Tupac Amaru Shakur

1971birth

1. 1971 birth

   Born in East Harlem

   Tupac is born in East Harlem on June 16, 1971, first named Lesane Parish Crooks. Five weeks earlier his mother, Afeni Shakur, had won her acquittal in the Panther 21 trial, where she defended herself. She names her son after Túpac Amaru II, who led an uprising against Spanish colonial rule in Peru. His childhood in Harlem and the Bronx is marked by poverty and constant moves.

   1971 East Harlem Illustration to follow

2. 1991 age 20

   The first album

   At twelve he joins a theater group in Harlem and plays in “A Raisin in the Sun” at the Apollo Theater. In Baltimore he studies acting, poetry and dance at the Baltimore School for the Arts, and in 1988 the family moves to Marin City near San Francisco. There he starts out as a roadie and dancer for Digital Underground, and in 1991 he raps on one of their records for the first time. In November 1991 his first album, “2Pacalypse Now”, is released.

   1991 Baltimore · Marin City Illustration to follow

3. 1994 age 23

   Robbery and prison

   On November 30, 1994, Tupac is robbed and shot five times in the lobby of Quad Studios in New York. He survives and appears in court the very next day, still bandaged. He is convicted of sexual abuse and acquitted of the other charges, and in February 1995 he goes to prison. He keeps writing: in March 1995 “Me Against the World” is released and debuts at No. 1 while he is behind bars.

   1994 Robbery and prison Illustration to follow

4. 1996 age 25

   Death in Las Vegas

   In October 1995 he is released on bail posted by Death Row Records, and in February 1996 he releases the double album “All Eyez on Me”. On September 7, 1996, after a boxing match in Las Vegas, shots are fired at him from another car at a red light, and four bullets hit him. Tupac dies at University Medical Center on September 13, aged 25.

5. 2026 today

   After 1996

   After his death more of his albums are released than during his lifetime, and in 1999 his poems appear as the book “The Rose That Grew from Concrete”. In 2017 he is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2023 he receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That same year Duane Davis is charged with the murder; in 2026 a jury finds him guilty, a verdict that is not yet final. Sentencing is scheduled for October 13, 2026.

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