Tupac shakur movies
Tupac Shakur
American rapper (–)
"Tupac" redirects here. For other uses, see Tupac (disambiguation).
"Makaveli" redirects here. For the Italian philosopher, see Machiavelli. For the Tupac album often called "Makaveli", see The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory.
Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, – September 13, ), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor.
He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Academics regard him as one of the most influential music artists of the 20th century and a prominent political activist for Black America.[1] In addition to his music career, Shakur also wrote poetry and starred in films. He is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide.[2] His lyrical content has been noted for addressing social injustice, political issues, and the marginalization of other African-Americans,[3][4] but he was also synonymous with gangsta rap and violent lyrics.[5]
Shakur was born in New York City to parents who were both political activists and Black Panther Party members.
Raised by his mother, Afeni Shakur, he relocated to Baltimore in and to the San Francisco Bay Area in With the release of his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in , he became a central figure in West Coast hip-hop for his conscious rap and political rap lyrics.[6][7] Amaru achieved further critical and commercial multi-platinum success with his follow-up albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z () and Me Against the World ().[8] His Diamond certified album All Eyez on Me (), the first double-length album in hip-hop history, abandoned his introspective lyrics for volatile gangsta rap.[9] In addition to his music career, Shakur starred roles in Juice (), Poetic Justice (), Above the Rim (), Bullet (), Gridlock'd (), and Gang Related ().
Shakur's most notable songs include "California Love," "Changes," "Dear Mama," "Hail Mary," "Keep Ya Head Up," "Hit 'Em Up," "Ambitionz az a Ridah," "All Eyez on Me," "Ghetto Gospel," "Do for Love," "So Many Tears," "To Live & Die in L.A.," "How Do U Want It," "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted," "Brenda's Got a Baby" and "I Get Around." Alongside his solo career, Shakur was part of the group Thug Life and collaborated with artists like Snoop Dogg, Dr.
Dre, and Outlawz.
During the later part of his career, Shakur was shot five times in the lobby of a New York recording studio and experienced legal troubles, including incarceration. He served eight months in prison on sexual abuse charges, but was released pending an appeal of his conviction in [10] Following his release, he signed to Marion "Suge" Knight's label Death Row Records and became heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry.[11] On September 7, , Shakur was shot four times by an unidentified assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas; he died six days later.
Following his murder, the Notorious B.I.G. was at first considered a suspect due to their public feud; he was also murdered in another drive-by shooting six months later in March , while visiting Los Angeles.[12][13] On September 22, , a peace summit was convened at Mosque Maryam by Louis Farrakhan in response to his assassination.[14]
Shakur's double-length posthumous album Greatest Hits () is one of his two releases—and one of only nine hip-hop albums—to have been certified Diamond in the United States.[15] Five more albums have been released since Shakur's death, including his critically acclaimed posthumous album The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory ()[16] under his stage name Makaveli, all of which have been certified multi-platinum in the United States.[17] In , Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame.[18] In , he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.[19]Rolling Stone ranked Shakur among the Greatest Artists of All Time.[20] In , he was awarded a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[21] His influence in music, activism, songwriting, and other areas of culture has been the subject of academic studies.[22][23]
Early life
Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, , in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City.[24][25][26][27] While born Lesane Parish Crooks, at age one he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur.[28][29][30][31] He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a descendant of the last Incan ruler, who was executed in Peru in after his revolt against Spanish rule.[32] Shakur's mother Afeni Shakur explained, "I wanted him to have the name of revolutionary, indigenous people in the world.
I wanted him to know he was part of a world culture and not just from a neighborhood."[28] Tupac's surname came from Lumumba Shakur, a Sunni Muslim, whom his mother married in November Their marriage fell apart when it was discovered that Lumumba was not Tupac's biological father.[33][34][35]
Shakur had an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, and a half-sister, Sekyiwa Shakur, two years his junior.[36]
Panther heritage
Shakur's parents, Afeni Shakur—born Alice Faye Williams in North Carolina—and his biological father, William "Billy" Garland, had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late s and early s.[37] A month before Shakur's birth, his mother was tried in New York City as part of the Panther 21 criminal trial.
She was acquitted of over charges.[38][39]
Other family members who were involved in the Black Panthers' Black Liberation Army were convicted of serious crimes and imprisoned, including Shakur's stepfather, Mutulu Shakur, who spent four years as one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. Mutulu Shakur was apprehended in and subsequently convicted for a robbery of a Brinks armored truck, during which police officers and a guard were killed.[40]
Shakur's godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high-ranking Black Panther, was wrongly convicted of murdering a schoolteacher during a robbery.
2pac biography book Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. The Wire. May 6, Office Christmas Party.After he spent 27 years in prison, his conviction was overturned due to the prosecution's having concealed evidence that proved his innocence.[41][42]
Shakur's godmother, Assata Shakur, is a former member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted in of the first-degree murder of a New Jersey State Trooper.
Since , she has been in the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list after she escaped prison in [43][44]
Education
In the s, Shakur's mother found it difficult to find work and struggled with drug addiction.[45] In , his family moved from New York City to Baltimore, Maryland.[46] Beginning in when Shakur was 13, he lived in the Pen Lucy neighborhood with his mother and younger sister at Greenmount Ave.[47] The home was a two-story rowhouse that had been subdivided into two separate rental units; the Shakur family lived on the first floor.[48] After his death, the block was renamed Tupac Shakur Way.[49]
While living in Baltimore, Shakur attended eighth grade at Roland Park Middle School, then ninth grade at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.[46] He transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts in the tenth grade, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet.[50][51] He performed in Shakespeare plays—the themes of which he identified in patterns of gang warfare[52]—and as the Mouse King in The Nutcracker ballet.[40]
At the Baltimore School for the Arts, Shakur befriended actress Jada Pinkett, who became the subject of some of his poems ("Jada" and "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes").[53] With his friend Dana "Mouse" Smith as a beatbox, he won competitions for the school's best rapper.[54] Known for his humor, he was popular with all crowds of students.[55] He listened to a diverse range of music that included Kate Bush, Culture Club, Sinéad O'Connor, and U2.[56]
Upon connecting with the Baltimore Young Communist League USA,[57][58] Shakur dated Mary Baldridge, who was the daughter of the director of the local chapter of the Communist Party USA.[59][60][61]
In , Shakur moved to Marin City, California, an impoverished community in the San Francisco Bay Area.[62][63] In nearby Mill Valley, he attended Tamalpais High School,[64] where he performed in several theater productions.[citation needed] Shakur did not graduate from high school, but later earned his GED.[65]
Music career
MC New York
Shakur began recording under the stage name MC New York in [66] That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager.[67][62] Steinberg organized a concert for Shakur and his rap group Strictly Dope.
Steinberg managed to get Shakur signed by Atron Gregory, manager of the rap group Digital Underground.[62] In , Gregory placed him with the Underground as a roadie and backup dancer.[62][68]
Digital Underground
See also: Stretch (rapper) and Live Squad
Shakur debuted under the stage name 2Pac on Digital Underground, under a new record label, Interscope Records, on the group's January single "Same Song".
The song was featured on the soundtrack of the film Nothing but Trouble, starring Dan Aykroyd, John Candy, Chevy Chase, and Demi Moore.[62] The song opened the group's January EP titled This Is an EP Release,[62] while Shakur appeared in the music video.
At the request of Steinberg, Digital Underground co-founder Jimi "Chopmaster J" Dright worked with Shakur, Ray Luv and Dize, a DJ, on their earliest studio recordings.
Dright recalls that Shakur did not work well as part of a group, and added, "this guy was on a mission. From day one. Maybe he knew he wasn't going to be around seven years later."[69]
From to , Dright and Digital Underground produced Shakur's earliest work with his crew at the time, Strictly Dope.[70] The recordings were rediscovered in and released as The Lost Tapes: Circa [71] Afeni Shakur sued to stop the sale of the recordings but the suit was settled in June and rereleased as Beginnings: The Lost Tapes –[71][72]
Shakur's early days with Digital Underground made him acquainted with Randy "Stretch" Walker, who along with his brother, dubbed Majesty, and a friend debuted with an EP as a rap group and production team, Live Squad, in Queens, New York.[73] Stretch was featured on a track of the Digital Underground's album Sons of the P.
Becoming fast friends, Shakur and Stretch recorded and performed together often.[73]
2Pacalypse Now
Main article: 2Pacalypse Now
Shakur's debut album, 2Pacalypse Now—alluding to the film Apocalypse Now—arrived in November Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, Game, and Talib Kweli—cite it as an inspiration.[74] Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage.[75]
U.S.
Vice President Dan Quayle said, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." Tupac, finding himself misunderstood,[52] explained, in part:
I just wanted to rap about things that affected young black males. When I said that, I didn't know that I was gonna tie myself down to just take all the blunts and hits for all the young black males, to be the media's kicking post for young black males.[76][77]
2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, half a million copies sold.
2pac biography filmography list Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar , leader and a founding member of DAM , became passionate about hip-hop by listening to Tupac, saying, "The imagery in Shakur's videos was similar to our reality in Lod. Archived from the original on February 15, ISSN Retrieved May 20,The album addresses urban Black concerns said to remain relevant to the present day.[62]
Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z
Main article: Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z
Shakur's second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z, was released in February [78] A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No.
24 on the pop albums chart, the Billboard [79] An overall more hardcore album, it emphasizes Tupac's sociopolitical views, and has a metallic production quality. The song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube, co-writer of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police", who in his own solo albums had newly gone militantly political, and gangsta rapperIce-T, who in June had sparked controversy with his band Body Count's track "Cop Killer".[78]
In its vinyl release, side A, tracks 1 to 8, is labeled the "Black Side", while side B, tracks 9 to 16, is the "Dark Side".[citation needed] The album carries the single "I Get Around", a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, which became Shakur's breakthrough, reaching No.
11 on the pop singles chart, the Billboard Hot [79] The album also carries the optimistic compassion of another hit, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment.[80] The album was certified Platinum, with a million copies sold. As of , among Shakur albums, including posthumous and compilation albums, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z was 10th in sales at about 1,, copies.[81]
Thug Life
In late , Shakur formed the group Thug Life with Tyrus "Big Syke" Himes, Diron "Macadoshis" Rivers, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Walter "Rated R" Burns.[82] Usually, Thug Life performed live without Tupac.[83]
Thug Life released its only album, Thug Life, Volume I, on October 11, , which is certified Gold.
It carries the single "Pour Out a Little Liquor", produced by Johnny "J" Jackson, who would also produce much of Shakur's album All Eyez on Me. The track also appears on the Above the Rim soundtrack.[84] Due to gangsta rap being under heavy criticism at the time, the album's original version was scrapped, and the album redone with mostly new tracks.
Still, along with Stretch, Tupac would perform the first planned single, "Out on Bail", which was never released, at the Source Awards.[85]
The Notorious B.I.G.
and Junior M.A.F.I.A.
See also: The Notorious B.I.G.
In , while visiting Los Angeles, the Notorious B.I.G. asked a local drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur and they quickly became friends. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.I.G. to Los Angeles.[86] During this period, at his own live shows, Shakur would call B.I.G.
onto stage to rap with him and Stretch.[86] Together, they recorded the songs "Runnin' from tha Police" and "House of Pain".
Reportedly, B.I.G. asked Shakur to manage him, whereupon Shakur advised him that Sean Combs would make him a star.[86] Yet in the meantime, Shakur's lifestyle was comparatively lavish to B.I.G.
who had not yet established himself.[86] Shakur welcomed B.I.G.
to join his side group Thug Life, but he would instead form his own side group, the Junior M.A.F.I.A., with his Brooklyn friends Lil' Cease and Lil' Kim. Shakur had a falling out with B.I.G. after Shakur was shot at Quad Studios in [87]
Me Against the World
Main article: Me Against the World
Shakur's third album, Me Against the World, was released while he was incarcerated in March [88] It is now hailed as his magnum opus, and commonly ranks among the greatest, most influential rap albums.[88] The album debuted at No.
1 on the Billboard and sold , copies in its first week, setting a then record for highest first-week sales for a solo male rapper.[89][90]
The lead single, "Dear Mama", was released in February with "Old School" as the B-side.[91] It is the album's most successful single, topping the Hot Rap Singles chart, and peaking at No.
9 on the Billboard Hot [9] In July, it was certified Platinum.[92] It ranked No. 51 on the year-end charts. The second single, "So Many Tears", was released in June ,[93] reaching No. 6 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and No. 44 on Hot [9] The final single, "Temptations", was released in August [94] It reached No.
68 on the Hot , No. 35 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, and No. 13 on the Hot Rap Singles.[9] Several celebrities showed their support for Shakur by appearing in the music video for "Temptations".[95]
Shakur won best rap album at the Soul Train Music Awards.[96] In , it ranked 4th among his total albums in sales, with about 3&#;million copies sold in the U.S.[97]
All Eyez on Me
Main article: All Eyez on Me
While Shakur was imprisoned in , his mother was about to lose her house.
Shakur had his wife Keisha Morris contact Death Row Records founder Suge Knight in Los Angeles.[86] Reportedly, Shakur's mother promptly received $15,[86] After an August visit to Clinton Correctional Facility in northern New York state, Knight traveled southward to New York City to attend the 2nd Annual Source Awards ceremony.
Meanwhile, an East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry was brewing between Death Row and Bad Boy Records.[98] In October , Knight visited Shakur in prison again and posted $&#;million bond.[99] Shakur returned to Los Angeles and joined Death Row with the appeal of his December conviction pending.[99]
Shakur's fourth album, All Eyez on Me, arrived on February 13, [] It was rap's first double album—meeting two of the three albums due in Shakur's contract with Death Row—and bore five singles.[] The album shows Shakur rapping about the gangsta lifestyle, leaving behind his previous political messages.
With standout production, the album has more party tracks and often a triumphant tone.[9] Music journalist Kevin Powell noted that Shakur, once released from prison, became more aggressive, and "seemed like a completely transformed person".[]
As Shakur's second album to hit No. 1 on both the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and the pop albums chart, the Billboard ,[9] it sold , copies in its first week and was it was certified 5× Multi-Platinum in April.[] The singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love" reached No.
1 on the Billboard Hot [] Death Row released Shakur's diss track "Hit 'Em Up" as the non-album B-side to "How Do U Want It". In this venomous tirade, the proclaimed "Bad Boy killer" threatens violent payback on all things Bad Boy — B.I.G., Sean Combs, Junior M.A.F.I.A., the company — and on any in the East Coast rap scene, like rap duo Mobb Deep and rapper Chino XL, who allegedly had commented against Shakur about the dispute.[]
All Eyez on Me won R&B/Soul or Rap Album of the Year at the Soul Train Music Awards.[] At the American Music Awards, Shakur won Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist.[] The album was certified 9× Multi-Platinum in June ,[] and 10× in July []
Posthumous albums
At the time of his death, a fifth solo album was already finished, The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, under the stage name Makaveli.
2pac biography filmography wikipedia New York: Pocket Books. August 4, Don't Go 2 Sleep. Rapper songwriter actor activist poet.It had been recorded during the summer of and released that year.[][] The lyrics were written and recorded in three days, and mixing took another four days. In , ranked The 7 Day Theory at No. 9 among hip-hop's greatest albums ever,[] and by a classic album.[] Its singular poignance, through hurt and rage, contemplation and vendetta, resonate with many fans.[]
According to George "Papa G" Pryce, Death Row Records' then director of public relations, the album was meant to be "underground", and was not intended for release before the artist was murdered.[][unreliable source?] It peaked at No.
1 on Billboard'sTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and on the Billboard ,[] with the second-highest debut-week sales total of any album that year.[] On June 15, , it was certified 4× Multi-Platinum.[]
Later posthumous albums are archival productions, these albums are:
Poetry collection
Before and during his hip-hop career, Shakur wrote dozens of poems.[][] Some of the most notable are "Can U C The Pride in The Panther", "If I fail", "Family Tree", and "The Rose that grew from the concrete".
In Tupac played a character named “Lucky” in the film titled Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson. Poet and activist Maya Angelou, whom worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the civil rights movement, wrote the poems used in the film.[][][]
In April , handwritten poems written by Tupac when he was 11 years old were up for sale for US$, but only sold for $90,[] The poems were for Jamal Joseph and three other Black Panther Party members while they were incarcerated at Leavenworth Prison.
Even at his young age, Shakur's writing dealt with themes such as black liberation, mass incarceration, race, and masculinity. The poems feature a self-portrait of Shakur sleeping, pen in hand, dreaming of the Black Panthers being freed from prison, and signed with a heart and the phrase "Tupac Shakur, Future Freedom Fighter".[]
In October, , sexually explicit poems he wrote to Jada Pinkett Smith while in prison went public in the book "Tupac Shakur: The Authorized Biography."[] Pinkett Smith celebrated Shakur's 50th birthday by showing an unreleased poem on Instagram called "Lost Soulz."[] According to Rolling Stone writer Andy Green: “He was also a poet and activist who became one of his era’s most revolutionary voices."[] Tupac had passion for theater and admiration of William Shakespeare.
Years after Tupac's death, Nas said "I put Tupac beyond Shakespeare."[]
Film career
Shakur's first film appearance was in the film Nothing but Trouble, a cameo by the Digital Underground. In , he starred in Juice, in which he plays the fictional Roland Bishop, a militant and haunting individual.
Rolling Stone's Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure".[]
In , Shakur starred alongside Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film, Poetic Justice.[] Singleton later fired Shakur from the film Higher Learning because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest.[][] For the lead role in the eventual film Baby Boy, a role played by Tyrese Gibson, Singleton originally had Shakur in mind.[] Ultimately, the set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary".[]
Director Allen Hughes had cast Shakur as Sharif in the film Menace II Society but replaced him once Shakur assaulted him on set due to a discrepancy with the script.
Nonetheless, in , Hughes appraises that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie".[]
Shakur played a gangster called Birdie in the film Above the Rim.[] By some accounts, that character had been modeled after former New York drug dealer Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant,[] who managed and promoted rappers.[] Shakur was introduced to him at a Queens nightclub.[86] Reportedly, B.I.G.
advised Shakur to avoid him, but Shakur disregarded the warning.[86] Through Haitian Jack, Shakur met James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond, also a drug dealer who doubled as music manager.[]
Soon after Shakur's death, three more films starring him were released, Bullet (), Gridlock'd (), and Gang Related ().[][]
Posthumous rumored roles and Star Wars
It was rumored that Shakur was being considered by George Lucas to portray Jedi MasterMace Windu in the Star Wars prequel films (–).
According to former Death Row Records chief engineer Rick Clifford, George Lucas was eyeing Tupac to star in his return to the "Star Wars" saga. Clifford talked about how excited Tupac was for the role, "'Pac found out that I worked for Brian Austin Green, who was on , then he found out I [worked on] some movies, so we always talked about his film career and stuff.
[] He was telling me that he was supposed to read for George Lucas and them. They wanted him to be a Jedi. I'm serious. Samuel L. [Jackson] got Tupac's part. [Tupac] said [to me], 'Old man, keep your fingers crossed.' He said, 'I've got three movies coming up.
2pac biography filmography In other projects. Training Day. For other uses, see Tupac disambiguation. Archived from the original on March 27,One of them, I've got to read for George Lucas."[]
The Phantom Menace script had begun being written in and the eventual film seeing release in Lucas had asked Jackson to ask Shakur to audition but due to Shakur's untimely death the role ultimately went to Samuel L. Jackson. The two had worked on the film Juice together.[]
Personal life
In his interview with Vibe magazine, Shakur listed Jada Pinkett, Jasmine Guy, Treach and Mickey Rourke among the people who were looking out for him while he was in prison.[] Shakur also mentioned that Madonna was a supportive friend.[] Madonna later revealed that they had dated in [][]
Shakur became close friends with Jada Pinkett while attending the Baltimore School for the Arts.[] He helped Pinkett land her first movie role in the film Menace II Society ().[] In turn, Pinkett secured Shakur a guest starring role on the sitcom A Different World in [][] She appeared in his music videos "Keep Ya Head Up" and "Temptations".[][95] She also came up with the concept for his "California Love" music video and had intended to direct it, but removed herself from the project.[] In , Pinkett contributed $, towards Shakur's bail as he awaited an appeal on his sexual abuse conviction.[][] Pinkett later revealed that she turned down his marriage proposal while he was incarcerated at Rikers Island in [][][] Speaking about Pinkett, Shakur stated: "Jada is my heart.
She will be my friend for my whole life. We'll be old together. Jada can ask me to do anything and she can have it."[] Pinkett said Shakur was "one of my best friends. He was like a brother.
2pac biography tupac shakur: In , Shakur's mother founded the Shakur Family Foundation. November 1, Tupac: Live at the House of Blues as Self. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.
It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime".[]
After Shakur was shot in , he recuperated at Jasmine Guy's home.[] They had met during his guest appearance on the sitcom A Different World in [] Guy appeared in his music video "Temptations" and later wrote his mother's biography, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary.[][95]
Shakur befriended Treach when they were both roadies on Public Enemy's tour in [] He made a cameo in Naughty by Nature's music video "Uptown Anthem" in [] Treach collaborated on Shakur's song "5 Deadly Venomz" and appeared in the music video for Shakur's "Temptations".[95] Treach was also a speaker at a public memorial service for Shakur in []
In , during a police raid of Shakur's room at New York City's Parker Meridian Hotel, a videotape was confiscated which showed Shakur having sex with his then-girlfriend Desiree Smith.
Officers were attempting to build their case against Shakur for the alleged sodomy of Ayanna Jackson. In , Smith insisted she was neither underage nor intoxicated at the time of their tryst.[] In , a sex tape featuring Shakur receiving oral sex from a groupie while rapping and dancing along to one of his own unreleased songs, was sold to a private collector.
The video, which was filmed in , also features rapper Money B from Digital Underground.[]
Shakur and Mickey Rourke formed a bond while filming the movie Bullet in [] Rourke recalled that Shakur "was there for me during some very hard times."[]
Shakur had friendships with other celebrities, including Mike Tyson[]Chuck D,[]Jim Carrey,[] and Alanis Morissette.
In April , Shakur said that he, Morissette, Snoop Dogg, and Suge Knight were planning to open a restaurant together.[][]
On April 29, , Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris, a pre-law student.[10][] Their marriage was annulled ten months later.[]
In a interview published in The Source, Shakur criticized record producer Quincy Jones for his interracial marriage to actress Peggy Lipton.[] Their daughter Rashida Jones responded with an irate open letter.[] Shakur later apologized to her sister Kidada Jones, whom he began dating in [] Shakur and Jones attended Men's Fashion Week in Milan and walked the runway together for a Versace fashion show.[] Jones was at their hotel in Las Vegas when Shakur was shot.[]
Legal issues
Sexual assault case, prison sentence, appeal and release
In November , Shakur and two other men were charged in New York with sodomizing a woman in Shakur's hotel room.
The woman, Ayanna Jackson, alleged that after she performed oral sex on Shakur at the public dance floor of a Manhattan nightclub, she went to his hotel room on a later day, when Shakur, record executive Jacques "Haitian Jack" Agnant, Shakur's road manager Charles Fuller and an unidentified fourth man apprehended and forced her to perform non-consensual oral sex on each of them.[][] Shakur was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm as two guns were found in the hotel room.[] Interviewed on The Arsenio Hall Show, Shakur said he was hurt that "a woman would accuse me of taking something from her", as he had been raised in a female household and surrounded by women his whole life.[]
On December 1, , Shakur was acquitted of three counts of sodomy and the associated gun charges, but convicted of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse for "forcibly touching the woman's buttocks" in his hotel room.[][52] Jurors have said the lack of evidence stymied a sodomy conviction.[] Shakur's lawyer characterized the sentence as "out of line" with the groping conviction and the setting of bail at $3&#;million as "inhumane".
Shakur's accuser later filed a civil suit against Shakur seeking $10&#;million for punitive damages which was subsequently settled.[5][]
After Shakur had been convicted of sexual abuse, Jacques Agnant's case was separated and closed via misdemeanor plea without incarceration.[86][]A.&#;J.
Benza reported in New York Daily News Shakur's new disdain for Agnant who Shakur theorized had set him up with the case.[86][] Shakur reportedly believed his accuser was connected to and had sexual relations with Agnant and James "Henchman" Rosemond, who he considered to be behind the Quad Studios shooting.[]
Shakur was unable to post the $3 million bond to keep himself free until sentencing so he surrendered himself to authorities at the Bellevue Hospital Jail Ward in New York City on December 23, [] At the time, he was still recovering from injuries he received on November 30, when he was shot five times and robbed at Quad Studios.[] In January , Shakur was moved to the North Infirmary Command (NIC) on Rikers Island in the Bronx.[] On February 7, , he was sentenced to 18 months to 4+1&#;2 years in prison by a judge who decried "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman".[][]
In March , Shakur was transferred to Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora.[] While imprisoned, he began reading again, which he had been unable to do as his career progressed due to his marijuana and alcohol habits.
Works such as The Prince by Italian philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli and The Art of War by Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu sparked Shakur's interest in philosophy, philosophy of war and military strategy.[] On April 29, , Shakur married his girlfriend Keisha Morris; the marriage was later annulled.[] While in prison, Shakur exchanged letters with celebrities such as Jim Carrey and Tony Danza among others.[][] He was also visited by Al Sharpton, who helped Shakur get released from solitary confinement.[]
By October , pending judicial appeal, Shakur was incarcerated in New York.[] On October 12, he bonded out of the maximum security Dannemora Clinton Correctional Facility in the process of appealing his conviction,[52] once Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, arraigned for posting of his $&#;million bond.[65]
shooting in Atlanta
On October 31, , Shakur was arrested in Atlanta for shooting two off-duty police officers, brothers Mark Whitwell and Scott Whitwell.[] The Atlanta police claimed the shooting occurred after the brothers were almost struck by a car carrying Shakur while they were crossing the street with their wives.[] As they argued with the driver, Shakur's car pulled up and he shot the Whitwells in the buttocks and the abdomen.[][] However, there are conflicting accounts that the Whitwells were harassing a black motorist and uttered racial slurs.[][] According to some witnesses, Shakur and his entourage had fired in self-defense as Mark Whitwell shot at them first.[]
Shakur was charged with two counts of aggravated assault.[] Mark Whitwell was charged with firing at Shakur's car and later with making false statements to investigators.
Scott Whitwell admitted to possessing a gun he had taken from a Henry County police evidence room.[] Prosecutors ultimately dropped all charges against both parties.[] Mark Whitwell resigned from the force seven months after the shooting.[] Both brothers filed civil suits against Shakur; Mark Whitwell's suit was settled out of court, while Scott Whitwell's $2&#;million lawsuit resulted in a default judgment entered against the rapper's estate in []
Quad Studios shooting
On November 30, , while in New York recording verses for a mixtape of Ron G, Shakur was repeatedly distracted by his beeper.[] Music manager James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond reportedly offered Shakur $7, to stop by Quad Studios, in Times Square, that night to record a verse for his client Little Shawn.[86][] Shakur was unsure, but agreed to the session as he needed the cash to offset legal costs.
He arrived with Stretch and one or two others. In the lobby, three men robbed and beat him at gunpoint; Shakur resisted and was shot.[] Shakur speculated that the shooting had been a set-up.[][]
Against medical advice, Shakur checked out of Metropolitan Hospital Center a few hours after surgery and secretly went to the house of the actress Jasmine Guy to recuperate.[][] The next day, Shakur arrived at a Manhattan courthouse bandaged in a wheelchair to receive the jury's verdict for his sexual abuse case.[] Shakur spent the next few weeks being cared for by his mother and a private doctor at Guy's home.[] The Fruit of Islam and former members of the Black Panther Party stood guard to protect him.[]
Setup accusations involving the Notorious B.I.G.
In a interview with Vibe, Shakur accused Sean Combs,[]Jimmy Henchman,[] and the Notorious B.I.G.
- who were at Quad Studios at the time – among others, of setting up or being privy to the November robbery and shooting. The accusations were significant to the East–West Coast rivalry in hip-hop; in , months after the robbery, Combs and B.I.G. released the track "Who Shot Ya?", which Shakur took as a mockery of his shooting and thought they could be responsible, so he released a diss song, "Hit 'Em Up", in which he targeted B.I.G., Combs, their record label, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and at the end of "Hit 'Em Up", he mentions rivals Mobb Deep and Chino XL.[][][][][]
In March , Chuck Philips, in the Los Angeles Times, reported on the ambush and shooting.[] The newspaper later retracted the article since it relied partially on FBI documents later discovered forged, supplied by a man convicted of fraud.[] In June , convicted murderer Dexter Isaac, incarcerated in Brooklyn, issued a confession that he had been one of the gunmen who had robbed and shot Shakur at Henchman's order.[][][]