Tupac Shakur

CTL-E-5379 · Person · musician · 1971–1996

VERIFIED evidence grade of this record

Tupac Shakur, born in East Harlem, New York, in 1971 and raised in part in Baltimore and California, was a rapper, actor and writer whose work joined street reporting, political anger, tenderness and self-examination. The son of Afeni Shakur, he first recorded with Digital Underground before his solo debut, 2Pacalypse Now, in 1991. Albums including Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., Me Against the World and the double album All Eyez on Me made him one of the defining artists of 1990s hip-hop, while film roles in Juice and Poetic Justice widened his reach. Songs such as Dear Mama, later selected for the National Recording Registry, and California Love remain central to his catalogue. Shakur was shot in Las Vegas on September 7, 1996, and died six days later, aged twenty-five. His influence did not end with his death: posthumous releases continued for years, and he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2017. CultureTechLens records him with gratitude for a body of work that still teaches listeners how contradiction, vulnerability and protest can live in the same voice.

The record

• Also known as: 2Pac, Makaveli, Tupac Amaru Shakur

Notes

Statistics: Born June 16, 1971, East Harlem; died September 13, 1996, after a September 7 shooting in Las Vegas (Britannica, updated 2026, accessed 2026-10-15). Britannica lists 6 Grammy nominations and records Dear Mama's addition to the National Recording Registry in 2009 and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2017. Sales totals vary widely across secondary sources and are therefore not asserted here. · Curator's Judgment: DRAFT — Tribute treatment: a foundational voice of 1990s hip-hop whose recordings endure in classrooms, samples and public memory; flowers for the passed, and for Afeni Shakur's son, whose art outlived the violence that took him. · Photo slot: CLEARED — Wikimedia Commons File:2Pac in 1988.jpg, Text: Sujata Massey Photo: Bo Rader or George H. Cook (The 2 photographers credited for the photo shoot at the school, Public domain, verified via Commons API 2026-10-15; direct URL https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1b/2Pac_in_1988.jpg/1920px-2Pac_in_1988.jpg; master in packet photos/.

Relationships

• Snoop Dogg — collaborated with
  Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg recorded 2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted together for All Eyez on Me (1996).

Referenced by

• Afeni Shakur — related to → this record

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Tupac Shakur" — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tupac-Shakur (primary source)
• Wikipedia contributors, "Tupac Shakur" — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur

Record CTL-E-5379 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: VERIFIED · 2 sources (1 primary) · 2 mapped relationships · CTL research: PPL-001.
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