1971—1996

American rapper and actor Tupac (2Pac) Amaru Shakur was born Lesane Parish Crooks in 1971 in Manhattan. His family then moved to Baltimore around the age of 13, and then the San Francisco Bay Area around the age of 17. By the age of 20, he had become a major figure in West Coast hip hop.

With over 75 million records sold worldwide, Tupac is one of the best-selling music artists of all time. He also appeared in four Hollywood films, including Juice (1992) and Poetic Justice (1993). He was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996.

His unpublished family photographs, intimate stories, handwritten song lyrics, contracts, scripts, poetry, and other papers were published posthumously in Tupac Shakur Legacy (2006) an “interactive biography” by Jamal Joseph.