views, and has a metallic production quality. The song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube, co-writer of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police", who in his own solo albums had newly gone militantly political, and gangsta rapper Ice-T, who in June 1992 had sparked controversy with his band Body Count's track "Cop Killer".

In its vinyl release, side A, tracks 1 to 8, is labeled the "Black Side", while side B, tracks 9 to 16, is the "Dark Side".{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} The album carries the single "I Get Around", a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, which became Shakur's breakthrough, reaching No. 11 on the pop singles chart, the Billboard Hot 100. The album also carries the optimistic compassion of another hit, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment.{{Cite web |date=September 17, 2011 |title=The Feminism of Tupac |url=https://www.epl.org/the-feminism-of-tupac/ |access-date=April 11, 2022 |website=Evanston Public Library |language=en-US}} The album was certified Platinum, with a million copies sold. As of 2004, among Shakur albums, including posthumous and compilation albums, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... was 10th in sales at about 1,366,000 copies.{{cite web|title={{Not a typo|Remebering}} Tupac: His Musical Legacy and His Top Selling Albums |url=http://atlantapost.com/2010/09/16/tupacs-album-sales-and-his-persisting-legacy56988/ |publisher=Atlantapost.com|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110220212220/http://atlantapost.com/2010/09/16/tupacs-album-sales-and-his-persisting-legacy56988/ |archive-date=February 20, 2011|access-date=March 10, 2012}}

File:2Pac_-_Dear_Mamma-Old_School_(test_pressing_single)_(Side_A).jpg single for "Dear Mama": the Platinum single is among the top-ranked songs in hip-hop history.]]

In late 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life with Tyrus "Big Syke" Himes, Diron "Macadoshis" Rivers, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Walter "Rated R" Burns.{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Jake |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D03tbYix8y4C&dq=Thug+Life+Big+Syke+Mopreme+Shakur&pg=PA16 |title=Tupac Shakur, (2-Pac) in the Studio: The Studio Years (1989–1996) |date=2005 |publisher=Amber Books Publishing |isbn=978-0-9767735-0-4 |pages=16 |language=en}} Usually, Thug Life performed live without Tupac.{{Cite AV media|title=Thug Life: Vol. 1 |date=1994 |medium=CD}}

Thug Life released its only album, Thug Life, Volume I, on October 11, 1994, which is certified Gold. It carries the single "Pour Out a Little Liquor", produced by Johnny "J" Jackson, who would also produce much of Shakur's album All Eyez on Me. The track also appears on the Above the Rim soundtrack.{{Cite web |last=Howard |first=Jacinta |date=August 24, 2018 |title=Thug Life- 'Pour Out A Little Liquor': Throwback Video of the Day |url=https://theboombox.com/thug-life-pour-out-a-little-liquor-throwback-video-of-the-day/ |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=The Boombox |language=en}} Due to gangsta rap being under heavy criticism at the time, the album's original version was scrapped, and the album redone with mostly new tracks. Still, along with Stretch, Tupac would perform the first planned single, "Out on Bail", which was never released, at the 1994 Source Awards.{{Cite web |title=New Details Emerge About Tupac Ambushing A Tribe Called Quest's Source Awards Speech (Video)Ambrosia For Heads |url=https://ambrosiaforheads.com/2016/06/new-details-emerge-about-tupac-ambushing-a-tribe-called-quests-source-awards-speech-video/ |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=ambrosiaforheads.com|date=June 2, 2016 }}

{{See also|The Notorious B.I.G.}}

In 1993, while visiting Los Angeles, the Notorious B.I.G. asked a local drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur and they quickly became friends. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.I.G. to Los Angeles.{{cite web|last=Westhoff|first=Ben|date=September 12, 2016|title=How Tupac and B.I.G. went from friends to deadly rivals|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/tupac-biggie-friends-to-foes/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200814121519/https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/gqkqz3/tupac-biggie-friends-to-foes|archive-date=August 14, 2020|access-date=May 16, 2020|work=Vice.com}} During this period, at his own live shows, Shakur would call B.I.G. onto stage to rap with him and Stretch. Together, they recorded the songs "Runnin' from tha Police" and "House of Pain".

Reportedly, B.I.G. asked Shakur to manage him, whereupon Shakur advised him that Sean Combs would make him a star. Yet in the meantime, Shakur's lifestyle was comparatively lavish to B.I.G. who had not yet established himself. Shakur welcomed B.I.G. to join his side group Thug Life, but he would instead form his own side group, the Junior M.A.F.I.A., with his Brooklyn friends Lil' Cease and Lil' Kim. Shakur had a falling out with B.I.G. after Shakur was shot at Quad Studios in 1994.{{Cite web|last=Anderson|first=Joel|date=October 30, 2019|title=The Moment Tupac and Biggie Went From Friends to Enemies|url=https://slate.com/culture/2019/10/slow-burn-season-3-tupac-biggie.html|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Slate Magazine|language=en}}

{{Main|Me Against the World}}

Shakur's third album, Me Against the World, was released while he was incarcerated in March 1995.{{Cite web|last=Bierut|first=Patrick|date=March 14, 2021|title='Me Against The World': How 2Pac Transcended Hip-Hop's Trappings|url=https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/2pac-me-against-the-world-album/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=uDiscover Music|language=en-US}} It is now hailed as his magnum opus, and commonly ranks among the greatest, most influential rap albums. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 240,000 copies in its first week, setting a then record for highest first-week sales for a solo male rapper.{{Cite magazine|last=Ramirez|first=Erika|date=April 1, 2015|title=Tupac's 'Me Against the World' Topped Billboard 200 20 Years Ago Today: A Retrospective|url=https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/tupac-me-against-the-world-anniversary-6517174/|access-date=December 12, 2021|magazine=Billboard|language=en-US}}{{cite news|date=October 11, 2004 |title=Timeline: 25 Years of Rap Records |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3734910.stm |url-status=live |access-date=January 7, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090330160559/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/3734910.stm |archive-date=March 30, 2009}}

The lead single, "Dear Mama", was released in February 1995 with "Old School" as the B-side.{{cite web|title=Dear Mama (US Single #1) at AllMusic |url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r225253|pure_url=yes}} |website=AllMusic|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101020060658/http://allmusic.com/album/r225253 |archive-date=October 20, 2010 |access-date=March 20, 2009}} It is the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. In July, it was certified Platinum.{{cite web|title=RIAA – Gold & Platinum – May 13, 2009 : Search Results – 2 Pac|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=2%20Pac&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25|publisher=RIAA|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904025001/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=2%20Pac&format=&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25|archive-date=September 4, 2015|access-date=May 14, 2009}} It ranked No. 51 on the year-end charts. The second single, "So Many Tears", was released in June 1995,{{cite web|title=So Many Tears (EP) at AllMusic|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r225255|pure_url=yes}}|website=AllMusic|access-date=March 22, 2009}} reaching No. 6 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and No. 44 on Hot 100. The final single, "Temptations", was released in August 1995.{{cite web|title=Temptations (CD/Cassette Single) at AllMusic|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=r335055|pure_url=yes}}|website=AllMusic|access-date=March 22, 2009}} It reached No. 68 on the Hot 100, No. 35 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and No. 13 on the Hot Rap Singles. Several celebrities showed their support for Shakur by appearing in the music video for "Temptations".

Shakur won best rap album at the 1996 Soul Train Music Awards.{{cite news |last=Appleford | first = Steve |date=April 1, 1996 |title=It's a Soul Train Awards Joy Ride for TLC, D'Angelo |work=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-04-01-ca-53511-story.html|url-status=live |access-date=October 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026173412/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-04-01/entertainment/ca-53511_1_soul-train |archive-date=October 26, 2014}} In 2001, it ranked 4th among his total albums in sales, with about 3 million copies sold in the U.S.{{cite news|title=Tupac Month: 2Pac's Discography |url=http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/tupac-month-2pacs-discography/#2|url-status=live |access-date=May 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013210446/http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/tupac-month-2pacs-discography/ |archive-date=October 13, 2013}}

{{Main|All Eyez on Me}}

While Shakur was imprisoned in 1995, his mother was about to lose her house. Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight in Los Angeles. Reportedly, Shakur's mother promptly received $15,000. After an August visit to Clinton Correctional Facility in northern New York state, Knight traveled southward to New York City to attend the 2nd Annual Source Awards ceremony. Meanwhile, an East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry was brewing between Death Row and Bad Boy Records.{{Cite web|title=How the 1995 Source Awards Changed Rap Forever|url=https://www.complex.com/music/2015/08/how-the-1995-source-awards-changed-rap-forever|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Complex|language=en}} In October 1995, Knight visited Shakur in prison again and posted $1.4 million bond.{{cite book | first1 = Derrick | last1 = Parker | first2 = Matt | last2 = Diehl | title = Notorious C.O.P.: The Inside Story of the Tupac, Biggie, and Jam Master Jay Investigations from the NYPD's First "Hip-Hop Cop" | location = New York | publisher = St. Martin's Griffin | year = 2007 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=aW1CdaYjwDgC&pg=PA113 | pages = 113–116 | isbn = 9781429907781 | access-date = May 20, 2020 | archive-date = September 15, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200915032409/https://books.google.com/books?id=aW1CdaYjwDgC&pg=PA113 | url-status = live }} Shakur returned to Los Angeles and joined Death Row with the appeal of his December 1994 conviction pending.

Shakur's fourth album, All Eyez on Me, arrived on February 13, 1996.{{Cite web |last=Sayles |first=Justin |date=February 12, 2021 |title=The Triumph and Tragedy of Tupac's 'All Eyez on Me' |url=https://www.theringer.com/music/2021/2/12/22279018/tupac-shakur-2pac-all-eyez-on-me-history-death-row |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=The Ringer |language=en}} It was rap's first double album—meeting two of the three albums due in Shakur's contract with Death Row—and bore five singles.XXL Magazine, October 2004, p. 104. The album shows Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, leaving behind his previous political messages. With standout production, the album has more party tracks and often a triumphant tone.{{cite web | url = {{AllMusic|class=album|id=r231489|pure_url=yes}} | title = 2Pac – All Eyez on Me | first = Steve | last = Huey | date = n.d. | work = AllMusic |access-date=July 28, 2010}} Music journalist Kevin Powell noted that Shakur, once released from prison, became more aggressive, and "seemed like a completely transformed person".{{cite news |last1=Reese |first1=Alexis |title=Tupac Talks Quad Studios Shooting in Kevin Powell Interview |url=https://www.bet.com/article/88dkri/tupac-talks-quad-studios-shooting-in-kevin-powell-interview |access-date=December 15, 2021 |work=BET |date=December 15, 2021 |language=en}}

As Shakur's second album to hit No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200, it sold 566,000 copies in its first week and was it was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in April.{{cite news|last=Phillips|first=Chuck|date=July 31, 2003|title=As Associates Fall, Is 'Suge' Knight Next?|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/la-fi-suge1aug01-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124070530/http://www.latimes.com/local/la-fi-suge1aug01-story.html|archive-date=November 24, 2015}} The singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love" reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{Cite magazine|last=Corpuz|first=Kristin|date=June 16, 2020|title=Tupac's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits|url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/tupac-billboard-hot-100-hits/|access-date=December 12, 2021|magazine=Billboard|language=en-US}} Death Row released Shakur's diss track "Hit 'Em Up" as the non-album B-side to "How Do U Want It". In this venomous tirade, the proclaimed "Bad Boy killer" threatens violent payback on all things Bad Boy — B.I.G., Sean Combs, Junior M.A.F.I.A., the company — and on any in the East Coast rap scene, like rap duo Mobb Deep and rapper Chino XL, who allegedly had commented against Shakur about the dispute.{{Cite news|last=Williams|first=Stereo|date=June 4, 2016|title=Tupac's 'Hit 'Em Up': The Most Savage Diss Track Ever Turns 20|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/04/tupac-s-hit-em-up-the-most-savage-diss-track-ever-turns-20|access-date=December 12, 2021}}

All Eyez on Me won R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.eonline.com/news/maxwell_tupac_top_soul_train_awards/34166 |title=Maxwell, Tupac Top Soul Train Awards |publisher=E! Online |date=March 7, 1997 |access-date=December 10, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606175431/http://www.eonline.com/news/maxwell_tupac_top_soul_train_awards/34166 |archive-date=June 6, 2012}} At the 1997 American Music Awards, Shakur won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist.{{cite web|url=http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1997/amas.htm |title=24th American Music Awards |publisher=Rock on the Net |access-date=October 26, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026173851/http://www.rockonthenet.com/archive/1997/amas.htm |archive-date=October 26, 2014}} The album was certified 9× Multi-Platinum in June 1998,{{cite web|title=RIAA – Gold & Platinum|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&title=All%20Eyez%20on%20Me&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2008&sort=Artist&perPage=25|publisher=Riaa.com|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904025001/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&title=All%20Eyez%20on%20Me&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2008&sort=Artist&perPage=25|archive-date=September 4, 2015|access-date=January 7, 2012}} and 10× in July 2014.{{cite web|title=RIAA – Gold & Platinum Searchable Database – March 09, 2015|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database|website=riaa.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104132513/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database|archive-date=January 4, 2013|access-date=March 9, 2015}}

At the time of his death, a fifth solo album was already finished, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the stage name Makaveli. It had been recorded during the summer of 1996 and released that year.{{cite web|url=http://ca.music.yahoo.com/read/news/12056616 |title=Music News, Interviews, Pics, and Gossip: Yahoo! Music |publisher=Ca.music.yahoo.com |date=April 20, 2011 |access-date=February 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120327075641/http://ca.music.yahoo.com/read/news/12056616 |archive-date=March 27, 2012}}XXL Magazine, October 2003. The lyrics were written and recorded in three days, and mixing took another four days. In 2005, MTV.com ranked The 7 Day Theory at No. 9 among hip-hop's greatest albums ever,{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2005/greatest_albums_0505/index3.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050507152454/http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2005/greatest_albums_0505/index3.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 7, 2005 |title=The Greatest Hip-Hop Albums Of All Time |publisher=MTV.com |date=March 9, 2006 |access-date=February 14, 2012}} and by 2006 a classic album.{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index10.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060413234303/http://www.mtv.com/bands/h/hip_hop_week/2006/emcees/index10.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 13, 2006 |title=The Greatest MCs Of All Time |work=MTV.com |date=March 9, 2006 |access-date=February 14, 2012}} Its singular poignance, through hurt and rage, contemplation and vendetta, resonate with many fans.XXL Magazine, October 2006.

According to George "Papa G" Pryce, Death Row Records' then director of public relations, the album was meant to be "underground", and was not intended for release before the artist was murdered.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05imWUtMazM |title=Tupac The Workaholic. (MYCOMEUP.COM) |publisher=YouTube |date=February 11, 2010 |access-date=November 24, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130226224815/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05imWUtMazM |archive-date=February 26, 2013}}{{Unreliable source?|date=May 2024}} It peaked at No. 1 on Billboard{{'s}} Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and on the Billboard 200,[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r241166/charts-awards|pure_url=yes}} The Don Killuminati] chart peaks on AllMusic. with the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-11-14-ca-64364-story.html |title=All Eyes on Shakur's 'Don Killuminati' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 23, 1997 |access-date=February 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110915073805/http://articles.latimes.com/1996-11-14/entertainment/ca-64364_1_don-killuminati |archive-date=September 15, 2011}} On June 15, 1999, it was certified 4× Multi-Platinum.{{cite web|url=https://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database |title=Recording Industry Association of America |publisher=RIAA |access-date=February 14, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104132513/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database |archive-date=January 4, 2013}}

Later posthumous albums are archival productions, these albums are:

• R U Still Down? (1997)
• Greatest Hits (1998)
• Still I Rise (1999)
• Until the End of Time (2001)
• Better Dayz (2002)
• Loyal to the Game (2004)
• Pac's Life (2006)

The 2008 fire sustained by University Music Group lost, among archives of hundreds of other artists, some of Tupac's [Jody Rosen, [https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/magazine/universal-music-fire-bands-list-umg.html "Here are hundreds more artists whose tapes were destroyed in the UMG fire"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191123010002/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/25/magazine/universal-music-fire-bands-list-umg.html |date=November 23, 2019 }}, The New York Times, June 25, 2019].

Before and during his hip-hop career, Shakur wrote dozens of poems.{{Cite web |title=Tupac Shakur Poems > My poetic side |url=https://mypoeticside.com/poets/tupac-shakur-poems |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=mypoeticside.com}}{{Cite web |title=Tupac Shakur Poems |url=https://poemanalysis.com/tupac-shakur/poems/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=Poem Analysis |language=en-US}} Some of the most notable are "Can U C The Pride in The Panther", "If I fail", "Family Tree", and "The Rose that grew from the concrete". In 1993 Tupac played a character named "Lucky" in the film titled Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson. Poet and activist Maya Angelou, whom worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the civil rights movement, wrote the poems used in the 1993 film.{{Cite web |last=staff |date=2021-06-17 |title=Happy Birthday 2Pac! A Look Back At His Classic Poems |url=https://www.hot97.com/news/happy-birthday-2pac-a-look-back-at-his-classic-poets/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=HOT 97 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=BBC Arts - BBC Arts - 'Its name was freedom': Maya Angelou's political awakening by Martin Luther King |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4RbH1Yn4KbvZLbQsFQKwKQK/its-name-was-freedom-maya-angelous-political-awakening-by-martin-luther-king |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=2024-03-13 |title=Maya Angelou's Crowning Achievements |url=https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/maya-angelou-achievements |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=Biography |language=en-US}}

In April 2022, handwritten poems written by Tupac when he was 11 years old were up for sale for US$300,000 but only sold for $90,000.{{Cite web |last=Porterfield |first=Carlie |title=Tupac Shakur's Unseen Childhood Poetry Written For An Incarcerated Black Panther Is Up For Sale |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/03/23/tupac-shakurs-unseen-childhood-poetry-written-for-an-incarcerated-black-panther-is-up-for-sale/ |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=Forbes |language=en}} The poems were for Jamal Joseph and three other Black Panther Party members while they were incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison. Even at his young age, Shakur's writing dealt with themes such as black liberation, mass incarceration, race, and masculinity. The poems feature a self-portrait of Shakur sleeping, pen in hand, dreaming of the Black Panthers being freed from prison, and signed with a heart and the phrase "Tupac Shakur, Future Freedom Fighter".{{Cite web |last=Porterfield |first=Carlie |title=Tupac Shakur's Unseen Childhood Poetry Written For An Incarcerated Black Panther Is Up For Sale |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/03/23/tupac-shakurs-unseen-childhood-poetry-written-for-an-incarcerated-black-panther-is-up-for-sale/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=Forbes |language=en}}

In October, 2023, sexually explicit poems he wrote to Jada Pinkett Smith while in prison went public in the book "Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography."{{Cite web |date=2023-10-25 |title=NSFW poem written by Tupac Shakur about Jada Pinkett Smith becomes public in new book |url=https://www.marca.com/en/lifestyle/celebrities/2023/10/25/65385f7e22601dcd768b4591.html |access-date=2024-08-12 |website=MARCA |language=en}} Pinkett Smith celebrated Shakur's 50th birthday by showing an unreleased poem on Instagram called "Lost Soulz."{{Cite web |last=Guy |first=Jack |date=2021-06-17 |title=Jada Pinkett Smith shares unpublished Tupac Shakur poem |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/17/entertainment/jada-pinkett-smith-tupac-shakur-poem-scli-intl/index.html |access-date=2024-08-13 |website=CNN |language=en}} According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Green: "He was also a poet and activist who became one of his era's most revolutionary voices."{{Cite magazine |last=Greene |first=Andy |date=2022-02-08 |title=Secrets of Tupac Shakur's Unseen Archives |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-pictures/tupac-shakur-wake-me-when-im-free-exhibit-1293618/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} Tupac had passion for theater and admiration of William Shakespeare. Years after Tupac's death, Nas said "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."{{Cite web |date=2024-05-10 |title=On Tupac Video Set, Nas Says Rapper Better Than Shakespeare {{!}} News {{!}} MTV |website=MTV |url=https://www.mtv.com/news/u0cbfd/on-tupac-video-set-nas-says-rapper-better-than-shakespeare |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240510020824/https://www.mtv.com/news/u0cbfd/on-tupac-video-set-nas-says-rapper-better-than-shakespeare |url-status=dead |archive-date=2024-05-10 |access-date=2024-08-13 }}

Shakur's first film appearance was in the 1991 film Nothing but Trouble, a cameo by the Digital Underground. In 1992, he starred in Juice, in which he plays the fictional Roland Bishop, a militant and haunting individual. Rolling Stone{{'}}s Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure".{{cite web|url=http://www.alleyezonme.com/ |title=2Pac biography |publisher=Alleyezonme.com |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114161717/http://www.alleyezonme.com/ |archive-date=January 14, 2012}}

In 1993, Shakur starred alongside Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film, Poetic Justice.{{Cite news|last=Williams|first=Stereo|date=February 3, 2019|title=John Singleton on That Tupac AIDS Test: 'That Was a Joke!'|language=en|work=The Daily Beast|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/john-singleton-looks-back-on-poetic-justice-tupac-janet-jackson-and-that-aids-test-rumor|access-date=December 12, 2021}} Singleton later fired Shakur from the 1995 film Higher Learning because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest.{{Cite web|last=Paine|first=Jake|date=December 1, 2017|title=Michael Rapaport Reveals Tupac, Leo & More Were Part Of The Original "Higher Learning" Cast (Video)|url=https://ambrosiaforheads.com/2017/11/higher-learning-tupac-leonardo-dipcaprio-cast-video/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Ambrosia For Heads|language=en-US}} For the lead role in the eventual 2001 film Baby Boy, a role played by Tyrese Gibson, Singleton originally had Shakur in mind.{{cite web|first=Greg | last = Tate |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0126,tate,25915,1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051101004728/http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0126%2Ctate%2C25915%2C1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 1, 2005 |title=Sex & Negrocity by Greg Tate |publisher=Villagevoice.com |date=June 26, 2001 |access-date=January 7, 2012}} Ultimately, the set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary".{{cite web|url=http://www.rapbasement.com/hip-hop/god-bless-the-dead/2pac.html |title=FILM |work=Rap Basement |publisher=rapbasement.com |access-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825001905/http://www.rapbasement.com/hip-hop/god-bless-the-dead/2pac.html |archive-date=August 25, 2010|date=April 10, 2008}}

Director Allen Hughes had cast Shakur as Sharif in the 1993 film Menace II Society but replaced him once Shakur assaulted him on set due to a discrepancy with the script. Nonetheless, in 2013, Hughes appraises that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie".{{cite news|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1708225/menace-ii-society-tupac-shakur/ |title=Tupac Would Have 'Outshined' 'Menace II Society,' Director Admits |date=May 30, 2013 |first=Rob |last=Markman |publisher=MTV |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101190821/http://www.mtv.com/news/1708225/menace-ii-society-tupac-shakur/ |archive-date=January 1, 2016}}

Shakur played a gangster called Birdie in the 1994 film Above the Rim.{{Cite web|last=Tinsley|first=Justin|date=March 22, 2019|title=A look back at 'Above the Rim' on its 25th anniversary|url=https://andscape.com/features/a-look-back-at-above-the-rim-on-its-25th-anniversary/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Andscape|language=en-US}} By some accounts, that character had been modeled after former New York drug dealer Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant,{{cite magazine|last=Rodriguez|first=Jason|date=September 2011|title=Pit of snakes|url=https://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/pit-of-snakes-2pacs-quad-studios-shooting-excerpt-from-sept-2011-issue|url-status=live|magazine=XXL Magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219061305/http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/pit-of-snakes-2pacs-quad-studios-shooting-excerpt-from-sept-2011-issue/|archive-date=February 19, 2019|access-date=May 16, 2020}} who managed and promoted rappers.{{cite web|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|date=January 23, 2017|title=Haitian Jack hip-hop miniseries in the works (exclusive)|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/haitian-jack-hip-hop-miniseries-works-967201|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627233640/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/haitian-jack-hip-hop-miniseries-works-967201|archive-date=June 27, 2020|access-date=May 20, 2020|work=The Hollywood Reporter}} Shakur was introduced to him at a Queens nightclub. Reportedly, B.I.G. advised Shakur to avoid him, but Shakur disregarded the warning. Through Haitian Jack, Shakur met James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, also a drug dealer who doubled as music manager.

Soon after Shakur's death, three more films starring him were released, Bullet (1996), Gridlock'd (1997), and Gang Related (1997).{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,286619,00.html |title=Gridlock'd |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |access-date=July 28, 2010 |date=January 31, 1997 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100307181059/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C286619%2C00.html |archive-date=March 7, 2010}}{{cite web|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gangrelated.htm |title=Gang Related |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100904033649/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gangrelated.htm |archive-date=September 4, 2010}}

It was rumored that Shakur was being considered by George Lucas to portray Jedi Master Mace Windu in the Star Wars prequel films (1999–2005). According to former Death Row Records chief engineer Rick Clifford, George Lucas was eyeing Tupac to star in his return to the "Star Wars" saga. Clifford talked about how excited Tupac was for the role, "'Pac found out that I worked for Brian Austin Green, who was on 90210, then he found out I [worked on] some movies, so we always talked about his film career and stuff. [...] He was telling me that he was supposed to read for George Lucas and them. They wanted him to be a Jedi. I'm serious. Samuel L. [Jackson] got Tupac's part. [Tupac] said [to me], 'Old man, keep your fingers crossed.' He said, 'I've got three movies coming up. One of them, I've got to read for George Lucas."{{cite magazine |last1=Grow |first1=Kory |title=Tupac Shakur Auditioned to Be a Jedi in 'Star Wars': Report |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tupac-shakur-auditioned-to-be-a-jedi-in-star-wars-report-245892/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |publisher=rollingstone.com |access-date=June 11, 2023}}

The Phantom Menace script had begun being written in 1996 and the eventual film seeing release in 1999. Lucas had asked Jackson to ask Shakur to audition but due to Shakur's untimely death the role ultimately went to Samuel L. Jackson. The two had worked on the film Juice together.

In his 1995 interview with Vibe magazine, Shakur listed Jada Pinkett, Jasmine Guy, Treach and Mickey Rourke among the people who were looking out for him while he was in prison.{{Cite web|last=Powell|first=Kevin|date=February 14, 2021|title=Revisit Tupac's April 1995 Cover Story: 'READY TO LIVE'|url=https://www.vibe.com/features/editorial/tupac-april-1995-cover-story-ready-to-live-686969/|access-date=December 11, 2021|website=VIBE.com|language=en-US}} Shakur also mentioned that Madonna was a supportive friend. Madonna later revealed that they had dated in 1994.{{Cite web|date=March 12, 2015|title=Madonna confirms that she once dated Tupac Shakur|url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/madonna-62-1216088|access-date=August 5, 2020|website=NME|archive-date=August 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200825211642/https://www.nme.com/news/music/madonna-62-1216088|url-status=live}}{{Cite magazine|last=Grow|first=Kory|date=July 11, 2019|title=Tupac's Private Apology to Madonna Could Be Yours for $100,000|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tupac-madonna-letter-auction-858080/|access-date=August 5, 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-date=August 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200820053733/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tupac-madonna-letter-auction-858080/|url-status=live}}

Shakur became close friends with Jada Pinkett while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts.{{Cite web|last=Carras|first=Christi|date=June 16, 2021|title=To mark what would have been Tupac Shakur's 50th birthday, Jada Pinkett Smith remembers what a poet he was|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-06-16/tupac-shakur-birthday-jada-pinkett-smith-poem|access-date=December 11, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} He helped Pinkett land her first movie role in the film Menace II Society (1993).{{Cite web |last=Lawrence |first=Derek |date=August 20, 2019 |title=Tupac, strippers, and Batman: Jada Pinkett Smith looks back on her most memorable roles |url=https://ew.com/movies/jada-pinkett-smith-memorable-roles/ |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=EW.com |language=en}} In turn, Pinkett secured Shakur a guest starring role on the sitcom A Different World in 1993.{{Cite news |date=June 13, 1993 |title=Thursday Highlights: Prime Time |pages=29 |work=The Baltimore Sun - Statewide TV |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-baltimore-sun-jada-pinkett-and-tupac/133472550/ |access-date=October 15, 2023}}{{Cite web |date=October 13, 2023 |title=The history behind Jada Pinkett Smith and Tupac Shakur's relationship |url=https://www.today.com/popculture/news/jada-pinkett-smith-tupac-shakur-relationship-timeline-rcna119688 |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=TODAY.com |language=en}} She appeared in his music videos "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Temptations".{{Cite book|last=Pough|first=Gwendolyn D.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GPPwCgAAQBAJ&dq=keep+your+head+up+jada+pinkett+video&pg=PA134|title=Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere|date=December 1, 2015|publisher=Northeastern University Press|isbn=978-1-55553-854-5|pages=134|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Hochman|first=Steve|date=September 24, 1995|title=2Pac's Pals Turn Out for Tupac-Less Video|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-09-24-ca-49355-story.html|access-date=December 11, 2021|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} She also came up with the concept for his "California Love" music video and had intended to direct it, but removed herself from the project.{{Cite book |last1=McQuillar |first1=Tayannah Lee |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjsycSVeoh8C&q=california+love+jada+pinkett+video+mad+max&pg=PA172 |title=Tupac Shakur: The Life and Times of an American Icon |last2=Johnson |first2=Fred L. |date=January 26, 2010 |publisher=Hachette Books |isbn=978-0-7867-4593-7 |pages=172 |language=en}} In 1995, Pinkett contributed $100,000 towards Shakur's bail as he awaited an appeal on his sexual abuse conviction.{{Cite news |last=Stasi |first=Linda |date=January 20, 1995 |title=Big Splurge |pages=21 |work=Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-jada-pinkett-contributes-100/133472861/ |access-date=October 15, 2023}}{{Cite journal|date=February 13, 1995|title=Jada Pinkett Gives $100,000 To Help Rapper Tupac Shakur|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDkDAAAAMBAJ&dq=jada+tupac+1995+jet&pg=PA30|journal=Jet|pages=30}} Pinkett later revealed that she turned down his marriage proposal while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island in 1995.{{Cite web |title=Jada Pinkett Smith Says Tupac Shakur Had Alopecia: 'He Just Wouldn't Talk About It' (Exclusive) |url=https://people.com/jada-pinkett-smith-says-tupac-shakur-had-alopecia-exclusive-8350541 |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=Peoplemag |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Kyann-Sian |date=October 13, 2023 |title=Jada Pinkett-Smith reflects on Tupac proposing to her in prison |url=https://www.nme.com/news/jada-pinkett-smith-reflects-on-tupac-proposing-to-her-in-prison-3514059 |access-date=October 15, 2023 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |date=October 15, 2023 |title=Jada Pinkett Smith dishes on marriage to Will Smith, 'The Slap' — and Baltimore in her new memoir 'Worthy' |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bs-fe-pinkett-smith-worthy-20231015-cq34py6xzzaofbptw7lg7sa5te-story.html |access-date=October 16, 2023 |website=The Baltimore Sun}} Speaking about Pinkett, Shakur stated: "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life. We'll be old together. Jada can ask me to do anything and she can have it."{{Cite book |last=Shakur |first=Tupac |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F12eoKOfO7EC&dq=tupac+jada+heart+old&pg=PA93 |title=Tupac: Resurrection, 1971-1996 |date=2003 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-7434-7434-4 |pages=93 |language=en}} Pinkett said Shakur was "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".{{Cite book|last=Wallace|first=Irving|title=The intimate sex lives of famous people|date=2008|publisher=Feral House|isbn=978-1932595291|edition=Rev.|location=Port Townsend, Washington|pages=303|oclc=646836355}}

After Shakur was shot in 1994, he recuperated at Jasmine Guy's home.{{Cite web |last=Anderson |first=Joel |date=February 14, 2020 |title=Slow Burn Season 3, Episode 1: Against the World |url=https://slate.com/culture/2020/02/transcript-of-slow-burn-season-3-episode-1.html |access-date=December 11, 2021 |website=Slate Magazine |language=en}} They had met during his guest appearance on the sitcom A Different World in 1993. Guy appeared in his music video "Temptations" and later wrote his mother's 2004 biography, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary.{{Cite web|date=February 1, 2004|title=Nonfiction Book Review: Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary by Jasmine Guy|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-7434-7053-7|access-date=December 11, 2021|website=PublishersWeekly.com|language=en}}

Shakur befriended Treach when they were both roadies on Public Enemy's tour in 1990.{{Cite news|last=Monjauze|first=Molly|url=https://archive.org/details/tupacremembered0000monj|title=Tupac remembered|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|year=2008|isbn=9781932855760|pages=69|oclc=181069620|url-access=registration}} He made a cameo in Naughty by Nature's music video "Uptown Anthem" in 1992.{{Cite book|last=Rausch|first=Andrew J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i2Mw9RthEr0C&dq=naughty+by+nature+tupac+uptown&pg=PA89|title=I Am Hip-Hop: Conversations on the Music and Culture|date=April 1, 2011|publisher=Scarecrow Press|isbn=978-0-8108-7792-4|pages=89|language=en}} Treach collaborated on Shakur's song "5 Deadly Venomz" and appeared in the music video for Shakur's "Temptations". Treach was also a speaker at a public memorial service for Shakur in 1996.{{Cite web|last=Bandini|date=May 20, 2017|title=Treach Flies To L.A. & Wages War To Protect Tupac's Legacy|url=https://ambrosiaforheads.com/2017/05/treach-tupac-beef-wack-100/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Ambrosia For Heads|language=en-US}}

In 1993, during a police raid of Shakur's room at New York City's Parker Meridian Hotel, a videotape was confiscated which showed Shakur having sex with his then-girlfriend Desiree Smith. Officers were attempting to build their case against Shakur for the alleged sodomy of Ayanna Jackson. In 2022, Smith insisted she was neither underage nor intoxicated at the time of their tryst.{{cite web | url=https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.71676/title.2pacs-ex-girlfriend-desiree-smith-denies-being-underage-or-intoxicated-in-sex-tape-with-late-legend | title=2Pac's Ex-Girlfriend Desiree Smith Denies Being Underage or Intoxicated in Sex Tape with Late Legend | date=July 13, 2022 }} In 2011, a sex tape featuring Shakur receiving oral sex from a groupie while rapping and dancing along to one of his own unreleased songs, was sold to a private collector. The video, which was filmed in 1993, also features rapper Money B from Digital Underground.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tupac-shakur-sex-tape-sold-to-collector-110346/ | title=Tupac Shakur Sex Tape Sold to Collector | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=December 19, 2011 }}

Shakur and Mickey Rourke formed a bond while filming the movie Bullet in 1994.{{Cite web|last=Stratton|first=David|date=April 6, 1997|title=Bullet|url=https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/bullet-1117436647/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Variety|language=en-US}} Rourke recalled that Shakur "was there for me during some very hard times."{{Cite web|date=May 21, 2017|title=Mickey Rourke Is Mad About Funkmaster Flex's Tupac Conspiracy Theory|url=https://www.spin.com/2017/05/mickey-rourke-funkmaster-flex-tupac-conspiracy-theory/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=SPIN|language=en-US}}

Shakur had friendships with other celebrities, including Mike Tyson{{cite news |last=Meara |first=Paul |date=November 4, 2015 |title=That Time Tupac Visited Mike Tyson in Prison |publisher=BET |url=https://www.bet.com/article/dj3zjt/that-time-tupac-visited-mike-tyson-in-prison|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101190821/http://www.bet.com/news/music/2015/11/04/mike-tyson-remembers-when-tupac-visited-him-in-prison.html|archive-date=January 1, 2016}} Chuck D,{{cite magazine |last=Grow |first=Kory |date=June 23, 2014 |title=Read Tupac Shakur's Heartfelt Letter to Public Enemy's Chuck D |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/read-tupac-shakurs-heartfelt-letter-to-public-enemys-chuck-d-20140623 |magazine=Rolling Stone |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101190821/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/read-tupac-shakurs-heartfelt-letter-to-public-enemys-chuck-d-20140623 |archive-date=January 1, 2016 |url-status=live}} Jim Carrey,{{cite news|last=Smithfield|first=Brad|date=February 4, 2017|title=Jim Carrey wrote humorous letters to Tupac to cheer him up while in prison|work=Vintage News|url=https://m.thevintagenews.com/2017/02/04/jim-carrey-wrote-humorous-letters-to-tupac-to-cheer-him-up-while-in-prison/|access-date=February 4, 2017|archive-date=November 17, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171117122954/https://m.thevintagenews.com/2017/02/04/jim-carrey-wrote-humorous-letters-to-tupac-to-cheer-him-up-while-in-prison/|url-status=live}} and Alanis Morissette. In April 1996, Shakur said that he, Morissette, Snoop Dogg, and Suge Knight were planning to open a restaurant together.{{cite web|title=2Pac – KMEL 1996 Full Interview with Sway|website = YouTube| date=April 4, 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2uU3FEpn3E|access-date=August 7, 2019|archive-date=September 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902013555/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2uU3FEpn3E&gl=US&hl=en|url-status=live}}{{cite web|title=What Happened (Interview by Sway)|url=https://genius.com/2pac-what-happened-interview-by-sway-annotated|website=genius.com|access-date=August 7, 2019|archive-date=August 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807033608/https://genius.com/2pac-what-happened-interview-by-sway-annotated|url-status=live}}

On April 29, 1995, Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris, a pre-law student.{{Cite book |last=Golus |first=Carrie |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EN-lAgAAQBAJ&q=keisha+morris+tupac+february+1996&pg=PA62 |title=Tupac Shakur: Hip-Hop Idol |date=August 1, 2010 |publisher=Twenty-First Century Books |isbn=978-0-7613-5473-4 |pages=62, 92}}{{cite news|date=September 15, 2011|title=Love is Not Enough: 2Pac's Ex-Wife, Keisha Morris|work=XXL|publisher=Townsquare Media|location=New York City|url=http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/love-is-not-enough-tupacs-wife-keisha-morris-excerpt-from-the-sept-2011-issue/|access-date=March 13, 2018|archive-date=March 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180314043447/http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/love-is-not-enough-tupacs-wife-keisha-morris-excerpt-from-the-sept-2011-issue/|url-status=live}} Their marriage was annulled ten months later.

In a 1993 interview published in The Source, Shakur criticized record producer Quincy Jones for his interracial marriage to actress Peggy Lipton.{{cite web|title=Rashida Jones: The I Love You, Man Interview|url=https://lasentinel.net/rashida-jones-the-i-love-you-man-interview.html|last=Williams|first=Kam|date=March 12, 2009|publisher=LA Sentinel|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029214147/http://www.lasentinel.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6459%3Arashida-jones-the-i-love-you-man-interview&catid=60&Itemid=150|archive-date=October 29, 2013|access-date=October 6, 2018}} Their daughter Rashida Jones responded with an irate open letter.{{cite news|last=Freeman|first=Hadley|date=February 14, 2014|title=Rashida Jones: 'There's more than one way to be a woman and be sexy'|newspaper=The Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/feb/14/rashida-jones-quincy-parks-recreation|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221215358/https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/feb/14/rashida-jones-quincy-parks-recreation|archive-date=December 21, 2016}} Shakur later apologized to her sister Kidada Jones, whom he began dating in 1996.{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Quincy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zs1ixtkcJU8C&q=tupac |title=Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones |date=2002 |publisher=Broadway Books |isbn=978-0-7679-0510-7 |pages=249 |language=en}} Shakur and Jones attended Men's Fashion Week in Milan and walked the runway together for a Versace fashion show.{{Cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Frank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_rTHNBvVBXwC&q=milan |title=Got Your Back: Protecting Tupac in the World of Gangsta Rap |last2=Cuda |first2=Heidi Siegmund |date=January 10, 2000 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-24299-2 |pages=104 |language=en}} Jones was at their hotel in Las Vegas when Shakur was shot.{{cite magazine|last=Anson|first=Robert Sam|date=March 1997|title=To Die Like A Gangsta|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1997/03/tupac-shakur-rap-death|magazine=Vanity Fair|access-date=June 15, 2018|archive-date=May 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519203108/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/1997/03/tupac-shakur-rap-death|url-status=live}}

In November 1993, Shakur and two other men were charged in New York with sodomizing a woman in Shakur's hotel room. The woman, Ayanna Jackson, alleged that after she performed oral sex on Shakur at the public dance floor of a Manhattan nightclub, she went to his hotel room on a later day, when Shakur, record executive Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant, Shakur's road manager Charles Fuller and an unidentified fourth man apprehended and forced her to perform non-consensual oral sex on each of them.{{Cite news|last=Gladwell|first=Malcolm|date=December 2, 1994|title=Rapper Shakur guilty of sex abuse, not guilty of sodomy and gun charges|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/12/02/shakur-guilty-of-sex-abuse/08202f80-426e-42ee-af79-e0b3abf0f7b3/|access-date=January 6, 2022|newspaper=The Washington Post}} Shakur was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm as two guns were found in the hotel room. Interviewed on The Arsenio Hall Show, Shakur said he was hurt that "a woman would accuse me of taking something from her", as he had been raised in a female household and surrounded by women his whole life.{{cite web|title=Tupac Shakur interview with "The Arsenio Hall Show" in 1994 [VIDEO]|url=http://www.hip-hopvibe.com/2012/03/07/tupac-shakur-interview-with-the-arsenio-hall-show-in-1994-video/|author=TBTEntGroup on|date=March 7, 2012|publisher=Hip-hopvibe.com|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221084324/http://www.hip-hopvibe.com/2012/03/07/tupac-shakur-interview-with-the-arsenio-hall-show-in-1994-video/|archive-date=December 21, 2013|access-date=September 13, 2013}}

On December 1, 1994, Shakur was acquitted of three counts of sodomy and the associated gun charges, but convicted of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse for "forcibly touching the woman's buttocks" in his hotel room.{{Cite news|last=Perez-Pena|first=Richard|date=December 2, 1994|title=Wounded Rapper Gets Mixed Verdict In Sex-Abuse Case|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/02/nyregion/wounded-rapper-gets-mixed-verdict-in-sex-abuse-case.html|access-date=December 11, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} Jurors have said the lack of evidence stymied a sodomy conviction.{{Cite journal|date=February 1995|title=Sweatin' Bullets: Tupac Shakur Dodges Death but Can't Beat the Rap|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fy0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=november+1993+tupac+police+atlanta&pg=PA23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206161417/https://books.google.com/books?id=Fy0EAAAAMBAJ&dq=november+1993+tupac+police+atlanta&pg=PA23|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 6, 2022|journal=Vibe|pages=23}} Shakur's lawyer characterized the sentence as "out of line" with the groping conviction and the setting of bail at $3 million as "inhumane". Shakur's accuser later filed a civil suit against Shakur seeking $10 million for punitive damages which was subsequently settled.{{cite magazine|first=Connie|last=Bruck|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/07/07/the-takedown-of-tupac|title=The Takedown of Tupac|magazine=The New Yorker|date=June 29, 1997|access-date=November 13, 2019|archive-date=November 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191107130039/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1997/07/07/the-takedown-of-tupac|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|date=January 22, 1996|title=Doe v. Shakur (civil case)|url=https://casetext.com/case/jane-doe-plaintiff-v-tupac-a-shakur-and-charles-l-fuller-defendants?__cf_chl_f_tk=r9paSmBXDBK.XIRWIh.zgwssVpY1Rw9UP1.2E4khbuI-1642425136-0-gaNycGzNCT0|website=Casetext}}

After Shakur had been convicted of sexual abuse, Jacques Agnant's case was separated and closed via misdemeanor plea without incarceration.{{cite AV media | people = Metzler, David (Director) | interviewer1 = Soledad O'Brien | interviewer2 = Ice-T | title = Who Shot Biggie & Tupac? [interview with "Haitian Jack"] | location = USA | publisher = Critical Content | year = 2017}}, premiered on television September 24, 2017, by Fox Broadasting Company. A. J. Benza reported in New York Daily News Shakur's new disdain for Agnant who Shakur theorized had set him up with the case. Shakur reportedly believed his accuser was connected to and had sexual relations with Agnant and James "Henchman" Rosemond, who he considered to be behind the 1994 Quad Studios shooting.{{Cite web|date=June 5, 2014|title=Tupac believed his rape case was connected to his Quad Studios shooting|url=https://www.xxlmag.com/tupac-thought-rape-case-connected-quad-studio-shooting/|access-date=January 7, 2022|website=XXL}}

Shakur was unable to post the $3 million bond to keep himself free until sentencing so he surrendered himself to authorities at the Bellevue Hospital Jail Ward in New York City on December 23, 1994.{{Cite news |last=Arena |first=Salvatore |date=December 24, 1994 |title=Shakur Spending Holiday In Jail Ward |pages=3 |work=Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-shakur-surrenders-to-authorit/133713808/ |access-date=October 19, 2023}} At the time, he was still recovering from injuries he received on November 30, when he was shot five times and robbed at Quad Studios. In January 1995, Shakur was moved to the North Infirmary Command (NIC) on Rikers Island in the Bronx.{{Cite news |last=Stasi |first=Linda |date=January 9, 1995 |title=Secure Shakur |pages=93 |work=Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-tupac-shakur-moved-to-rikers/133520802/ |access-date=October 16, 2023}} On February 7, 1995, he was sentenced to 18 months to {{frac|4|1|2}} years in prison by a judge who decried "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman".{{Cite news|last=James | first = George|date=February 8, 1995|title=Rapper Faces Prison Term For Sex Abuse|page=B1|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/08/nyregion/rapper-faces-prison-term-for-sex-abuse.html|url-status=live|access-date=March 12, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140405111309/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/08/nyregion/rapper-faces-prison-term-for-sex-abuse.html|archive-date=April 5, 2014}}{{Cite news|last=Olan|first=Helaine|date=February 8, 1995|title=Rapper Shakur Gets Prison for Assault|page=A4|work=Los Angeles Times}}

In March 1995, Shakur was transferred to Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.{{Cite news|date=March 16, 1995|title=Shakur Upstate|work=New York Daily News}} While imprisoned, he began reading again, which he had been unable to do as his career progressed due to his marijuana and alcohol habits. Works such as The Prince by Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli and The Art of War by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu sparked Shakur's interest in philosophy, philosophy of war and military strategy.{{cite web|first=Wagner James |last=Au |title=Yo, Niccolo! |url=http://archive.salon.com/media/media2961211.html |work=Salon |publisher=Salon Media Group Inc.|location=San Francisco, California|accessdate=December 31, 2016 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20070929103156/http://archive.salon.com/media/media2961211.html |url-status=dead |archivedate=September 29, 2007 |date=December 11, 1996}} On April 29, 1995, Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris; the marriage was later annulled. While in prison, Shakur exchanged letters with celebrities such as Jim Carrey and Tony Danza among others.{{Cite web |title=Jim Carrey's Surprising Music Moments, From 2Pac to Kid Cudi |url=https://www.complex.com/pigeons-and-planes/jim-carrey-music-the-weeknd-2pac-kid-cudi/ |access-date=July 12, 2022 |website=Complex |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=September 21, 2012 |title=Tony Danza Talks Friendship With Tupac |url=https://tvone.tv/7442/tony-danza-talks-friendship-with-tupac/ |access-date=July 12, 2022 |website=TV One |language=en-US}} He was also visited by Al Sharpton, who helped Shakur get released from solitary confinement.{{Cite web|date=November 27, 2017|title=AL SHARPTON PLANS TO HELP MEEK THE SAME WAY HE HELPED TUPAC IN JAIL|url=https://thesource.com/2017/11/27/al-sharpton-plans-help-meek-meek-way-helped-tupac-jail/|access-date=January 5, 2022|website=The Source}}

By October 1995, pending judicial appeal, Shakur was incarcerated in New York. On October 12, he bonded out of the maximum security Dannemora Clinton Correctional Facility in the process of appealing his conviction, once Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, arranged for the posting of his $1.4 million bond.{{Cite news|last=Pareles|first=Jon|date=September 14, 1996|title=Tupac Shakur, 25, Rap Performer Who Personified Violence, Dies|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/14/arts/tupac-shakur-25-rap-performer-who-personified-violence-dies.html|url-status=live|access-date=November 23, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200917213218/https://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/14/arts/tupac-shakur-25-rap-performer-who-personified-violence-dies.html|archive-date=September 17, 2020}}

On October 31, 1993, Shakur was arrested in Atlanta for shooting two off-duty police officers, brothers Mark Whitwell and Scott Whitwell.{{Cite news|last=Smothers|first=Ronald|date=November 2, 1993|title=Rapper Charged in Shootings of Off-Duty Officers|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/02/us/rapper-charged-in-shootings-of-off-duty-officers.html|access-date=December 24, 2021|issn=0362-4331}} The Atlanta police claimed the shooting occurred after the brothers were almost struck by a car carrying Shakur while they were crossing the street with their wives.{{Cite news|last=Harrington|first=Richard|date=November 3, 1993|title=Guns N' Rappers: 3 Arrested In Shootings|language=en-US|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/11/03/guns-n-rappers-3-arrested-in-shootings/fa958468-a98c-44b1-8169-0f7b1bbe306f/|access-date=December 24, 2021|issn=0190-8286}} As they argued with the driver, Shakur's car pulled up and he shot the Whitwells in the buttocks and the abdomen.{{Cite web|last=Butler|first=Rhett|date=May 28, 2020|title=Redo '93: Tupac Shakur's Shootout With Police Proves Power To People|url=https://thesource.com/2020/05/28/redo-93-tupac-shakurs-shootout-with-police-proves-power-to-people/|access-date=December 24, 2021|website=The Source|language=en-US}}{{cite web|date=July 20, 1998|title=Shakur's Estate Hit With Default Claim Over Shooting|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1433981/19980720/story.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020127003340/http://www.mtv.com:80/news/articles/1433981/19980720/story.jhtml|archive-date=January 27, 2002|access-date=July 2, 2021|publisher=MTV News}} However, there are conflicting accounts that the Whitwells were harassing a black motorist and uttered racial slurs. According to some witnesses, Shakur and his entourage had fired in self-defense as Mark Whitwell shot at them first.

Shakur was charged with two counts of aggravated assault. Mark Whitwell was charged with firing at Shakur's car and later with making false statements to investigators. Scott Whitwell admitted to possessing a gun he had taken from a Henry County police evidence room. Prosecutors ultimately dropped all charges against both parties. Mark Whitwell resigned from the force seven months after the shooting. Both brothers filed civil suits against Shakur; Mark Whitwell's suit was settled out of court, while Scott Whitwell's $2 million lawsuit resulted in a default judgment entered against the rapper's estate in 1998.

On November 30, 1994, while in New York recording verses for a mixtape of Ron G, Shakur was repeatedly distracted by his beeper.{{cite magazine |last=Rodriguez |first=Jason |date=September 2011 |title=Pit of snakes |url=https://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/pit-of-snakes-2pacs-quad-studios-shooting-excerpt-from-sept-2011-issue |url-status=live |magazine=XXL Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190219061305/http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2011/09/pit-of-snakes-2pacs-quad-studios-shooting-excerpt-from-sept-2011-issue/ |archive-date=February 19, 2019 |access-date=May 16, 2020}} Music manager James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond reportedly offered Shakur $7,000 to stop by Quad Studios, in Times Square, that night to record a verse for his client Little Shawn. Shakur was unsure, but agreed to the session as he needed the cash to offset legal costs. He arrived with Stretch and one or two others. In the lobby, three men robbed and beat him at gunpoint; Shakur resisted and was shot.{{cite news |last=Samaha |first=Albert |date=October 28, 2013 |title=James Rosemond, Hip-Hop Manager Tied to Tupac Shooting, Gets Life Sentence for Drug Trafficking |work=The Village Voice |location=New York City |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/10/james_rosemond_life_sentence_drug_trafficking_tupac_shooting_ties.php |url-status=dead |access-date=November 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030071331/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2013/10/james_rosemond_life_sentence_drug_trafficking_tupac_shooting_ties.php |archive-date=October 30, 2013}} Shakur speculated that the shooting had been a set-up.{{cite news |date=November 30, 1994 |title=Rap Artist Tupac Shakur Shot in Robbery |work=The New York Times |location=New York City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/30/nyregion/rap-artist-tupac-shakur-shot-in-robbery.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215031012/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/30/nyregion/rap-artist-tupac-shakur-shot-in-robbery.html |archive-date=February 15, 2017}}

Against medical advice, Shakur checked out of Metropolitan Hospital Center a few hours after surgery and secretly went to the house of the actress Jasmine Guy to recuperate.{{Cite news |last=Gelder |first=Lawrence Van |date=December 3, 1994 |title=Rapper, Shot and Convicted, Leaves Hospital for Secret Site |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/03/nyregion/rapper-shot-and-convicted-leaves-hospital-for-secret-site.html |access-date=December 11, 2021 |issn=0362-4331}} The next day, Shakur arrived at a Manhattan courthouse bandaged in a wheelchair to receive the jury's verdict for his sexual abuse case. Shakur spent the next few weeks being cared for by his mother and a private doctor at Guy's home. The Fruit of Islam and former members of the Black Panther Party stood guard to protect him.

In a 1995 interview with Vibe, Shakur accused Sean Combs,{{cite web |last=Stewart |first=Alison |date=March 18, 2008 |title=What Did Sean 'Puffy' Combs Know? |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88461862 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119222826/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88461862 |archive-date=January 19, 2012 |access-date=January 7, 2012 |publisher=Npr.org}} Jimmy Henchman, and the Notorious B.I.G. – who were at Quad Studios at the time – among others, of setting up or being privy to the November 1994 robbery and shooting.{{cite news |last=Philips |first=Chuck |date=October 11, 2012 |title=Commentary on 1995 Tupac Recordings |newspaper=chuckphilipspost.com |url=http://chuckphilipspost.com |url-status=live |access-date=November 25, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131108130234/http://chuckphilipspost.com/ |archive-date=November 8, 2013}} The accusations were significant to the East–West Coast rivalry in hip-hop; in 1995, months after the robbery, Combs and B.I.G. released the track "Who Shot Ya?", which Shakur took as a mockery of his shooting and thought they could be responsible, so he released a diss song, "Hit 'Em Up", in which he targeted B.I.G., Combs, their record label, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and at the end of "Hit 'Em Up", he mentions rivals Mobb Deep and Chino XL.{{Cite web |date=August 28, 2013 |title=Tupac Shakur Interview 1995 « Chuck Philips PostChuck Philips Post |url=http://chuckphilipspost.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130828224622/http://chuckphilipspost.com/ |archive-date=August 28, 2013 |access-date=June 1, 2021}}{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2008 |title=Tupac and Biggie's battle songs |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-na-quadlyrics17mar17-htmlstory.html |access-date=June 1, 2021 |website=Los Angeles Times}}{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Jayson |title=Game Manager Jimmy Rosemond Recalls Events The Night Tupac Was Shot, Says Session Was 'All Business' |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1584524/game-manager-jimmy-rosemond-recalls-events-the-night-tupac-was-shot-says-session-was-all-business/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140922061439/http://www.mtv.com/news/1584524/game-manager-jimmy-rosemond-recalls-events-the-night-tupac-was-shot-says-session-was-all-business/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 22, 2014 |access-date=June 1, 2021 |website=MTV News}}{{Citation |title=2Pac (Ft. Outlawz) – Hit 'Em Up |url=https://genius.com/2pac-hit-em-up-lyrics |access-date=June 1, 2021}}{{Citation |title=The Notorious B.I.G. – Who Shot Ya? |url=https://genius.com/The-notorious-big-who-shot-ya-lyrics |access-date=June 1, 2021}}

In March 2008, Chuck Philips, in the Los Angeles Times, reported on the 1994 ambush and shooting.{{Cite news |last=Philips |first=Chuck |date=June 12, 2012 |title=James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond Implicated Himself in 1994 Tupac Shakur Attack: Court Testimony |newspaper=The Village Voice |url=http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/06/jimmy_henchman_implicated.php |url-status=dead |access-date=June 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120629033839/http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/06/jimmy_henchman_implicated.php |archive-date=June 29, 2012}} The newspaper later retracted the article since it relied partially on FBI documents later discovered forged, supplied by a man convicted of fraud.{{cite news |date=April 7, 2008 |title=Times retracts Shakur story |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles, California |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-naw-quad17mar17-story.html |url-status=live |access-date=March 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180304034003/http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-naw-quad17mar17-story.html |archive-date=March 4, 2018}} In June 2011, convicted murderer Dexter Isaac, incarcerated in Brooklyn, issued a confession that he had been one of the gunmen who had robbed and shot Shakur at Henchman's order.{{Cite news |last=Evans |first=Jennifer |date=June 21, 2001 |title=Hip hop talent agent arrested charged with operating drug ring |newspaper=The Baltimore Sun |url=http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/wpix-hip-hop-talent-agent-arrested,0,6053998.story |url-status=dead |access-date=May 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829192455/http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/wpix-hip-hop-talent-agent-arrested%2C0%2C6053998.story |archive-date=August 29, 2012}}{{cite news |last=KTLA News |date=July 13, 2012 |title=Convicted Killer Confesses to Shooting West Coast Rapper Tupac Shakur |newspaper=The Courant |url=http://www.courant.com/entertainment/ktla-inmate-confesses-to-shooting-tupac,0,5503225.story |url-status=dead |access-date=September 14, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110619030221/http://www.courant.com/entertainment/ktla-inmate-confesses-to-shooting-tupac%2C0%2C5503225.story |archive-date=June 19, 2011}}{{Cite news |last=Watkins |first=Greg |date=June 15, 2011 |title=Exclusive: Jimmy Henchman Associate Admits to Role in Robbery/Shooting of Tupac; Apologizes To Pac & B.I.G.'s Mothers. |newspaper=Allhiphop.com |url=http://allhiphop.com/2011/06/15/exclusive-jimmy-henchman-associate-admits-to-role-in-robberyshooting-of-tupac-apologizes-to-pac-b-i-g-s-mothers |url-status=live |access-date=June 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607221300/http://allhiphop.com/2011/06/15/exclusive-jimmy-henchman-associate-admits-to-role-in-robberyshooting-of-tupac-apologizes-to-pac-b-i-g-s-mothers/ |archive-date=June 7, 2012}}

On October 17, 1991, two Oakland Police Department officers stopped Shakur for jaywalking at a downtown intersection.{{Cite news |last=Martinez |first=Don |date=November 13, 1991 |title=Oakland Rapper Files Claim Against 2 Cops |pages=2 |work=The San Francisco Examiner |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-san-francisco-examiner-tupac-shakur/133738115/ |access-date=October 20, 2023}} According to Shakur, officers Alex Boyovic and Kevin Rogers asked him for his ID and pressed him about his name before choking him, throwing him to the ground and slamming his head on the concrete.{{Cite web |title=Remembering the Time Tupac Shakur Sued the Oakland Police for $10 Million |url=https://www.kqed.org/arts/11696060/its-tupac-day-in-oakland-where-he-once-sued-the-police-for-10-million |access-date=March 20, 2022 |website=KQED |date=June 16, 2016 |language=en-us}}{{Cite news |date=November 14, 1991 |title=Rapper Sues Police |pages=B-4 |work=The Modesto Bee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-modesto-bee-tupac-shakur-sues-oaklan/133749145/ |access-date=October 20, 2023}} Shakur filed a $10 million lawsuit against the officers for police brutality. The case was settled for about $43,000. It was later revealed that this incident was the onset of Shakur's autoimmune disease alopecia, which led him to shave his head bald.{{Cite web |last=Kimble |first=Julian |date=May 5, 2023 |title=How Allen Hughes Unraveled the Myth of Tupac and Found Catharsis in 'Dear Mama' |url=https://www.theringer.com/tv/2023/5/5/23711749/tupac-2pac-dear-mama-allen-hughes-interview-afeni-shakur |access-date=October 20, 2023 |website=The Ringer |language=en}}

On April 5, 1993, charged with felonious assault, Shakur allegedly threw a microphone and swung a baseball bat at rapper Chauncey Wynn, of the group M.A.D., at a concert at Michigan State University. Shakur claimed the bat was a part of his show, that he never swung it, and that there was no criminal intent.{{cite news|title=Rapper sentenced for assault|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19941101&id=n0AoAAAAIBAJ&pg=3900,36494|access-date=August 27, 2013|newspaper=The Argus|date=November 1, 1994|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208044720/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1988&dat=19941101&id=n0AoAAAAIBAJ&pg=3900%2C36494|url-status=live}} Nonetheless, on September 14, 1994, Shakur pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to 30 days in jail, twenty of them suspended on condition that he complete 35 hours of community service.{{cite news|title=Rapper Tupac Shakur to face assault charge|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19940909&id=C0xIAAAAIBAJ&pg=4115,3582492|access-date=August 27, 2013|newspaper=Ocala Star-Banner|date=September 9, 1994|archive-date=December 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201208044705/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1356&dat=19940909&id=C0xIAAAAIBAJ&pg=4115%2C3582492|url-status=live}}

Slated to star as Sharif in the 1993 Hughes Brothers' film Menace II Society, Shakur was replaced by actor Vonte Sweet after allegedly assaulting one of the film's directors, Allen Hughes. In early 1994, Shakur served 15 days in jail after being found guilty of the assault.Sullivan 2003, p. 80.{{cite magazine|title=Tupac Shakur Biography |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/tupac-shakur/biography |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=August 27, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130825104437/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/tupac-shakur/biography |archive-date=August 25, 2013}} The prosecution's evidence included a Yo! MTV Raps interview in which Shakur boasted that he had "beat up the director of Menace II Society".{{cite news|url=http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/tupacs-temper-five-greatest-freakouts-from-mtv-to-jail-time-6461799 |title=TUPAC'S TEMPER: FIVE GREATEST FREAKOUTS, FROM MTV TO JAIL TIME |date=May 10, 2012 |first=Victor |last=Gonzalez |newspaper=Miami New Times |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101190821/http://www.miaminewtimes.com/music/tupacs-temper-five-greatest-freakouts-from-mtv-to-jail-time-6461799 |archive-date=January 1, 2016}}

In 1994, Shakur was arrested in Los Angeles, when he was stopped by police on suspicion of speeding. Police found a semiautomatic pistol in the car, a felony offense because a prior conviction in 1993 in Los Angeles for carrying a concealed firearm.{{Cite news|date=May 6, 1994|title=Rapper Tupac Shakur charged|work=UPI|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1994/05/06/Rapper-Tupac-Shakur-charged/3414768196800/|access-date=June 2, 2022}} On April 4, 1996, Shakur was sentenced to 120 days in jail for violating his release terms and failing to appear for a road cleanup job,{{Cite news|date=April 6, 1996|title=Rapper Sentenced for Violating Probation|work=Sfgate|url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Rapper-Sentenced-for-Violating-Probation-2987161.php|access-date=June 2, 2022}} but was allowed to remain free awaiting appeal. On June 7, his sentence was deferred via appeals pending in other cases.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/507730/jail-term-put-on-hold-for-rapper-tupac-shakur/|title=Jail Term Put On Hold For Rapper Tupac Shakur|website=MTV|date=June 8, 1996|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=June 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627233640/http://www.mtv.com/news/507730/jail-term-put-on-hold-for-rapper-tupac-shakur/|url-status=dead}}

On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, Shakur performed outdoors at a festival. For about an hour after the performance, he signed autographs and posed for photos. A conflict broke out and Shakur allegedly drew a legally carried Colt Mustang but dropped it on the ground. Shakur claimed that someone with him then picked it up when it accidentally discharged.{{cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Marin-slaying-case-against-rapper-opens-3122665.php|title=Marin slaying case against rapper opens |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 3, 1995 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130412011323/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Marin-slaying-case-against-rapper-opens-3122665.php |archive-date=April 12, 2013}}{{cite web|title=Settlement in Rapper's Trial for Boy's Death |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 8, 1995 |url=http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-Settlement-in-Rapper-s-Trial-For-3019996.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513061224/http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-Settlement-in-Rapper-s-Trial-For-3019996.php |archive-date=May 13, 2013}}

About 100 yards (90 meters) away in a schoolyard, Qa'id Walker-Teal, a boy aged 6 on his bicycle, was fatally shot in the forehead. Police matched the bullet to a .38-caliber pistol registered to Shakur. His stepbrother Maurice Harding was arrested in suspicion of having fired the gun, but no charges were filed. Lack of witnesses stymied prosecution. In 1995, Qa'id's mother filed a wrongful death suit against Shakur, which was settled for about $300,000 to $500,000.

Civil rights activist and fierce rap critic C. Delores Tucker sued Shakur's estate in federal court, claiming that lyrics in "How Do U Want It" and "Wonda Why They Call U Bitch" inflicted emotional distress, were slanderous, and invaded her privacy.{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-tupaccritic1aug0197-story.html|title=Rap critic sues Shakur's estate for defamation|work=Los Angeles Times|date=August 1997}} The case was later dismissed.{{Cite web|url=https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F3/237/275/564878/|title=C. Delores Tucker; William Tucker, Her Husbandv.richard Fischbein; Belinda Luscombe; Newsweek Magazine; Johnnie L. Roberts; Time Inc.c. Delores Tucker; William Tucker, Appellants, 237 F.3d 275 (3d Cir. 2001)|website=Justia Law}}

{{Main|Murder of Tupac Shakur}}{{See also|List of murdered hip-hop musicians}}

File:Las Vegas, Platinum Hotel 01.jpg and Koval Lane, where the murder occurred]]

On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur was in Paradise, Nevada, to attend the Bruce Seldon vs. Mike Tyson boxing match with Suge Knight at the MGM Grand. Afterward in the lobby one of Knight's associates spotted Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a Southside Compton Crip, and told Shakur he had tried to rob them earlier that year. The hotel's surveillance footage shows the ensuing assault on Anderson. Shakur soon stopped by his hotel room and then headed with Knight to his Death Row nightclub, Club 662, in a black BMW 750iL sedan, part of a larger convoy.{{cite web|url=http://madeira.hccanet.org/project1/seiden1/death.html |title=September 1996 Shooting and Death |publisher=madeira.hccanet.org |access-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726142741/http://madeira.hccanet.org/project1/seiden1/death.html |archive-date=July 26, 2011}}

At about 11 p.m. on Las Vegas Boulevard, bicycle-mounted police stopped the car for its loud music and lack of license plates. The plates were found in the trunk, and the car was released without a ticket.{{cite web|url=http://www.thugz-network.com/Tupac~Shakur~LV~Shooting.php |title=Tupac Shakur LV Shooting – |publisher=Thugz-network.com |date=September 7, 1996 |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207233314/http://www.thugz-network.com/Tupac~Shakur~LV~Shooting.php |archive-date=February 7, 2012}} At about 11:15 p.m. at a stop light, a white, four-door, late-model Cadillac sedan pulled up to the passenger side and an occupant rapidly fired into the car. Shakur was struck four times: once in the arm, once in the thigh, and twice in the chest{{Cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1434032/rapper-tupac-shakur-gunned-down/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303091049/http://www.mtv.com/news/1434032/rapper-tupac-shakur-gunned-down/|url-status=dead|title=Rapper Tupac Shakur Gunned Down|author=|archive-date=March 3, 2016|website=MTV News}} with one bullet entering his right lung.{{cite web | url = http://www.alleyezonme.com/info/96shooting.html | title = Detailed information on the fatal shooting | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514151716/http://www.alleyezonme.com/info/96shooting.html | archive-date=May 14, 2008 | work = AllEyezOnMe | access-date=October 11, 2007 |url-status=dead}} Shards hit Knight's head. Frank Alexander, Shakur's bodyguard, was not in the car at the time. He would say he had been tasked to drive the car of Shakur's girlfriend, Kidada Jones.{{cite web|url=http://www.film.com/movies/tupac-shakur-before-i-wake/14704723 |title=Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake |publisher=film.com |access-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101001121034/http://www.film.com/movies/tupac-shakur-before-i-wake/14704723 |archive-date=October 1, 2010}}

Shakur was taken to the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada where he was heavily sedated and put on life support.{{cite web|title=Tupac Shakur's Death Certificate Details|url=http://www.numberonestars.com/tupacshakur/tupacdeathcertificatedetails.htm|last1=Koch|first1=Ed|date=October 24, 1997|website=numberonestars|publisher=Las Vegas Sun|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120523233842/http://www.numberonestars.com/tupacshakur/tupacdeathcertificatedetails.htm|archive-date=May 23, 2012|access-date=December 31, 2016}} In the intensive-care unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Shakur died from internal bleeding. He was pronounced dead at 4:03 p.m. The official causes of death are respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest associated with multiple gunshot wounds. Shakur's body was cremated the next day. Members of the Outlawz, recalling a line in his song "Black Jesus", (although uncertain of the artist's attempt at a literal meaning chose to interpret the request seriously) smoked some of his body's ashes after mixing them with marijuana.{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/his-life-after-death/2006/09/12/1157826940955.html |title=Tupac's life after death |publisher=Smh.com.au |date=September 13, 2006 |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111225124226/http://www.smh.com.au/news/music/his-life-after-death/2006/09/12/1157826940955.html |archive-date=December 25, 2011}}{{cite news |last1=O'Neal |first1=Sean |title=Yes, the Outlawz smoked Tupac's ashes |url=https://www.avclub.com/yes-the-outlawz-smoked-tupacs-ashes-1798227224 |access-date=January 22, 2020 |work=The A.V. Club |date=August 30, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020030705/https://news.avclub.com/yes-the-outlawz-smoked-tupacs-ashes-1798227224 |archive-date=October 20, 2017}}

In 2002, investigative journalist Chuck Philips,{{Cite news|first=Chuck |last=Philips |title=Who Killed Tupac Shakur? |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-sep-06-fi-tupac6-story.html |access-date=July 15, 2012 |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles, California|date=September 6, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121109234606/http://articles.latimes.com/2002/sep/06/business/fi-tupac6 |archive-date=November 9, 2012}}{{Cite news|first=Chuck| last=Philips |title=Who killed Tupac Shakur?: Part 2 |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-tupac7sep07,0,6002100.story |work=Los Angeles Times |location=Los Angeles, California|date=September 7, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318222341/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-tupac7sep07%2C0%2C6002100.story |archive-date=March 18, 2013}} after a year of work, reported in the Los Angeles Times that Anderson, a Southside Compton Crip, having been attacked by Suge and Shakur's entourage at the MGM Hotel after the boxing match, had fired the fatal gunshots, but that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had interviewed him only once, briefly, before his death in an unrelated shooting. Philips's 2002 article also alleges the involvement of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and several within New York City's criminal underworld. Both Anderson and Wallace denied involvement, while Wallace offered a confirmed alibi.{{cite web|url=http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/tupac/090602aliby.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120917144018/http://www.streetgangs.com/topics/tupac/090602aliby.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 17, 2012 |title=Notorious B.I.G.'s Family 'Outraged' By Tupac Article |publisher=Streetgangs.com |access-date=July 28, 2010}}{{Unreliable source?|date=March 2020}} Music journalist John Leland, in The New York Times, called the evidence "inconclusive".{{cite news|first=John|last=Leland |title=New Theories Stir Speculation On Rap Deaths |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/07/arts/new-theories-stir-speculation-on-rap-deaths.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |work=The New York Times|access-date=September 29, 2013|date=October 7, 2002 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131002202518/http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/07/arts/new-theories-stir-speculation-on-rap-deaths.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=October 2, 2013}}

In 2011, via the Freedom of Information Act, the FBI released documents related to its investigation which described an extortion scheme by the Jewish Defense League (classified as "a right wing terrorist group" by the FBI{{cite web |title=FBI — Terrorism 2000/2001 |url=https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007083445/https://www.fbi.gov/stats-services/publications/terror |archive-date=October 7, 2012 |access-date=August 28, 2017 |publisher=Fbi.gov }}) that included making death threats against Shakur and other rappers, but did not indicate a direct connection to his murder.{{cite web|title=Unsealed FBI Report on Tupac Shakur|work=FBI |url=http://vault.fbi.gov/Tupac%20Shakur%20/Tupac%20Shakur%20Part%201%20of%201/view|publisher=Vault.fbi.gov|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215062600/http://vault.fbi.gov/Tupac%20Shakur%20/Tupac%20Shakur%20Part%201%20of%201/view|archive-date=February 15, 2015|access-date=February 15, 2015}}{{cite web|title=FBI files on Tupac Shakur murder show he received death threats from Jewish gang |url=http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/fbi-files-on-tupac-shakur-murder-show-he-received-death-threats-from-jewish-gang-1.355962 |agency=Haaretz Service|date=April 14, 2011 |website=Haaretz |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215152722/http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/fbi-files-on-tupac-shakur-murder-show-he-received-death-threats-from-jewish-gang-1.355962 |archive-date=February 15, 2015 |access-date=February 15, 2015}}

On July 18, 2023, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department executed a search warrant in connection with Shakur's murder.{{Cite web |date=July 18, 2023 |title=Search warrant executed in Tupac Shakur homicide case, Las Vegas police say |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/search-warrant-executed-tupac-shakur-murder-case-las-vegas-police-say-rcna94981 |access-date=July 18, 2023 |website=NBC News |language=en}}

On September 29, 2023, the AP reported that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police had arrested a suspect, Duane "Keefe D" Davis, in Shakur's murder. Police had two months previously served a search warrant at his wife's home in the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson.{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-killing-duane-keefe-davis-vegas-3f7050c2a68813d86a96b96fbb3f1d1a|title=Last living suspect in 1996 drive-by shooting of Tupac Shakur indicted in Las Vegas on murder charge|date=September 29, 2023|website=AP News}} Davis pleaded not guilty on November 2, 2023, in Las Vegas.{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2023/11/02/1207092523/tupac-shakur-murder-suspect-pleaded-not-guilty|title=Suspect in Tupac Shakur's murder has pleaded not guilty|last=Tsioulcas|first=Anastasia|work=NPR|date=November 2, 2023|access-date=November 3, 2023}} As of February 2025, Davis' trial is set to start on February 9, 2026.{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/tupac-shakur-killing-davis-trial-9a3a1201f9235c1eb11efbb7a70595d2|first=Ty|last=O'Neil|title=Nevada judge reschedules trial for the suspect in Tupac Shakur's 1996 killing for next year |work=Associated Press News|date=February 18, 2025|accessdate=February 23, 2025}} As of January 2025, Davis remains in prison.{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/tupac-murder-suspect-duane-davis-battery-charge/story?id=118183979|title=Tupac murder suspect faces new charge for allegedly fighting with inmate|first1=Sasha|last1=Pezenik|first2=Meredith|last2=Deliso|publisher=ABC News|date=January 28, 2025|accessdate=February 23, 2025}}

Shakur's music and philosophical outlook were deeply influenced by a wide range of American, African American, and global influences, including the Black Panther Party, black nationalism, egalitarianism, and the concept of liberty. Moreover, Shakur's artistic sensibilities were enriched by his passion for theater and admiration for the works of William Shakespeare. Notably, he honed his theatrical skills as a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he delved into the psychological complexities inherent in inter-gang warfare and inter-cultural conflicts, reflecting themes explored in Shakespearean dramas.{{Cite web |last=Okwerekwu |first=Ike |date=May 5, 2019|title=Tupac: The Greatest Inspirational Hip Hop Artist |url=https://medium.com/music-for-inspiration/tupac-the-greatest-inspirational-hip-hop-artist-7118f02747ed |access-date=March 9, 2022|website=Music For Inspiration }}

2Pacalypse Now (1991), showcased his socially conscious perspective. Through powerful tracks like "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped", and "Part Time Mutha", Shakur addressed social injustice, poverty, and police brutality. In doing so, he contributed to the ongoing success of rap groups such as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, while establishing himself as one of the pioneering socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.

Continuing his focus on the social challenges faced by African American people, Shakur's second album featured songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and "Last Wordz". Simultaneously, he showcased his compassionate side with the empowering anthem "Keep Ya Head Up", and his legendary intensity with the title track from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... Additionally, he paid homage to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "I Get Around". Throughout his career, Shakur's subsequent albums reflected a growing assertiveness in his approach.

Shakur's body of work encompassed contrasting themes, including social inequality, injustice, compassion, playfulness, and hope. These elements continued to shape his artistry, exemplified by his explosive 1995 album Me Against the World. The release of All Eyez on Me in 1996 further solidified his reputation, with tracks like "Ambitionz az a Ridah", "I Ain't Mad at Cha", "California Love", "Life Goes On", and "Picture Me Rollin{{' "}} being hailed as classics by critics. Shakur described All Eyez on Me as a celebration of life, and the album achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success. According to Eminem, Tupac is the greatest songwriter of all time.{{cite web | url=https://www.xxlmag.com/eminem-tupac-shakur-greatest-songwriter/ | title=Eminem Calls Tupac Shakur the Greatest Songwriter of All Time | date=May 6, 2020 }} Nas said in 2002: "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."{{cite web | url=https://www.mtv.com/news/u0cbfd/on-tupac-video-set-nas-says-rapper-better-than-shakespeare | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240510020824/https://www.mtv.com/news/u0cbfd/on-tupac-video-set-nas-says-rapper-better-than-shakespeare | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 10, 2024 | title=On Tupac Video Set, Nas Says Rapper Better Than Shakespeare | website=MTV }}

Singers can manipulate different parts of their body to create various sounds. For instance, the "head voice" involves singing high-pitched tones resonating from the head, while the "chest voice" utilizes the chest area. In the documentary Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel, Greg "Shock G" Jacobs, one of Shakur's early producers, discusses how rappers also utilize different bodily areas to project their voices. According to him, "Slick Rick rhymed from the nasal palate, Nas from the back of his throat, and Pac from the pit of his stomach, which is where his power came from." Shakur's influences stemmed from powerful orators like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. Despite not being physically imposing, Shakur's voice carried immense weight and power, reminiscent of these influential speakers.

Shakur was also known for his technique of stacking or layering vocals, adding depth and rawness to his voice. This approach, demonstrated notably on tracks like "Dear Mama" from his 1995 album Me Against the World, involves overlaying multiple vocal lines to highlight rhythms and emphasize words and phrases. Mastering this technique requires precision to maintain flow and clarity, as heard in the lyrics "and even though I act crazy/I gotta thank the Lord that you made me", where Shakur's voice transitions from full to husky, underscoring the emotional depth of the lyrics. Despite its difficulty, Shakur's background in jazz, poetry, and theater endowed him with exceptional rhythm control, enabling him to layer vocals seamlessly while preserving cohesion and flow.{{Cite news |date=2017-09-06 |title=Tupac was one of the greatest rappers of all time, and here's why |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-06/tupac-was-one-of-the-greatest-rappers-of-all-time-heres-why/8870400 |access-date=2024-05-09 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}

File:MARTa Paolo Chiasera www.tupacproject.it.jpg museum in Herford, Germany

|alt=A stone statue of Shakur standing on a tall stone pillar in front of the MARTa Herford museum]]

Shakur is considered one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time.{{Cite web |last=Okwerekwu |first=Ike |date=May 5, 2019 |title=Tupac: The Greatest Inspirational Hip Hop Artist |url=https://medium.com/music-for-inspiration/tupac-the-greatest-inspirational-hip-hop-artist-7118f02747ed |access-date=March 9, 2022 |website=Music For Inspiration |language=en}}{{Cite magazine |date=September 13, 2016 |title=8 Ways Tupac Shakur Changed the World |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/8-ways-tupac-shakur-changed-the-world-128421/ |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=March 9, 2022}} He was listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by Rolling Stone.{{Cite magazine |date=December 3, 2010 |title=100 Greatest Artists |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-artists-147446/ |access-date=June 10, 2023 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} He is widely credited as an important figure in hip-hop culture, and his prominence in pop culture in general has been noted.{{Cite magazine |last1=Reeves |first1=Mosi |date=September 13, 2016 |title=8 Ways Tupac Shakur Changed the World |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/8-ways-tupac-shakur-changed-the-world-128421/ |access-date=May 2, 2022 |magazine=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} Dotdash, formerly About.com, while ranking him fifth among the greatest rappers, nonetheless notes, "Tupac Shakur is the most influential hip-hop artist of all time. Even in death, 2Pac remains a transcendental rap figure."Adaso, Henry, [https://www.liveabout.com/greatest-rappers-of-all-time-2858004 "The 50 greatest rappers of all time: They've shown originality, longevity, cultural impact, vocal presence"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200531103359/https://www.liveabout.com/greatest-rappers-of-all-time-2858004|date=May 31, 2020}}, LiveAbout.com, Dotdash, updated December 13, 2018, formerly Henry Adaso, "50 greatest MCs of our time (1987–2007)", Rap.About.com, March 11, 2011, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120309224108/http://rap.about.com/od/toppicks/ss/Top50Emcees_9.htm archived] March 9, 2012, when Tupac Shakur placed 7th. Yet to some, he was a "father figure" who, said rapper YG, "makes you want to be better—at every level." In 2023, Billboard ranked Tupac at number 4 among the top 50 rappers of all time.

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Shakur as "the unlikely martyr of gangsta rap", with Shakur paying the ultimate price of a criminal lifestyle. Shakur was described as one of the top two American rappers in the 1990s, along with Snoop Dogg.{{cite web | url = {{AllMusic|class=artist|id=mn0000921895|pure_url=yes}} | title = 2Pac biography | first =Stephen Thomas | last =Erlewine |authorlink=Stephen Thomas Erlewine | date = n.d. | work = AllMusic |access-date=July 13, 2021}} The online rap magazine AllHipHop held a 2007 roundtable at which New York rappers Cormega, citing tour experience with New York rap duo Mobb Deep, commented that B.I.G. ran New York, but Shakur ran America.Thomas, Chris "Milan" (editor), with Erik Gilroy (reporter), and AllHipHop interviewers, [http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1532 "Tupak Shakur: A roundtable discussion"], featuring Pudgee that Phat Bastard, Buckshot, Chino XL, Adisa Bankjoko, Cormega, and DJ Fatal, AllHipHop.com, March 5, 2007: "Cormega: A lot of people think that it was about Biggie on the East Coast and 'Pac on the West Coast. It wasn't like that. Big ran New York. 'Pac ran America. I was in a club with Mobb Deep in North Carolina and n***as in the crowd were shouting "Makaveli!" This is on the East Coast! That shows you how powerful his influence was" [https://web.archive.org/web/20070305163319/http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1532 archived] January 7, 2012]. Shakur emerged as a celebrated artist, earning recognition for his astonishingly prolific output and unwavering commitment to his craft.{{Cite web |last=II |first=C. Vernon Coleman |title=2Pac's Work Ethic Was Incredible During the Final Months of His Life |url=https://www.complex.com/music/a/c-vernon-coleman/2pac-work-ethic-was-incredible-during-the-final-months-of-his-life |access-date=June 5, 2023 |website=Complex |language=en-us}} According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Green: "He was also a poet and activist who became one of his era's most revolutionary voices."

In 2017, American rapper Snoop Dogg called Tupac "the greatest rapper of all time" during his Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tribute.{{Cite web |last=Thomas |first=Helen Meriel |date=2017-04-08 |title=Snoop Dogg calls 2Pac "the greatest rapper of all time" during Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame tribute |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/snoop-dogg-2pac-rock-hall-fame-induction-2039290 |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=NME |language=en-GB}} In 2021, Saweetie told Complex that Tupac was "the greatest rapper that ever lived".{{Cite web |last=Saint-Vil |first=Sweenie |title=Saweetie names Tupac the greatest rapper of all time |url=https://www.revolt.tv/article/2021-06-15/51334/saweetie-names-tupac-the-greatest-rapper-of-all-time |access-date=2024-04-20 |website=REVOLT}}

According to British writer Rob Marriott, he deemed the act of tying a bandana into rabbit ears as one of the most distinctive and instantly recognizable style choices in the world of hip-hop. Regarded as a sex symbol, his unique style helped shape the fashion landscape of the 1990s and continues to influence artists and fashion enthusiasts to this day.{{Cite web |title=From workwear and 90s sweater vests to THAT bandana, here's Tupac's most iconic outfits |url=https://i-d.co/article/tupac-style/ |access-date=June 5, 2023 |website=i-d.vice.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=June 16, 2016 |title=We Need to Talk About Tupac |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/tupac-shakur-birthday-fashion-legacy |access-date=June 5, 2023 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}}

In 2010, writing Rolling Stone magazine's entry on Shakur at No. 86 among the "100 greatest artists", New York rapper 50 Cent appraised:

{{Blockquote|Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac. People either try to emulate him in some way, or they go in a different direction because they didn't like what he did. But whatever you think of him, he definitely developed his own style: He didn't sound like anyone who came before him.50 Cent, "86: Tupac Shakur", editors, [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-artists-147446 "100 greatest artists: The Beatles, Eminem and more of the best of the best"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618050248/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-artists-147446/ |date=June 18, 2019 }}, Rolling Stone, December 3, 2010, [https://archive.today/20120523233811/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/100-greatest-artists-of-all-time-19691231/tupac-shakur-19691231 archived] May 23, 2012.}}

According to music journalist Chuck Philips, Shakur "had helped elevate rap from a crude street fad to a complex art form, setting the stage for the current global hip-hop phenomenon."{{cite news | first = Chuck | last = Philips | author-link=Chuck Philips|url = https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fi-tupac6sep06-story.html | title = Who killed Tupac Shakur? —part 1 of 2 | work =Los Angeles Times | date = January 30, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160312042845/http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-fi-tupac6sep06-story.html | archive-date = March 12, 2016}} Philips writes, "The slaying silenced one of modern music's most eloquent voices—a ghetto poet whose tales of urban alienation captivated young people of all races and backgrounds." Via numerous fans perceiving him, despite his questionable conduct, as a martyr, "the downsizing of martyrdom cheapens its use", academic Michael Eric Dyson concedes. But Dyson adds, "Some, or even most, of that criticism can be conceded without doing damage to Tupac's martyrdom in the eyes of those disappointed by more traditional martyrs."{{cite book | first = Michael Eric | last = Dyson | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj4qpXcvKwIC&q=martyr | title = Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur | location = New York City| publisher = Basic Civitas Books | year = 2001 | page = 264 | isbn = 9780786735488 | access-date = October 15, 2020 | archive-date = December 8, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201208044733/https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj4qpXcvKwIC&q=martyr | url-status = live }}

In 2014, BET explained that "his confounding mixture of ladies' man, thug, revolutionary and poet has forever altered our perception of what a rapper should look like, sound like and act like. In 50 Cent, Ja Rule, Lil Wayne, newcomers like Freddie Gibbs and even his friend-turned-rival B.I.G., it's easy to see that Pac is the most copied MC of all time. There are murals bearing his likeness in New York, Brazil, Sierra Leone, Bulgaria and countless other places; he even has statues in Atlanta and Germany. Quite simply, no other rapper has captured the world's attention the way Tupac did and still does."{{cite web|title=The 50 Most Influential Rappers of All Time|url=http://www.bet.com/music/photos/2011/09/50-most-influential-rappers.html#!2011-topic-tu-pac-crop|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140530203134/http://www.bet.com/music/photos/2011/09/50-most-influential-rappers.html%23!2011-topic-tu-pac-crop|archive-date=May 30, 2014|access-date=December 31, 2016|website=BET}} More simply, his writings, published after his death, inspired rapper YG to return to school and get his GED.{{cite news|last=Crates|first=Jake|date=February 3, 2015|title=YG Says Tupac Has Inspired His Return To School; Calls Pac A Father Figure For Many (AUDIO)|website=AllHipHop.com|url=http://allhiphop.com/2015/02/03/audio-yg-says-tupac-has-inspired-his-return-to-school-calls-pac-a-father-figure-for-many/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206164804/http://allhiphop.com/2015/02/03/audio-yg-says-tupac-has-inspired-his-return-to-school-calls-pac-a-father-figure-for-many/|archive-date=February 6, 2015}} In 2020, former California Senator and former vice-president Kamala Harris called Shakur the "best rapper alive", which she explained as being because "West Coast girls think 2Pac lives on".{{cite web | url = https://www.complex.com/music/2020/09/kamala-harris-2pac-best-rapper-alive | title = Vice Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris Names 2Pac as the 'Best Rapper Alive' | first = Joshua | last = Espinoza | date = September 25, 2020 | work = Complex | access-date = September 26, 2020 | archive-date = September 26, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200926003530/https://www.complex.com/music/2020/09/kamala-harris-2pac-best-rapper-alive | url-status = live }}{{cite news | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/kamala-harris-2pac-tupac-shakur-naacp-b618387.html | title = Kamala Harris mocked after saying Tupac is the 'best rapper alive' | first = Isobel | last = Lewis | date = September 26, 2020 | work = The Independent | access-date = September 26, 2020 | archive-date = October 6, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201006042433/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/kamala-harris-2pac-tupac-shakur-naacp-b618387.html | url-status = live }} According to writer Kevin Powell: "He deserves to be put in the same category as Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, as John Lennon, in terms of his global impact."{{Cite web |date=2021-06-18 |title=Unpacking Tupac's complicated legacy, on what would have been his 50th birthday |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/day6/canada-s-ban-on-gay-men-donating-blood-painting-with-david-bowie-tupac-s-legacy-summer-reads-and-more-1.6070411/unpacking-tupac-s-complicated-legacy-on-what-would-have-been-his-50th-birthday-1.6071677 |access-date=2024-05-30 |website=}} Tupac is regarded as one of the most influential artists in music and popular culture in general and an icon of activism.

Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar, leader and a founding member of DAM, became passionate about hip-hop by listening to Tupac, saying, "The imagery in Shakur's videos was similar to our reality in Lod."{{cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/like-hero-tupac-israeli-arab-rappers-music-provokes/ |title=Like hero Tupac, Israeli Arab rapper's music provokes: Hip hop artist Tamer Nafer spits controversial lyrics that gain popularity among Palestinians |first=Majeda |last=El-Batish |date=December 3, 2016 |publisher=The Times of Israel}}

In 2006, on the 10th anniversary of Tupac Shakur's passing, his ashes were laid to rest in Soweto. Shakur's mother Afeni transported them to the "birthplace of his ancestors" and conducted a memorial service in what's considered as one of the most renowned South African townships. Afeni Shakur explained that Soweto had been selected due to its significance as the "birthplace of the South African struggle for democracy and against apartheid." The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality donated a five-acre plot of undeveloped land in the Zola area of Soweto to build a memorial honoring Shakur. A portion of the land was designated to be transformed into a park for the benefit of local children as well as aimed at promoting environmental education, pathways, orphanages, bridges, skateboard ramps and a golf range while plans also included the construction of an amphitheater and a museum showcasing South African music and arts. The project was funded by Johannesburg city authorities and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation. The memorial was hosted by South African musician and actor Zola 7. Singer Macy Gray and members of the Outlawz were amongst the attendees who paid their respects.{{Cite news |last=Mcgreal |first=Chris |date=6 September 2006 |title=Rapper's ashes to be buried in Soweto |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/07/arts.southafrica |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830184930/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/sep/07/arts.southafrica |archive-date=30 August 2013 |access-date=22 April 2024 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite news |author=Staff Reporter |date=6 September 2006 |title=Tupac to be given final resting place in Soweto |url=https://mg.co.za/article/2006-09-06-tupac-to-be-given-final-resting-place-in-soweto/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220914083555/https://mg.co.za/article/2006-09-06-tupac-to-be-given-final-resting-place-in-soweto/ |archive-date=14 September 2022 |access-date=22 April 2024 |work=Mail & Guardian}}

In 1997, Shakur's mother founded the Shakur Family Foundation. Later renamed the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation, or TASF, it launched with a stated mission to "provide training and support for students who aspire to enhance their creative talents."{{cite news |last1=Payne |first1=Ogden |title=20 Years Later: Tupac Shakur's Legacy By The Numbers |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/ogdenpayne/2016/09/13/20-years-later-tupac-shakurs-legacy-by-the-numbers/ |access-date=March 8, 2025 |work=Forbes |date=September 13, 2016}} The TASF sponsors essay contests, charity events, a performing arts day camp for teenagers, and undergraduate scholarships. In June 2005, the TASF opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, or TASCA, in Stone Mountain, Georgia. It closed in 2015.https://nypost.com/2017/04/12/atlanta-is-getting-a-7-foot-500k-statue-of-tupac/#:~:text=A%20new%2C%201%2C000,be%20more%20%E2%80%9Cgangster.%E2%80%9D

In 1997, the University of California, Berkeley, offered a course led by a student titled "History 98: Poetry and History of Tupac Shakur".{{cite web|title=Berkeley University Offers Class On Tupac|url=http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1171/09101997/2pac.jhtml|last1=Kaufman|first1=Gil|date=September 10, 1997|website=VH1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919123109/http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1171/09101997/2pac.jhtml|archive-date=September 19, 2008|access-date=December 31, 2016}} In April 2003, Harvard University cosponsored the symposium "All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero", where Shakur's influence as both an artist and an activist was analyzed.{{cite web | url=https://folkmyth.fas.harvard.edu/2003-all-eyez-me-tupac-shakur-and-search-modern-folk-hero | title=2003: "All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero" }}

The papers presented cover his ranging influence from entertainment to sociology.{{cite magazine | last = Gewertz | first = Ken | title = Symposium analyzes, celebrates 'Thug' | magazine = Harvard University Gazette | date = April 24, 2003 | url = http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/04.24/11-hiphop.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205180702/http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2003/04.24/11-hiphop.html | archive-date=February 5, 2012}} on April 16, 2006. Calling him a "Thug Nigga Intellectual", an "organic intellectual",{{cite web | last = Neal | first = M. | title = Thug Nigga Intellectual: Tupac as Celebrity Gramscian talk at Symposium analyzes, celebrates 'thug' | work = Harvard Gazette | publisher = Harvard University | date = 2003 | url = https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2003/04/symposium-analyzes-celebrates-thug/}} English scholar Mark Anthony Neal assessed his death as leaving a "leadership void amongst hip-hop artists",{{cite web|first=Mark Anthony | last = Neal |url=http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2005/09/race-ing-katrina.html |title=NewBlackMan: Race-ing Katrina |publisher=Newblackman.blogspot.com |date=September 6, 2005 |access-date=January 7, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119200336/http://newblackman.blogspot.com/2005/09/race-ing-katrina.html |archive-date=January 19, 2012}} as this "walking contradiction" helps, Neal explained, "make being an intellectual accessible to ordinary people."{{cite web |url=http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=2734 |title=Deeper Than Hip-Hop Tupac (2Pac) Poetry Enlightens |publisher=ThugLifeArmy.com |access-date=July 28, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717014500/http://www.thuglifearmy.com/news/?id=2734 |archive-date=July 17, 2011}}

Tracing Shakur's mythical status, Murray Forman discussed him as "O.G.", or "Ostensibly Gone", with fans, using digital mediums, "resurrecting Tupac as an ethereal life force." Music scholar Emmett Price, calling him a "Black folk hero", traced his persona to Black American folklore's tricksters, which, after abolition, evolved into the urban "bad-man". Yet in Shakur's "terrible sense of urgency", Price identified instead a quest to "unify mind, body, and spirit."{{cite conference |last1=Price |first1=Emmett G. III |last2=Forman |first2=M. |date=April 17, 2003 |title=From Thug Life to Legend: Realization of a Black Folk Hero |url=https://folkmyth.fas.harvard.edu/2003-all-eyez-me-tupac-shakur-and-search-modern-folk-hero |conference=All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University |id=}} According to Price, Tupac had surpassed the legacies of John Coltrane and Mahalia Jackson within the tradition of black music.{{Cite web |last=Neal |first=Mark Anthony |date=2003-05-01 |title=TUPAC'S BOOK SHELF |url=https://www.popmatters.com/criticalnoire030501-2496175897.html |access-date=2024-05-30}}

In 2012, the Norwegian University of Oslo organized the course: "Tupac, hiphop og kulturhistorie (Tupac, hip-hop and cultural history)." As Knut Aukrust, Norwegian professor and academic scholar of cultural studies at the University of Oslo, puts it: "Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971-1996) is one of the most famous and controversial representatives of hip-hop culture. He has become an icon with saint status far beyond his fans. References to him and his message appear all over the world, from Barack Obama's slogan about "changes", to Palestinians and Israelis longing for peace in the Middle East, to the people of Groruddalen who want their experiences to be taken on board serious. The course highlights how a single person can fit into a wider network of cultural models and how a local storytelling tradition has become an international cultural phenomenon."

Jeffrey Ogbonna Green Ogbar, professor of History and Popular Music at the University of Connecticut, described Shakur as "one of the most iconic and influential music artists of the 20th century", and also a "politically conscious activist voice for Black America."{{cite web | url=https://theconversation.com/in-tupacs-life-the-struggles-and-triumphs-of-a-generation-79266 | title=In Tupac's life, the struggles and triumphs of a generation | date=June 16, 2017 }}

{{Multiple image

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In 2005, Death Row released on DVD, Tupac: Live at the House of Blues, his final recorded live performance, an event on July 4, 1996. In August 2006, Tupac Shakur Legacy, an "interactive biography" by Jamal Joseph, arrived with previously unpublished family photographs, intimate stories, and over 20 detachable copies of his handwritten song lyrics, contracts, scripts, poetry, and other papers. In 2006, the Shakur album Pac's Life was released and, like the previous, was among the recording industry's most popular releases.{{Cite press release |author=The NPD Group |author-link=The NPD Group |title=The NPD Group Consumer Survey: Top Musical Artists for 2006 |url=http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070206005852&newsLang=en |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120605024159/http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070206005852&newsLang=en |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 5, 2012 |publisher=Business Wire |date=February 6, 2007 |access-date=January 7, 2012}} In 2008, his estate made about $15 million.{{Cite news|date=August 15, 2008|title=Hip-Hop's Cash Kings 2008|work=Forbes|url=https://www.forbes.com/2008/08/15/music-media-hiphop-biz-media-cz_zog_0818cashkings.html|url-status=live|access-date=July 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100724120729/http://www.forbes.com/2008/08/15/music-media-hiphop-biz-media-cz_zog_0818cashkings.html|archive-date=July 24, 2010}}

On April 15, 2012, at the Coachella Music Festival, rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre joined a Shakur "hologram" (Although the media referred to the technology as a hologram, technically it was a projection created with the Musion Eyeliner),{{Cite web|date=April 18, 2012|title=Musion Eyeliner projects Tupac's ghost at Coachella|url=https://www.installation-international.com/case-studies/musion-eyeliner-projects-tupac-s-ghost-at-coachella|access-date=February 15, 2022|website=Installation|language=en-GB}}The optical illusion was accomplished with technology called Pepper's ghost [Cyrus Farivar, [https://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/04/tupac-hologram-merely-pretty-cool-optical-illusion.ars "Tupac "hologram" merely pretty cool optical illusion"], Arstechnica.com, April 16, 2012. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506081540/http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/04/tupac-hologram-merely-pretty-cool-optical-illusion.ars |date=May 6, 2012 }}], employed by the company Digital Domain, specializing in visual effects [Kara Warner, [http://www.mtv.com/news/1683241/tupac-hologram-tour "Tupac hologram may be coming to an arena near you"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524000207/http://www.mtv.com/news/1683241/tupac-hologram-tour/ |date=May 24, 2020 }}, MTV News, MTV.com, April 16, 2012, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120420025001/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1683241/tupac-hologram-tour.jhtml archived elsewhere].{{cite web |url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/7717042/musical-holograms-history-dead |title=Tupac, Michael Jackson, Gorillaz & More: A History of the Musical Hologram |author=Gil Kaufman |date=March 9, 2017 |website=billboard.com |publisher=Billboard |access-date=October 18, 2021 |quote=the Tupac Shakur hologram that blew fans' minds at Coachella in 2012.}} and, as a partly virtual trio, performed the Shakur songs "Hail Mary" and "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted".{{cite web|title=Tupac Hologram May Be Coming To An Arena Near You|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1683241/tupac-hologram-tour.jhtml|author=Kara Warner|date=April 16, 2012|publisher=MTV News|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420025001/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1683241/tupac-hologram-tour.jhtml|archive-date=April 20, 2012|access-date=April 16, 2012}}{{cite web|author=TJ |url=http://neonlimelight.com/2012/04/16/video-2pac-hologram-performs-at-coachella/ |title=Video: Tupac (As A Hologram) Joins Snoop Dogg And Dr. Dre On Stage At 2012 Coachella |publisher=Neon Limelight |date=April 16, 2012 |access-date=April 16, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120418183627/http://neonlimelight.com/2012/04/16/video-2pac-hologram-performs-at-coachella/ |archive-date=April 18, 2012}} There were talks of a tour,{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304818404577348243109842490 |author=Ethan Smith |title=Rapper's De-Light: Tupac 'Hologram' May Go on Tour |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |date=April 16, 2012 |access-date=April 17, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417040946/http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304818404577348243109842490.html |archive-date=April 17, 2012}} but Dre refused.{{cite web | url = http://idolator.com/6391941/tupac-shakur-hologram-tour-denied-dr-dre | title = Tupac Shakur Hologram Tour Denied By Dr. Dre | archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711050517/http://idolator.com/6391941/tupac-shakur-hologram-tour-denied-dr-dre | archive-date=July 11, 2012 | work = Idolator.com | date = April 23, 2012 | access-date = April 27, 2012}} Meanwhile, the Greatest Hits album, released in 1998, and which in 2000 had left the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200, returned to the chart and reached No. 129, while also other Shakur albums and singles drew sales gains.Greatest Hits sold 4 000 copies in the week, up 571% above the prior week. All Eyez On Me did 2 000 units, up 95%, and Me Against the World, 1 000 copies, up 53%. The single "Hail Mary", which opened at Coachella, was second, behind his No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit "California Love" (featuring Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman), shifting 11,000 downloads (119% increase). His third best-seller was the second Shakur song that was performed at Coachella—"2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" (with Snoop Dogg). It sold 9,000 (up 881%). See "Tupac's virtual Coachella appearance spurs huge sales bump", Billboard.com, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150121092009/http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/1097452/tupacs-virtual-coachella-appearance-spurs-huge-sales-bump archived elsewhere] January 21, 2015.

The documentary film Tupac: Resurrection was released in November 2003. It was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2005 Academy Awards.{{Cite web|date=January 28, 2005|title=Tupac doc up for Oscar|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2005-01-28-0501290058-story.html|access-date=January 30, 2022|website=Chicago Tribune|language=en}}

In 2014, the play Holler If Ya Hear Me, based on Shakur's lyrics, played on Broadway, but, among Broadway's worst-selling musicals in recent years, ran only six weeks.{{cite web|url=http://www.mtv.com/news/1868195/tupac-broadway-closing-holler-if-ya-hear-me/ |title=Broadway Musical Based On Tupac's Life Closing This Week Due To Slow Sales – MTV |work=MTV News |access-date=March 9, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209115239/http://www.mtv.com/news/1868195/tupac-broadway-closing-holler-if-ya-hear-me/ |archive-date=December 9, 2014}} In development since 2013, a Shakur biopic, All Eyez on Me, began filming in Atlanta in December 2015.{{cite news|title=The Production For Tupac's Biopic 'All Eyez On Me' Has Finally Begun|url=http://www.vibe.com/2015/12/tupac-biopic-all-eyez-on-me-production-begun/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20161231132946/http://www.vibe.com/2015/12/tupac-biopic-all-eyez-on-me-production-begun/|archive-date=December 31, 2016}} It was released on June 16, 2017, on Shakur's 46th birthday,{{cite web|title=Tupac's Highly-Anticipated Biopic Receives Official Release Date|url=http://www.vibe.com/2016/11/tupac-all-eyez-on-me-release-date/|date=November 22, 2016|access-date=May 24, 2017|archive-date=March 29, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190329150259/https://www.vibe.com/2016/11/tupac-all-eyez-on-me-release-date|url-status=live}} albeit to generally negative reviews.

In August 2019, a docuseries directed by Allen Hughes, Outlaw: The Saga of Afeni and Tupac Shakur, was announced.{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Peter |title=FX Ramps Up Non-Fiction Slate With Docuseries On Tupac Shakur, LGBTQ Rights & Zodiac Killer – TCA |url=https://deadline.com/2019/08/fx-doc-slate-tupac-shakur-pride-tca-1202662574/ |website=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=August 7, 2019 |date=August 6, 2019 |archive-date=August 6, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190806211539/https://deadline.com/2019/08/fx-doc-slate-tupac-shakur-pride-tca-1202662574/ |url-status=live }}

File:TupacShakurWalkofFameStar.jpg

In 2002, Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2004, Shakur was among the honorees at the first Hip Hop Honors.{{cite web | url = http://www.vh1.com/hip-hop-honors/2004 | title = HipHop Honors: About the show: Tuesday, October 12, 2004 | work = VH1.com | publisher = Viacom International Inc. | access-date = May 19, 2020 | quote = VH1's first ever Hip Hop Honors was hosted by Vivica A. Fox and MC Lyte at the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC. 2Pac, Run-DMC, DJ Hollywood, Kool Herc, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Rock Steady Crew, Sugarhill Gang and The Graffiti Movement were honored. Tributes were performed by Beastie Boys, Common, Fat Joe and Terror Squad, Nas, MC Hammer, Kid Rock and more. Tracy Morgan, Ice-T, Taye Diggs, P. Diddy, Wyclef Jean, Foxy Brown, Debbie Harry and Roselyn Sanchez presented. | archive-date = August 13, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200813003748/http://www.vh1.com/hip-hop-honors/2004 | url-status = dead }}

In 2006, Shakur's close friend and classmate Jada Pinkett Smith donated $1 million to their high school alma mater, the Baltimore School for the Arts, and named the new theater in his honor.{{Cite web|date=December 12, 2006|title=Pinkett Smith gives $1M to Baltimore school|url=http://www.today.com/popculture/pinkett-smith-gives-1m-baltimore-school-1C9427463|access-date=December 11, 2021|website=TODAY.com|language=en}}{{Cite web|date=December 16, 2006|title=Actress gives $1 million to arts school|url=https://www.9news.com/article/entertainment/actress-gives-1-million-to-arts-school/73-344409846|access-date=March 6, 2021|website=KUSA.com}} In 2021, Pinkett Smith honored Shakur's 50th birthday by releasing a never before seen poem she had received from him.

In 2009, drawing praise, the Vatican added "Changes", a 1998 posthumous track, to its online playlist.{{cite news | first = Edward | last = Beck | url = https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Spirituality/tupac-shakur-reaches-vaticans-official-myspace-music-playlist/story?id=9270721 | title = Vatican gets good rap: Tupac Shakur makes the Vatican's MySpace music playlist | work = ABC News | date = December 7, 2009 | access-date = May 20, 2020 | archive-date = June 27, 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200627233638/https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Spirituality/tupac-shakur-reaches-vaticans-official-myspace-music-playlist/story?id=9270721 | url-status = live }} On June 23, 2010, the Library of Congress added "Dear Mama" to the National Recording Registry, the third rap song.{{Cite news|date=June 23, 2010|title=Tupac Shakur Honored By Library of Congress|work=CBS News|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tupac-shakur-honored-by-library-of-congress/|url-status=live|access-date=June 23, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100626060312/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/23/entertainment/main6611103.shtml|archive-date=June 26, 2010}}{{cite magazine | first = Ann | last = Donahue | url = https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/957665/tupac-willie-nelson-rem-among-inductees-to-national-recording-registry | title = Tupac, Willie Nelson, R.E.M. among inductees to National Recording Registry | magazine = Billboard.com | date = June 23, 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130629043205/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/957665/tupac-willie-nelson-rem-among-inductees-to-national-recording-registry | archive-date = June 29, 2013}}

In 2015, the Grammy Museum opened an exhibition dedicated to Shakur.{{cite news|date=January 22, 2015|title=Tupac Exhibit Opens Next Month|publisher=Boom 92|url=http://boom92houston.com/4831/tupac-exhibit-opens-next-month/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150127031303/http://boom92houston.com/4831/tupac-exhibit-opens-next-month/|archive-date=January 27, 2015}}

In his first year of eligibility, Shakur was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 7, 2017.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.spin.com/2017/04/watch-snoop-dogg-induct-tupac-into-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/ |title=Watch Snoop Dogg Induct Tupac Into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |magazine=Spin Magazine |date=April 8, 2017 |author=Peter Helman |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170415040312/http://www.spin.com/2017/04/watch-snoop-dogg-induct-tupac-into-the-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame/ |archive-date=April 15, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/10/18/498382524/pearl-jam-tupac-shakur-nominated-for-rock-roll-hall-of-fame |title=Pearl Jam, Bad Brains, Joan Baez, Depeche Mode, and Tupac Shakur nominated for induction into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |last=Gotrich |first=Lars |date=October 18, 2016 |website=NPR |access-date=October 18, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020021155/http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2016/10/18/498382524/pearl-jam-tupac-shakur-nominated-for-rock-roll-hall-of-fame |archive-date=October 20, 2016}}

In January 2022, the exhibition Tupac Shakur: Wake Me When I'm Free opened at The Canvas at L.A. Live in Los Angeles.{{Cite web|last=Tinsley|first=Justin|date=January 21, 2022|title=New Tupac Shakur exhibit, 'Wake Me When I'm Free,' looks at the revolution that created the revolutionary|url=https://andscape.com/features/new-tupac-shakur-exhibit-wake-me-when-im-free-looks-at-the-revolution-that-created-the-revolutionary/|access-date=January 30, 2022|website=Andscape|language=en-US}}

File:MacAuthurShakur.jpg

On May 16, 2023, Oakland City Council voted to name the section of MacArthur Boulevard between Grand Avenue and Van Buren Avenue "Tupac Shakur Way".{{Cite news|last=Martinez|first=Gina|date=May 18, 2023|title=Oakland is renaming a street 'Tupac Shakur Way' to honor rap icon|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/oakland-street-renamed-tupac-shakur-way/|access-date=May 19, 2023|work=CBS News}}

On June 7, 2023, Shakur received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.{{cite web|url= https://walkoffame.com/press_releases/tupac-shakur-to-be-honored-with-a-posthumous-star-on-the-hollywood-walk-of-fame/|title= TUPAC SHAKUR TO BE HONORED WITH A POSTHUMOUS STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME|publisher=Hollywood Walk of Fame|date=June 7, 2023|accessdate=June 7, 2023}}{{cite web|author=Neena Rouhani|url= https://www.billboard.com/music/rb-hip-hop/tupac-shakur-star-hollywood-walk-of-fame-1235348347/|title= Tupac Shakur Honored With Hollywood Walk of Fame Star 27 Years After His Death|publisher=Billboard|date=June 7, 2023|accessdate=June 7, 2023}}{{cite web|author=Simrin Singh|url= https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tupac-shakur-posthumously-receives-star-on-hollywood-walk-of-fame/|title=Tupac Shakur posthumously receives star on Hollywood Walk of Fame|publisher=CBS News|date=June 7, 2023|accessdate=June 7, 2023}} His half-sister, Sekyiwa "Set" Shakur, accepted the award in his honor.{{cite web|author=Daniel Kreps|url= https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tupac-shakur-star-hollywood-walk-of-fame-1234765928/|title= Tupac Shakur Finally Receives a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame|publisher=Rolling Stone|date=June 7, 2023|accessdate=June 7, 2023}}

• 2002: Forbes magazine ranked Shakur at 10th among top-earning dead celebrities.{{Cite news|date=August 12, 2002|title=Top-Earning Dead Celebrities|work=Forbes|editor-last=Schiffman|editor-first=Betsy|url=https://www.forbes.com/2002/08/12/0812deadintro.html|url-status=live|access-date=July 24, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100824162336/http://www.forbes.com/2002/08/12/0812deadintro.html|archive-date=August 24, 2010}}
• 2003: MTV's viewers voted Shakur the greatest MC.{{cite AV media | title = MTV2 Presents: 22 Greatest MC's | date = July 2003}}
• 2005: Shakur was voted No.1 on Vibe's online poll of "Top 10 Best of All Time".{{cite web|last=Stone|first=Shelby|date=July 22, 2005|title=V community: Greatest rapper of all time?|url=http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2005/07/v_community_greatest_rapper_of_all_time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050725012745/http://www.vibe.com/news/news_headlines/2005/07/v_community_greatest_rapper_of_all_time|archive-date=July 25, 2005|work=Vibe.com}}
• 2006: MTV staff placed him second on its list of "The Greatest MCs Of All Time".
• 2012: The Source magazine ranked him No. 5 among "The Top 50 Lyricists".{{cite web|url=https://genius.com/discussions/8591-The-source-top-50-lyricists-magazine-scans |title=The Source: Top 50 Lyricists [Magazine Scans] |work=Genius |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150912210734/http://genius.com/discussions/8591-The-source-top-50-lyricists-magazine-scans |archive-date=September 12, 2015}}
• 2007: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame placed All Eyez on Me at No. 90 and Me Against the World at No. 170.{{cite web | author = National association of recording merchandisers | title = Definitive 200 | work = RockHall.com | publisher = The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc. | date = 2007 | url = http://www.rockhall.com/pressroom/definitive-200 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070410040752/http://www.rockhall.com/pressroom/definitive-200 | archive-date = April 10, 2007}}
• 2010: Rolling Stone magazine placed Shakur at No. 86 among the "100 Greatest Artists".
• 2020: All Eyez on Me was ranked No. 436 on Rolling Stone{{'s}} list of the "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time".{{Cite web|title=2pac — Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time|url=https://www.rs500albums.com/450-401/tag/2pac|access-date=January 30, 2022|website=Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time|language=en-US}}
• 2023: Billboard ranked Shakur at number 4 of the top 50 rappers.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-rappers-all-time/13-rakim/ | title=50 Greatest Rappers of All Time | magazine=Billboard }}

{{Main|Tupac Shakur discography|List of songs recorded by Tupac Shakur|l2=songs}}

;Studio albums

• 2Pacalypse Now (1991)
• Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993)
• Me Against the World (1995)
• All Eyez on Me (1996)

;Posthumous studio albums

• The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996) {{small|(as Makaveli)}}
• R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997)
• Until the End of Time (2001)
• Better Dayz (2002)
• Loyal to the Game (2004)
• Pac's Life (2006)

;Collaboration albums

• Thug Life, Volume I with Thug Life (1994)

;Posthumous collaboration album

• Still I Rise with Outlawz (1999)

Shakur's life has been explored in several documentaries, most notably the Academy Award-nominated Tupac: Resurrection (2003).

• 1997: Tupac Shakur: Thug Immortal
• 1997: Tupac Shakur: Words Never Die (TV)
• 2001: Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake...
• 2001: Welcome to Deathrow
• 2002: Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel
• 2002: Biggie & Tupac
• 2002: Tha Westside
• 2003: 2Pac 4 Ever
• 2003: Tupac: Resurrection
• 2004: Tupac vs.
• 2004: Tupac: The Hip Hop Genius (TV)
• 2006: So Many Years, So Many Tears
• 2015: Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders
• 2017: Who killed Tupac?
• 2017: Who Shot Biggie & Tupac?
• 2018: Unsolved: Murders of Biggie and Tupac?
• 2021: The Life & Death of Tupac Shakur{{Cite web|last=Stein|first=Frankie|date=October 27, 2021|title=Remembering a legend: 'The Life and Death of Tupac Shakur'|url=https://filmdaily.co/indie-film/tupac-shakur/|access-date=January 30, 2022|website=Film Daily|language=en-US}}
• 2023: Dear Mama

{{Portal|Poetry|Biography|Music|New York City|United States}}

• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of awards and nominations received by Tupac Shakur
• List of best-selling music artists
• List of highest-certified music artists in the United States
• List of unsolved murders
• List of murdered hip-hop musicians
• Lists of Billboard 200 number-one albums
• Lists of Billboard number-one singles

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite book |last=Holley |first=Santi Elijah |year=2023 |title=An Amerikan Family: The Shakurs and the Nation They Created |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjeEEAAAQBAJ |location=New York |publisher=Mariner Books |isbn=9780358588764 |oclc=1345214629}}

{{sister project links|d=Q6107|c=Category:Tupac Shakur|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|s=no|wikt=no|species=no}}

• {{Official website}}
• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904005459/http://www.tupacshakurfoundation.org/|title=Amaru Shakur Foundation for the Arts|date=September 4, 2023}}
• [http://chuckphilipspost.com/tupac-interviews/93-interview "Expressing Myself, Silencing the Demons"] ({{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921054336/http://chuckphilipspost.com/tupac-interviews/93-interview/ |date=September 21, 2013 }}), interview with Chuck Philips
• {{IMDb name|0000637}}
• [https://vault.fbi.gov/Tupac%20Shakur%20 FBI Records: The Vault – Tupac Shakur] at FBI.gov

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{{American Music Award for Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Artist}}

{{2017 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame}}

{{Portal bar|Biography|Music|United States}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shakur, Tupac}}

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