2Pac
2Pac (Tupac Shakur) biography and discography: Marin City, Digital Underground, 2Pacalypse Now, Me Against the World, All Eyez on Me and The Don Killuminati.
New York, Baltimore, Marin City
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in Manhattan. His family moved to Baltimore in 1984, and in 1988 to Marin City, California, just north of San Francisco, where he attended Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley. The Bay Area is where his rap career began.
Digital Underground and 2Pacalypse Now
After recording as MC New York, he joined Oakland's Digital Underground as a roadie and backup dancer, and made his recorded debut as 2Pac on the group's 1991 single “Same Song.” His first album, 2Pacalypse Now (1991), produced largely by Digital Underground's team, carried “Trapped” and “Brenda's Got a Baby.” Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) brought “I Get Around” and “Keep Ya Head Up.” He was acting too, in Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993) and Above the Rim (1994), and formed the group Thug Life.
Me Against the World and Death Row
Me Against the World (1995) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 while he was in prison, making him the first artist to top the chart while serving a sentence. He then signed with Death Row, which released the double album All Eyez on Me in 1996. That summer he recorded another album as Makaveli, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
Death and legacy
Shakur was shot in Las Vegas and died on September 13, 1996, aged 25. The Don Killuminati came out that November and went to No. 1. He has sold more than 75 million records worldwide and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017, his first year of eligibility.
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