Considered one of the greatest rappers ever, Tupac Shakur is still a larger–than-life legend nearly 30 years after his death. Born in New York City in 1971 to Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland, active members of the Black Panther Party, he was raised by his mother, who had spent part of her pregnancy in jail for a Black Panther-related bombing she was later acquitted of. Tupac didn’t know his father growing up and was raised by the Black Panthers.
He was named after an 18th-century Peruvian, Tupac Amaru, who was executed after leading an uprising against Spanish rule. A fitting nom de guerre for the polarising man Tupac would become. From the jump, Tupac was a very artistic child, getting involved in theatre and even performing in Shakespearean plays. After spending his formative years in East Harlem, his family relocated to Baltimore in 1984 and Tupac continued his love affair with performing, attending the Baltimore School for the Arts. After getting into rap as a teen, Tupac found a muse in hip-hop and a forum that was uniquely suited to his talents. To many that encountered him in these early years, it was obvious that he had a bright future in front of him, before his family relocated again in 1988 to the San Francisco Bay Area in California when Tupac was 17.
In the Bay Area, he hooked up with Oakland alternative hip-hop group Digital Underground, first as a backup dancer and then, eventually, as he worked his way into the group as an MC, appearing on several. His next album, , which sold over 1 million copies, solidified his place in hip-hop with radio hits like and . Tupac also got back into action as an actor starring as the cold-blooded gangsta Bishop in 1992’s , and showing his sensitive side in 1993’s with Janet Jackson.
