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- Appeared in the Salt-N-Pepa video, “Whatta Man”
- Died on a Friday the 13th
- Kidada Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones and fiance of Tupac, has a tattoo of Tupac on her arm.
- At the Baltimore School of the arts, Tupac met Jada Pinkett, who would become a close friend of his
- While he was with Digital Underground, someone once shoved a 12 gauge shotgun in Tupac’s face because of a dispute over a woman at a Martin Luther King Jr festival.
- Wrote a song about his mother called “Dear Mama” while in prison.
- Renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur in 1972 by his mother after Tupac Amaru, an Inca who was sentenced to death by the Spaniards. Tupac Amaru, in the Inca language, means “shining serpent”.
- Tupac’s first appearance ever was on Digital Underground’s Same Song where he raps wearing West African war clothes in the video.
- When Tupac was 12 years old, his mother enrolled him in Harlems 127thSt Ensemble. He played Travis in “A Raisin in The Sun” in his first acting role.
- Son of black panther Afeni Shakur; grew up in Harlem, Baltimore, and Marin County, California.
- He had the words “thug life” tattooed across his abdomen.
- Was engaged to Kidada Jones
- Was going to play the role of Malik in Higher Learning (1995)
- More of his music has been released since his death than was while he was alive.
- Founding Member of the Outlawz
- Used the name Makaveli which is an altered spelling of Machiavelli, about whom he read while in prison.
- In the song “Life Goes On” from the “All Eyez on Me” album, he rhymes about his own funeral.
- As a young man, Tupac also studied dance, including ballet.
- Tupac is listed as the most successful gangsta MC in the “Guinness Book of World Records.”
- Grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
- Was cast in the movie Woo (1998), but was shot five days before principal photography began.
- He was offered a record contract at the age of 13. However, his mother refused to let him sign anything at such a young age. She felt he had a lot to learn about the world before joining the music industry.
- He read for the part of “Bubba” in Forrest Gump (1994).
- 10 albums have been released after his 1996 death; all have gone platinum.
- He was voted the 86th Greatest Rock ‘n Roll Artist of all time by Rolling Stone.
- In November 1994, he was robbed and shot five times by a pair of muggers in the lobby of a New York recording studio. Tupac survived the attack, and afterwards frequently boasted of his durability in his lyrics.
- Was originally cast in Menace II Society (1993) but was fired after a physical altercation with director Allen Hughes.
- As a teenager, he studied drama at Baltimore’s School for the Arts, where he rhymed under the name MC New York.
- When he was 12 years old, his mother enrolled him in Harlem’s 127th St Ensemble. He played Travis in “A Raisin in The Sun” in his first acting role
- Started his career on Tommy Boy/Warner Bros. Records with Digital Underground.
- As a young man, he also studied ballet and dance
- His 1996 song “Ghetto Gospel” was released in 2005, with some vocals by Elton John, and went to #1 in the UK, despite the fact he had been dead for eight years.
- Was a good friend of fellow hip-hop MC M.C. Hammer, who also was from Oakland, California, USA.
- His albums have sold 38 million copies in the USA alone.
- Has been rapping since 18 (1989).
- Tupac studied drama at Baltimore’s School For The Arts, where he rapped under the name MC New York.
- According to Guiness Book of Records 2004, he is the highest selling rap/hip-hop artist selling over 67 million copies worldwide
- In a 2005 Rolling Stones Magazine Vote, Tupac was named #6 of the ‘100 immortal artists of all time’ behind the likes of Elvis and Lennon
- He is the first rap/hip-hop artist in history to have a wax model of himself set to be placed in Madamme Tussaud’s in Las Vegas
- Appeared on Forbes’ “Top Earning Dead Celebrities” list in 2002, 2003 and 2004 with earnings of $7 million, $12 million and $5 million in each respective year.
- Wrote a song, but died before he could finish it. Rap artist Eminem finished the song with his own lyrics and released it shortly afterwards.
- First music artist to have a #1 LP while being in jail
- Biological Father Is Billy Garland.
- The harmonica in “So Many Tears” is a sample from Stevie Wonder’s song “That Girl”, which spent 9 weeks at number one on the R&B charts in 1982.
- His song “Hit ‘Em Up”, which Shakur considered a “classic battle record” is scathing attack on one-time friend Notorious BIG, Bad Boy Records, and Puff Daddy. In addition, Shakur claimed that he slept with Faith Evans (Notorious BIG’s wife) in the song’s lyrics.
- Was a fan of actor Tim Roth and was delighted to learn he would work with him on “Gridlock’d”, released after Shakur’s death.
- Read the article in “Entertainment Weekly” about his “Me Against The World” album’s debut at number one, while incarcerated. The album’s title song also appeared in Michael Bay’s 1995 film “Bad Boys”, which opened in March– while Shakur was behind bars.
- Cited Prince as an inspiration and sampled his music on the “All Eyez On Me” album. Shakur mentioned in an MTV interview that “he [Prince] loves women like I love women.”.
- Used an interpolation of the 1984 El Debarge song “A Dream” for his hit “I Ain’t Mad At Ya”. Tupac’s version, however, is at a faster tempo than the original.
- Recorded much of his vocals of the “All Eyez On Me” album with a Neumann U87 microphone. In addition, entire album was recorded on analog tape. This was considered somewhat archaic by 1995 recording standards, as much of the recording industry had transitioned to digital recording. (However, it should be noted that Dr. Dre, who produced two songs for the album still uses analog tape to record his music, as of late 2006).
- The song “To Live and Die in LA”, was called by Shakur (who recorded the song under the name “Makaveli”, for the “Seven Day Theory” album) “California Love, part 2– without gay-ass Dre.” It is unknown if “gay-ass Dre” is serious slur against Dr. Dre, who left Shakur’s label Death Row records shortly after producing two tracks for “All Eyez On Me”.
- Shakur considered singer Don McClean (best known as the singer/songwriter of the 1972 hit “American Pie”) and Kate Bush as two influences in his life. Shakur also saw McClean’s hit “Vincent” (a tale of painter Vincent Van Gogh) as one particular inspiration. In addition, Shakur cited African-American poet Maya Angelou and William Shakespeare as being equally important to him.
- Gang member Orlando Anderson, often cited as Tupac’s killer, was later murdered himself during an altercation at a LA car wash, on May 29th 1998. It should be noted that Anderson was never charged in the slaying.
- Tupac is understood to have been offered a record deal at the age of 13, only for Afeni to turn it down as she thought he was to young for such a things.
- Tupac listened to artists from various different genres of music such as; Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters and Jimmy Hendrix.
- Biggie Smalls used to call Tupac ‘duke’.
- When Tupac was young and living in Baltimore, he studied ballet and dance and the local performing arts school.
- Kidada Jones, daughter of Quincy Jones and fianc? of Tupac, has a tattoo of Tupac on her arm.
- Tupac was a huge fan of Jim Carrey.
- Porn Star, Spontaneous XXXStacy, has a tattoo on her arm of Tupacs name along with the title of “Keep Ya Head Up”.
- When Tupac first moved to California he was homeless for 2 years and was living in shelters.
- Tupac’s favourite Food was Fried Chicken Wings with Hot Sauce.
- His favourite drink was Orange Pop.
- His favourite colours were Black and Gold.
- Tupac intended for “R U Still Down?” to be released.
- Before becoming famous Tupac was part of the local Baltimore TV news Special. The program, called “Saturday Night Specials,” was on a type of gun. Tupac spoke with great knowledge on the guns, speaking on how they were poorly and cheaply made.
- The video tape named “Tupac and Jada Home video” which appears on Tupac: Resurrection, was recorded at King’s Dominion Amusement Park.
- Herbie Lovebug, manger of “Salt-N-Peppa,” was once asked by Tupac’s group Born Busy to hear one of their raps. Herbie told them “Naw, I aint got time for this shit I gotta be on a plane in ten hours!” Years later when Tupac was at the opening of “Juice,” Herbie approached him and expressed a desire to work with him. Tupac’s reply wasn’t one Herbie was looking for.
- Tupac turned up at a ball at the Baltimore School Of The Art’s dressed as Shaka Zulu. His roommate and close friend John Cole dressed as his white slave. Tupac and John won the best costume award.
- As a child, Tupac’s friends often gave him clothes for Christmas and birthdays, because they were aware of the poverty in which he lived.
- Tupac & Big Saccs both went looting together during the LA Riots. According to Sacc’s, he and Tupac went straight from the studio to the hood and started looting.
- The Tupac poem “Nothing can come between us,” was written for his friend John Cole, whom Tupac nicknamed “White Boy John.”
- For a short time Tupac lived with Linda Pratt, the wife of Gernimo Pratt, in Marin City.
- Tupac’s favorite piece of music was from the play Les Miserables. He went to see the play with his then girlfriend Keisha Morris.
- According to Suge Knight, the song “Never Had A Friend Like Me” was about their relationship because Suge once told Tupac “Your Enemies my Enemies.”
- It was reported by Mike Dyson that the song “Vincent” by Don Maclean was played on repeat during Tupac’s last hours with us.
- Tupac auditioned for the part of “Bubba” in the hit film “Forest Gump” starring Tom Hanks.
- Tupac stood for the code of ‘THUGLIFE’, which stands for “The Hate U Give Lil Infants Fuck Everybody”, the term ‘NIGGA’ stands for “Never Ignorant Getting Goals Accomplished”.
- The ‘Outlawz’ group Tupac formed and was with stands for “Operating Under Thug Laws As Warriors”.
- Tupac met Fredro Starr at the premiere of “Sunset Park.”
- Tupac’s cousin Scott got him the role of Travis in “A Rasin in the Sun.” Scott was also in the New York School for the arts.
- Tupac was planning to go on tour with Snoop Dogg and Tha Dogg Pound in October 1996. The name of the tour was going to be “All Eyez On Us.”
- When Tupac and Keisha Morris got married, during the ceremony when the priest stated the line “with all your worldly possessions…,” Tupac interupted saying, “Well, Keisha can’t have my pool table or my big screen TV.”
- Keisha Morris, when married to Tupac, came to visit him in his hotel room in Atlanta. The hotel-room caught fire and she tried to quickly escape. Tupac was disappointed in her and told her he couldn’t trust her because she didn’t stay with him to fight the fire.
- The song “When Will You Learn” and “U Don’t Wanna Battle Me”, along with a few others, were recorded onto a disc which Tupac lost.
- Tupac and Sanyika Shakur were good friends and Tupac wanted to play him in a movie about Sanyika’s life.
- After Pac had released his debut solo album ’2Pacalypse Now’ he wanted to bring out a group called “Nothing Gold.” He was going to do production for them while they wrote their own lyrics, but it never happened. He was also working with a female artist called “A Sister Named Mister” but she never came out either.
- Tupac and Sanyika Shakur were good friends and Tupac wanted to play him in a movie about Sanyika’s life.
- Before he was famous, Tupac was paid $335 to appear in an advertisement for a local news channel. He used that money to pay for the months rent.
- When Tupac got out of jail Suge arranged a private plane back to L.A, a limo, and five police officers for protection. Suge Knight also gave Tupac money to buy Afeni a house when he came to Suge’s Death Row Records label.
- Tupac and Snoop were supposed to perform “2 Of Amerikaz Most Wanted” on Saturday Night Live, an NBC TV-show. Snoop never appeared for the rehearsal, so Tupac and Ice-T performed “Only God Can Judge Me”, “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (Barbara Streisand cover) and a little skit. Even though he didn’t look it, it is known Pac was embarrassed by the Streisand cover and was really mad at Snoop for not showing up.
- Tupac was cremated by “Davis Mortuary” in Las Vegas.
- Tupac met ‘The Assassin’ and ‘Dee Tha Mad Bitch’ in late ’93. He enjoyed the time he spent working with them so much that he booked a studio for the three of them for an entire week
- Tupac and Sanyika Shakur were good friends and Tupac wanted to play him in a movie about Sanyika’s life.
- Tupac bought Biggie Smalls his first ‘Rolex’ watch.
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