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2Pac became the unlikely martyr of gangsta rap, and a tragic symbol of the toll its lifestyle exacted on urban black America. At the outset of his career, it didn't appear that he would emerge as one of the definitive rappers of the '90s -- he started out as a second-string rapper and dancer for Digital Underground, joining only after they had already landed their biggest hit. But in 1992, he delivered an acclaimed debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, and quickly followed with a star-making performance in the urban drama Juice. Over the course of one year, his profile rose substantially, based as much on his run-ins with the law as his music. By 1994, 2Pac rivaled Snoop Dogg as the most controversial figure in rap, spending as much time in prison as he did in the recording studio. His burgeoning outlaw mythology helped his 1995 album Me Against the World enter the charts at number one, and it also opened him up to charges of exploitation. Yet, as the single "Dear Mama" illustrated, he was capable of sensitivity as well as violence. Signing with Death Row Records in late 1995, 2Pac released the double-album All Eyez on Me in the spring of 1996, and the record, as well as its hit single "California Love," confirmed his superstar status. Unfortunately, the gangsta lifestyle he captured in his music soon overtook his own life. While his celebrity was at its peak, he publicly fought with his rival, the Notorious B.I.G., and there were tensions brewing at Death Row. Even with such conflicts, however, 2Pac's drive-by shooting in September 1996 came as an unexpected shock. On September 13, six days after the shooting, 2Pac passed away, leaving behind a legacy that was based as much on his lifestyle as it was his music.The son of two Black Panther members, Tupac Amaru Shakur was born in New York City. His parents had separated before he was born, and his mother moved him and his sister around the country for much of their childhood. Frequently, the family was at the poverty level, but Shakur managed to gain acceptance to the prestigious Baltimore School of the Arts as a teenager. While he was at the school, his creative side flourished, as he began writing raps and acting. Before he could graduate, his family moved to Marin City, CA, when he was 17 years old. Over the next few years, he lived on the streets and began hustling. Eventually, he met Shock-G, the leader of Digital Underground. The Oakland-based crew decided to hire him as a dancer and roadie, and as he toured with the group, he worked on his own material. 2Pac made his first recorded appearance on the group's spring 1991 record, This Is an EP Release, and he also appeared on their second album, Sons of the P. The following year, he released his own debut, 2Pacalypse Now. The album became a word-of-mouth hit, as "Brenda's Got a Baby" reached the R&B Top 30 and the record went gold. However, its blunt and explicit lyrics earned criticisms for moral watchdogs, and Vice President Dan Quayle attacked the album while he was campaigning for re-election that year.Shakur's profile was raised considerably by his acclaimed role in the Ernest Dickerson film Juice, which led to a lead role in John Singleton's Poetic Justice the following year. By the time the film hit theaters, 2Pac had released his second album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., which became a platinum album, peaking at number four on the R&B charts and launching the Top Ten R&B hit singles "I Get Around" and "Keep Ya Head Up," which peaked at number 11 and 12, respectively, on the pop charts. Late in 1993, he acted in the basketball movie Above the Rim. Although Shakur was selling records and earning praise for his music and acting, he began having serious altercations with the law; prior to becoming a recording artist, he had no police record. He was arrested in 1992 after he was involved in a fight that culminated with a stray bullet killing a six-year-old bystander; the charges were later dismissed. 2Pac was filming Menace II Society in the summer of 1993 when he assaulted director Allen Hughes; he was sentenced to 15 days in jail in early 1994. The sentence arrived after two other high-profile incidents. In October of 1993, when he was charged with shooting two off-duty police officers in Atlanta. The charges were dismissed, but the following month, he and two members of his entourage were charged with sexually abusing a female fan. In 1994, he was found guilty of sexual assault. The day after the verdict was announced, he was shot by a pair of muggers while he was in the lobby of a New York City recordings studio. Shakur was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on February 7, 1995.Later that month, Shakur began serving his sentence. He was in jail when his third album, Me Against the World, was released in March. The record entered the charts at number one, making 2Pac the first artist to enjoy a number one record while serving a prison sentence. While he was in prison, he accused the Notorious B.I.G., Puffy Combs, Andre Harrell, and his own close friend Randy "Stretch" Walker of orchestrating his New York shooting. Shakur only served eight months of his sentence, as Suge Knight, the president of Death Row Records, arranged for parole and posted a 1.4 million dollar bond for the rapper. By the end of the year, 2Pac was out of prison and working on his debut for Death Row. On November 30, 1995 -- the one-year anniversary of the New York shooting -- Walker was killed in a gangland-styled murder in Queens.2Pac's Death Row debut, All Eyez on Me, was the first double disc of original material in hip-hop history. It debuted at number one upon its February release, and would be certified quintuple platinum by the fall. Although he had a hit record and, with the Dr. Dre duet "California Love," a massive single on his hands, Shakur was beginning to tire of hip-hop and started to concentrate on acting. During the summer of 1996, he completed two films, the thriller Bullet and the dark comedy Gridlock'd, which also starred Tim Roth. He also made some recordings for Death Row, which was quickly disintegrating without Dre as the house producer, and as Knight became heavily involved in illegal activities.At the time of his murder in September 1996, there were indications that Shakur was considering leaving Death Row, and maybe even rap, behind. None of those theories can ever be confirmed, just as the reasons behind his shooting remain mysterious. Shakur was shot on the Las Vegas strip as he was riding in the passenger seat of Knight's car. They had just seen the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon fight at the MGM Grand, and as they were leaving the hotel, 2Pac got into a fight with an unnamed young black man. It has been suggested that this was the cause of the drive-by shooting, and it has also been suggested that Knight's ties to the mob and to gangs were the reason; another theory is that the Notorious B.I.G. arranged the shooting as retaliation for 2Pac's comments that he slept with Biggie's wife, Faith Evans. Either way, Shakur was shot four times and was admitted to University of Nevada Medical Center. Six days later, he died from his wounds.Hundreds of mourners appeared at the hospital upon news of his death, and the entire entertainment industry mourned his passing, especially since there were no leads in the case. Many believed his death would end the much-hyped East Coast/West Coast hip-hop rivalry and decrease black-on-black violence. Sadly, six months after his death, the Notorious B.I.G. was murdered under similar circumstances. As Shakur's notoriety only increased in the wake of his death, a series of posthumous releases followed, among them Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory (issued under the alias Makaveli in 1996), R U Still Down? (Remember Me) (1997), Still I Rise (1999), Until the End of Time (2001), and Better Dayz (2002).Christopher Wallace (May 21, 1972 - March 9, 1997), also known as Biggie Smalls (after a stylish gangster in the 1975 comedy, Let's Do it Again) and Frank White , but best known as The Notorious B.I.G. (Books Instead of Guns)., was a popular Brooklyn-born rapper of the mid-1990s. In his lyrics, Biggie also referred to himself under the alias Frank White (taken from the 1990 movie King of New York starring Christopher Walken).The 6'3", 300 pound rapper was raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City. B.I.G.'s mother Voleta Wallace was a preschool teacher who claimed that Christopher had lived a comfortable life (he claimed otherwise). Even as a young honor-roll student, he believed it would be best for him to drop out of high school at age seventeen to sell crack to live a comfortable life. He believed that selling drugs was nothing major and it was just the way of life for a young African American growing up in the ghetto. Because of his infatuation with selling drugs he began to take major risks in day-to-day life. He began trafficking drugs from New York to North Carolina. In the process of doing so he was caught and forced to complete a nine-month jail term. This was the turning point in his life which led him to believe that drugs were not the way to go and he wanted to pursue a career in rap.He first gained notice for working with Mary J. Blige on What's the 411?, then released Ready to Die, his debut album, in 1994. Ready to Die is regarded as one of hip-hop's all-time classic albums. The album features one of rap's most famous "playa anthems", the song "Big Poppa." Biggie's album drew critical acclaim for its vivid story-telling and razor-sharp lyricism, such as "They don't know about the stress filled day/Baby on the way, mad bills to pay/That's why you drink tanqueray/So you can reminisce and wish/You wasn't living so devilish." Another standout track is "Warning," another song in which Biggie displays his story-telling ability. The album is considered by many to be one of the best and most hardcore hip-hop albums of all time.In 1995, Biggie's new group Junior M.A.F.I.A. (Junior Masters At Finding Intelligent Attitudes) released the album Conspiracy. That same year saw the mainstream introduction of Biggie's labelmates Lil' Kim and Lil' Caesar by the rap star. That same year, B.I.G.'s single "One More Chance" debuted at ..5 on the Pop Charts, tying Scream/Childhood as the highest debut single in music history. "One More Chance," which sampled the R&B song "Stay With Me," was a remix of the song by the same name that originally appeared on Ready to Die.Although Ready to Die brought massive fame to Biggie, he is most famed for his somewhat overplayed and ultimately tragic involvement in rap's most infamous feud between the East and West Coast scenes. This rivalry existed between Biggie and Death Row rap superstar Tupac Shakur, a New York City native, who relocated to Los Angeles and Death Row Records because of the feud. This feud hung over a period of highly publicized rap violence that began with two shootings in which Shakur was the victim. The second of these shootings was fatal, taking place in Las Vegas, where Tupac had been watching a boxing match. Rumors of Biggie's possible involvement in the murder cropped up almost immediately. On March 9, 1997, the horrific events came full circle when Biggie was shot and killed in Los Angeles, where he had been attending a party by VIBE Magazine at the Peterson Automotive Museum. Neither murder has been conclusively solved, though theories abound as to the motives and identities of the murderers. Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight and the Mob Piru Bloods gang with whom he associates are among the prime suspects for involvement. In his book, LAbyrinth, LAPD officer Randall Sullivan probes the circumstances and figures involved in the shootings. Additionally, Director Nick Broomfield has released an investigative documentary called Biggie and Tupac which implicates the LAPD and Suge Knight, and the Los Angeles Times ran an article entitled "Who Shot Tupac Shakur?" by reporter Chuck Phillips, which concludes that Biggie Smalls was ultimately behind the Las Vegas shooting of Tupac.Life After Death, Biggie's second album, debuted at ..1 on the charts. The album was released only two weeks after Biggie's murder. Its lead single was "Hypnotize", which was also the last video Biggie would take part in. Life After Death hit number one on the Billboard charts and spawned several hit singles in the United States. The album sold 10 million copies, and it is still the biggest selling hip-hop album of all time. Biggie's biggest chart hit was with the song "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," an upbeat number featuring rappers Mase and Puff Daddy, and sampling the disco song "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross for the beat. The last single from Life After Death was "Sky's The Limit" featuring 112. The video for this song was noted for the use of children portraying a day in the life of Biggie.At the end of 1997, Puff Daddy released his debut album "No Way Out," which featured Biggie on a number of songs, notably in the chorus of the single "Been Around the World" over David Bowie's sample ("Let's Dance"). However, the single that carried this album to the top was "I'll Be Missing You", a tribute and a massively successful single dedicated to Biggie. The song featured Puff Daddy, Wallace's widow Faith Evans and R&B group 112. The song sampled the melody of The Police's hit song "Every Breath You Take." All these artists performed the song with (former Police vocalist) Sting during the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards.The year 1999 saw another release of a posthumous Notorious B.I.G. album. Puff Daddy released Biggie's third album, Born Again. It had two hit singles called "N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S." featuring Puff Daddy and Lil' Kim (interpolation to the Duran Duran's song of the same name), and "Dead Wrong" a single that later was remixed with a verse from Eminem. The video for "N.O.T.O.R.I.O.U.S." also featured appearances by 98 Degrees and Fat Joe.In 2002, Puff Daddy gave 50 Cent rights to sample Biggie's verses from "Niggas" (a song from the Born Again album) into a song called "The Realest Niggas". It got out as a single and hit New York radio stations as a big hit. It was also released on some Rocafella Records B-sides and some street "mixtapes" by Eminem's "Shady Records" and other mixtapes made by street DJs. The song was also featured on "Bad Boys II OST". Since then, Eminem has made a remix of this song, he sings the end of the song, but changes his lyrics to say 'the realist label!'.
