2Pac

Released: July 21, 1998

Songwriter: Davey D

Producer: The Stealth Music Group

Davey D: Later that year in October of '93, Tupac was arrested and accused of shooting two off-duty police officers in Atlanta. Just as that drama was beginning to be sorted out, he was arrested in New York the following month and accused of sexually assaulting a female fan in his hotel room. In the backdrop of that controversy, Tupac managed to release another album entitled Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., which featured the smash hits "I Get Around" and it's emotional tribute to women, "Keep Your Head Up." During this time, Tupac was featured in two more movies. The first was Poetic Justice with Janet Jackson. Here he stirred things up again on the set by refusing to honor Miss Jackson's request to take an AIDS test. The other movie that featured Tupac came out in the Spring of '94 with a basketball movie entitled Above The Rim. Just like he did in the movie Juice, here Tupac adorned the role of a gangster.

(Gangster, gangster, gangster, gangster, gangster...)

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an actor and a highly influential rapper who is considered by many to be the greatest of all-time due to the revolutionary spirit and thug passion he mixed into his music. During his music career, he made appearances in movies such as his acclaimed debut in Juice (1992), Poetic Justice (1993), and Above the Rim (1994).

Born in Harlem, New York City to Black Panther Party members Billy Garland and Afeni Shakur, Tupac would later move to Baltimore before settling in the Bay Area cities of Oakland and Marin City in the late 1980s. There, he joined his first rap group Strictly Dope with Ray Luv before connecting with Shock G and Digital Underground. He was a roadie and backup dancer for the group before his breakthrough performance on their 1991 song “Same Song.”

2Pac released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991, which featured intense storytelling on singles such as “Trapped” and “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” His sophomore album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z featured one of his signature songs, the Digital Underground-assisted “I Get Around.” After working on the Thug Life group album in 1994, 2Pac released Me Against the World the following year, which is considered by many to be his best album, peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a Grammy nomination—all while he sat in prison.

more tracks from the album

In His Own Words

From the album

In His Own Words (1998)

2Pac popular songs

Mad Trouble (Davey D)2Pac

2Pac

In His Own Words