Tupac Shakur

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names: 2Pac, Makaveli, or simply Pac, was an African American folk artist renowned for his rap music, movie roles, poetry, and his social activism. Tupac Shakur was born in Brookly, NY in 1971. Early in his life, he moved to Baltimore , MD, where he attended The Baltimore School for the Performing Arts. Most of Shakur's songs are about growing up around violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, problems in society, and sometimes qualms with other fellow rappers. Shakur's work is known for advocating political, economic, social, and racial equality as well as his raw descriptions of violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and conflicts with the law. His style on this album was heavily influenced by the social consciousness and Afrocentrism pervading hip-hop in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On this initial release, Shakur helped extend the legacy of such rap groups as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and even Grandmaster Flash, as he became one of the first major socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.