Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 — September 13, 1996), was an American rap music artist who was brutally murdered in 1996. Shakur was shot four times in the streets of Las Vegas on September 7, and died six days later of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest at the University Medical Center.

In addition to his status as a top-selling recording artist, Shakur was a successful film actor and a prominent social activist. Many of Shakur's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, and about racism, problems in society and conflicts with other rappers.

Shakur's work is known for its dichotomous content - mixing political, economic, social and racial activism, with glorifying and raw descriptions of violence, drug use, alcohol abuse and conflicts with the law.

Shakur was born in the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City.He was named after Túpac Amaru II, an Incan revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain and subsequently received capital punishment.

Tupac's music is charged with anger and passion. The early artistic expression of a young man gunned down before he had a chance to become the real poet and leader he was evolving into.

Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, was an active member of the Black Panther Party in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s; Shakur was born just one month after her acquittal on more than 150 charges of "Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks" in the New York Panther 21 court case.

Although officially unconfirmed by the Shakur family, several sources list his birth name as either "Parish Lesane Crooks" or "Lesane Parish Crooks". Afeni feared her enemies would attack her son, and disguised their relation using a different last name, only to change it three months or a year later, following her marriage to Mutulu Shakur.

Struggle and incarceration surrounded Shakur from an early age. Several of his closest relatives and role-models were incarcerated on charges ranging from armed robbery to first degree murder.

At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's famous "127th Street Ensemble." His first major role with this acting troupe was as Travis in A Raisin in the Sun. In 1984, his family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland. After completing his second year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet.

While in Critical Care Unit on the afternoon of September 13, 1996, Shakur died of internal bleeding; doctors attempted to revive him but could not impede his hemorrhaging. His mother, Afeni, made the decision to tell the doctors to stop.He was pronounced dead at 4:03 p.m. (PDT) The official cause of death was noted as respiratory failure and cardiopulmonary arrest in connection with multiple gunshot wounds. Shakur's body was cremated. Some of his ashes were later mixed with marijuana and smoked by members of Outlawz.

R.I.R (rest in resistance)