Is Tupac Shakur Living or Dead?

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Is American rapper, actor and activist Tupac Shakur dead? Or ... still alive?

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By Charles Bottage

Updated 1 November 2020

Image info

Artist	Goldin Auctions
Credit	Lot Detail - Tupac Shakur Four Page Handwritten and Signed Essay to Black American Youth Written From Prison With Original Envelope "IS THUG LIFE DEAD?" (PSA/DNA) Recipient LOA. Goldin Auctions. Accessed 4 August 2017.
License	pd
Desc	Signature of the late hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur taken from a 1995 letter written by Tupac to Deathrow Records publicist Nina Bhadreshwar from Clinton Correctional Facility.
Usage	Public domain

Image info/credit

American rapper, actor and activist

Tupac Shakur is ...

Dead

Born	16 June 1971 in East Harlem
Died	13 September 1996 in University Medical Center of Southern Nevada
Age	25 years, 3 months
Cause	drive-by shooting

Sex or gender	male
Country of citizenship	United States of America
Birth name	Tupac Amaru Shakur
Manner of death	homicide
Father	Billy Garland
Mother	Afeni Shakur
Spouse	Belen Pavez
Occupation	rapper, actor, singer, music producer, poet, social activist, road crew, lyricist, songwriter, screenwriter, dancer, composer, television actor and film actor
Instrument	voice
Awards	Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap – Album, Favorite Rap/Hip Hop Artist, MOBO Awards for Best Video and Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year
Genre	hip hop, West Coast hip hop, political hip hop and Gangsta rap
Voice type	baritone
Member of	Digital Underground, Thug Life and Outlawz
Twitter username	2pac
Instagram username	2pac

About Tupac Shakur

Tupac Amaru Shakur ( TOO-pahk shə-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), better known by his stage name 2Pac and by his alias Makaveli, was an American rapper, songwriter, and actor. He is considered by many to be one of the most influential rappers of all time. Much of Shakur's work has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of resistance and activism against inequality. Shakur was born in Manhattan, a borough of New York City, but relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1988. He moved to Los Angeles in 1993 to further pursue his music career. By the time he released his debut album 2Pacalypse Now in 1991, he had become a central figure in West Coast hip hop, introducing social issues in the genre at a time when gangsta rap was dominant in the mainstream. Shakur achieved further critical and commercial success with his follow-up albums Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... (1993) and Me Against the World (1995).Shakur became heavily involved in the growing East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry between 1995 and 1996. His double-disc album All Eyez on Me (1996) became certified Diamond by the RIAA. On September 7, 1996, Shakur was shot four times by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas; he died six days later and the gunman was never captured. The Notorious B.I.G., Shakur's friend turned rival, was at first considered a suspect, but was also murdered in another drive-by shooting six months later. Five more albums have been released since his death, all of which have been certified platinum in the United States. Shakur is one of the best-selling music artists of all time having sold over 75 million records worldwide. In 2002, he was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Rolling Stone named Shakur in its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Outside music, Shakur also gained considerable success as an actor, with his starring roles as Bishop in Juice (1992), Lucky in Poetic Justice (1993) where he starred alongside Janet Jackson, Ezekiel in Gridlock'd (1997), and Jake in Gang Related (1997), all garnering praise from critics.

About Death

During 1995, imprisoned, impoverished, and his mother about to lose her house, Tupac had his wife Keisha Morris get word to Marion "Suge" Knight, in Los Angeles, boss of Death Row Records. Reportedly, Tupac's mother promptly received $15,000. After an August visit to Clinton Correctional Facility in northern New York state, Suge traveled southward to New York City to join Death Row's entourage to the 2nd Annual Source Awards ceremony. Already reputed for strongarm tactics on the Los Angeles rap scene, Suge used his brief stage time mainly to belittle Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, boss of Bad Boy Entertainment, the label then leading New York rap scene, who routinely performed with his own artists. Before closing with a brief comment of support for Tupac, Suge invited artists seeking the spotlight for themselves to join Death Row. Eventually, Puff recalled that to preempt severe retaliation from his Bad Boy orbit, he had promptly confronted Suge, whose reply — that he had meant Jermaine Dupri, of So So Def Recordings, in Atlanta — was politic enough to deescalate the conflict.