Poetic Facts About the Life and Death of Tupac Shakur
"I'm not saying I'm going to rule the world or I'm going to change the world. But I guarantee I will spark the brain that will change the world. That's our job—to spark someone else watching us.”—Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur is known today as one of top selling and most influential rappers of all-time, but he came from a hard life. In his music, he often drew upon difficulties he had seen with his own eyes: poverty, drug addiction, violence, and gang culture. Tupac made a career by using art to articulate the racial injustices endured by many African-Americans, making him a spokesperson not only for his generation but for those subsequent who continue to struggle against inequality. In the words of journalist Chuck Phillips, Tupac was “a ghetto poet whose tales of urban alienation captivated young people of all races and backgrounds… [he] helped elevate rap from a crude street fad to a complex art form, setting the stage for the current global hip-hop phenomenon.”
His yet-unsolved murder in 1996 ended the career of one of the first widely popular and socially conscious West Coast rappers—a pioneer who helped shape rap into a respected American art form. Read on for 42 facts about Tupac Shakur’s life, career, and tragic end.
Tupac Facts
1. Birth
Despite being perhaps the most famous member of the West Coast hip-hop scene, Tupac was actually born on the East Coast. He was born on June 16th, 1971 to Afeni Shakur and William Garland in East Harlem, New York City.
2. Namesake
At birth, Tupac was named Lesane Parish Crooks. One year after his birth, in 1972, he was was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur, after Túpac Amaru III, a Peruvian revolutionary from the 18th century who was executed after leading an indigenous uprising against Spanish rule in South America. Tupac was given the surname his mother had herself taken in 1968—“Shakur” is Arabic for “thankful one.”
3. Acquitted
Both of Tupac’s parents were active members of the Black Panther party during the 1960s and 1970s. Just one month before Tupac’s birth, his mother (who had been jailed) was acquitted of conspiracy charges relating to a high-profile trial of Black Panther members. She had been charged with more than 150 counts of “conspiracy against the United States government” in a trial of Black Panther members accused of planning bombings of police stations in New York City.
