Rap/2pac

The history of rap music

At first i’m going to tell you something about the History of Rap Music.
Every so often a new style of music emerges that takes America by storm and comes to represent the generation that grows up with it. In the 50's it was rock'n'roll, followed by the Mowtown sound of the 60's. The 1970's brought folk music and disco. But in the 80's it was rap. Perhaps no other form of music has crossed as many boundaries and become a bridge between America's many cultures as rap has.
Rap evolved from African people in general and black people born in the U.S. in particular. Its origins can be traced to West Africa where tribesmen held "men of words" in high regard. Later when slaves were brought to the New World, the captives mixed American music with the beats they remembered from Africa. Another origin of rap is a form of Jamaican folk stories called "toasts." These are narrative poems that tell stories in rhyme.
Over a hundred years later, rapping was a street art. Just as doowop in the 1950's, rap began in innercity schoolyards and street corners in the 1970's. Early raps were boastful tales, and putdowns directed at other rappers. This music style was slowly growing in popularity among black teens in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. As early as 1974 neighborhood block parties in New York featured early forms of rapping.
But it wasn't until the commercial success of "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugar Hill Gang in 1979 that major record labels took notice of this explosive new sound. Rap's audience started to grow tremendously and gain notoriety with acts like Public Enemy, N.W.A., and Ice-T. More than 20 years have now passed and rap still has a huge following among people of all ages and socio-economic backgrounds.
But the musical style is not without its critics. In the 80's many raps were commentaries on the hardships of ghetto life, warnings about drugs and about teenage love or lust. Those topics led some parents to fear that rap encouraged youths to turn to violence, and illegal substance use. Organizations such as the Parents' Music Resource Center had fits over lyrics in rap and hip-hop which contained explicit references to sex, drugs and racism. The performers don't deny that rap music speaks openly about harsh topics. But they argue that audiences should be able distinguish between fantasy and reality, right and wrong.
Presently, rap and its close relative hip-hop are enjoying its largest popularity ever as a result of its mainstream acceptance. And thanks to artists like Kid Rock and Eminem, African-Americans are not the only ones listening anymore. Also, the female audience has grown steadily with the emergence of ladies behind the microphone like Salt-n-Pepa, Queen Latifah, and Li'l Kim.

2pac

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16th 1971 by Afeni Shakur in a New York hospital. A month before Tupac was born, Afeni had been released from prison for a Black Panther plot to bomb banks and department stores. Tupac's father was Billy Garland, who was a Black Panther party member.
When Tupac was young he moved to Baltimore where he attended the Baltimore school of arts. Tupac had some ballet training there. At the age of 17 he moved with his family to Marin city on the West coast. Tupac went to Tampalpais High School, but he did not stay there long enough to graduate. Later he got a general equivancy diploma.
Tupac lost Mutulu Shakur and Geronimo Pratt to prison and never knew Billy Garland. Tupac left home and moved in with a new friend. Tupac sold drugs and wrote poetry. He turned to drug dealer Legs, who introduced Afeni Shakur to Crack. Leila Steinberg became Tupac's first manager. Tupac formed the group Strictly dope with 5 other members including Ray Luv. Later Steinberg introduced Tupac to Shock-G of Digital Underground. Strictly Dope recorded an album with TNT records that has never been released.
Money B of Digital Underground tried for the role of Roland Bishop in the film Juice. Tupac went along hoping to get a small part but got the role of Bishop instead. Bishop was psychotic, insecure, violent and short tempered.
In 1992, 19 year old Ronal Ray Howard shot a Texas trooper claiming the song Souljah Story on 2Pacalypse now had inspired him. Later vice-president Dan Quale said 2Pacalypse now had "no place in our society". He asked Interscope to pull 2Pacalypse now. On August 22nd 1992 Tupac had a confrontation with a group of street aquaintances. It resulted in a 6 year old getting shot in the head. The wepon was traced to Tupac's step brother Mopreme.
In April 1993 Tupac was sentenced to 10 days in jail for swinging a baseball bat at another rapper.
Tupac's second album, Strictly 4 my N.I.G.G.A.Z was released in 1993. It had the hit singles "Keep ya head up", and I Get around.
Tupac formed the group Thug Life with, Mopreme, Rated R, Big Syke and Macadoshis. A album was released in 1994 called Thug Life Vol 1. It had the hit singles "How long will they mourn me" and " Pour out a little liqour". Originally The Notorious B.I.G was going to be in the group. But instead he went to Bad Boy.
Tupac's third album "Me against the world " was released while Tupac was in prison. It debuted at number 1 on the album chart with the big hit "Dear mama".
In April 1995 Tupac married Keisha Morris in a ceremony at the clinton correctional facility. In prison Tupac said in a Vibe interview that The Notorious B.I.G, Puffy Combs and Andre Harrell had set him up in the New York shooting. While in prison Tupac planned the group the Outlaw Immortalz.
Tupac's first Death Row album "All eyez on me" was the first rap double CD. All eyez on me had the hit singles "California Love", "How do u want it" and "I ain't mad at cha".
Later in 1996 the song "Hit em up" was released as a B side to "How do u want it". It was dissin Biggie, Puffy, Mobb Deep, Lil Kim, Chino XL.
Tupac changed his name to Makaveli after Italian Niccolo Machiavelli. Tupac's new group the Outlawz were named after enemies of the USA. Members are, Kastro, Mussolini, Edi, Kadafi, Komani, Fatal Hussein and Napoleon. Later members were Young Noble, Storm and Gonzoe. They appeared on some of the songs on Tupacs next album "The don killuminati : the 7 day theory".
The album was released after Tupac's death. It had the hit singles "To live & die in l.a" , "Toss it up" and "Hail Mary".

After leaving the Mike Tyson fight at the MGM Grand on Saturday September 7, 1996, Tupac was alledgedly shot 5 times. He lived through the shooting, and was taken to a nearby hospital. He was pronounced dead on Friday September 13, 1996.

Friday the 13th is a very suspicious day. This would make people think there was a conspiracy and there would be huge sales of Tupac's stuff, making more money for Death Row - it doesn't really mean that Tupac is still alive.

There were never any pictures released of Tupac in the hospital. The hospital was forbidden to release any by Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother.

In the song "Life Goes On", Tupac raps about his own funeral. Tupac rapped a lot about dying, even when he first started out as a rapper, so this was common and doesn't mean anything.

The video "I ain't Mad at Cha" was released only a few days after his death. The video shows Tupac as an angel in heaven. In the video, Tupac was shot after leaving a theater with Suge Knight. This makes it seem like Tupac knew he was going to be shot.

If Suge Knight had Tupac set up, he could have told Tupac to shoot a video like this, as he was his producer.

Tupac dies in his last video released under the name "Tupac". His video "Toss It Up" from the new album Makaveli was released under that name. This could just be coincidence, or to show that one album was over and the new one had started.

In interviews prior to the shooting, Tupac talked about how he wanted to stop rapping and being a gangsta and get out of the limelight. If the public thought that he was dead, he would be out of it. This doesn't mean that he faked his death - a lot of people always come up with that idea whenever anyone famous dies, like Elvis or Princess Diana.

There are no suspects for the shooting. This could just be because the Police haven't done their job too well.

The Press wasn't going to be allowed at Tupac's funeral, but it was cancelled for unknown reasons. The funeral was cancelled by Afeni because she wanted a cremation for Tupac so he could rest in peace - she didn't want to involve the media.

Tupac always wore a bulletproof vest, no matter where he went. Why didn't he wear it to a very public event like the Tyson fight? The surveilance camera at the MGM Grand picked up Suge Knight saying "Yo Pac take off your vest, it's hotter than a motha fucka in here."

In most of his songs Tupac talks about being buried when he dies, so why was he allegedly cremated the day after he died? And since when do they cremate someone the day after death without an autopsy? There was an autopsy - you can see the pictures from the link on the Pictures page.

Tupac's alias is Makaveli. Though the spelling is slightly different, Machiavelli was a 16th century italian philosopher who advocated the staging of one's death in order to evade one's enemies and gain power. Just because Tupac liked the man's ideas, doesn't mean that he would use them. Also, this is another thing that would make people think there was a conspiracy... more money for Death Row.