Today, June 16th, is the birthday of one of hip hop's most influential and talented rappers: 2Pac. Had Pac not been cut down in his prime, he would've turned 45 today.
Tupac Shakur was born on June 16th in East Harlem, New York. The son of two Black Panther members and named after a Peruvian revolutionary, Shakur took to the arts at an early age, expressing himself - and the ideals of black empowerment he had inherited from his parents - through song, poetry and dance. He studied Shakespeare while he learned how to rap. He fought for his ideals and his community by joining the Young Communist League. Shakur and his family would eventually relocate to the West Coast when Tupac was 17. There, Shakur was taken under the wing of poetry teacher and author Leila Steinberg, who would eventually become his mentor and manager. Steinberg introduced Pac to the Digital Underground, a legendary Oakland hip hop group that would give Shakur his big break by featuring him on the track "Same Song."
Shakur's solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, initially got noticed for the wrong reasons after a young Texas man claimed the album inspired him to go out and shoot a cop, but now, years after the manufactured controversy has been forgotten, the album is hailed as one of Pac's rawest, most authentic works, and many modern rappers, including Eminem, Talib Kweli, and Nas all list 2Pacalypse Now as one of their biggest influences.
Shakur would rise above the controversy and become an icon of 90's rap. All of his subsequent albums would become critically acclaimed, chart topping, platinum-certified hits, but 1996's All Eyez on Me is widely considered to be Pac's best work. Featuring some of his most memorable hits, including "All About U," "How Do You Want It," "California Love," and "I Ain't Mad At Cha," the album perfectly epitomizes Tupac's ability to deftly mix harsh language, and even harsher observations of what it's like to be black and poor in America, with a poet laureate level mastery of rhyme and rhythm. The album is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential albums in hip hop history, and is often cited by critics as one of the best albums of all time.
Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas just months after finishing work on All Eyez On Me. He was 25 years old. His murder is still unsolved. While Pac was one of the most outspoken members of the East-West Coast rivalry of the 90's, reports are now surfacing that at the time of his death, Pac was trying to mend the rift between the two sides of the violent conflict, and had reached out to several other artists from both sides of the feud to work together on new music. While he left a large body of unfinished work that would eventually be released posthumously, any fan of hip hop has to wonder what other amazing work Tupac could've given to the world had he not been murdered at such a young age.
By Michael Lacerna for RAPstation.com
