Ms. Perez
Language Arts
4/4/13
Tupac Amaru Shukur was born June16, 1971 in New York City, New York. Born in Brooklyn under the name Lesane Parish Crooks, Tupac Shakur received the name with which he came to be known to the world from his mother which was in the Black Panther activist; Afeni Shakur, in tribute to Incan revolutionary Tupac Amaru. His biological father had separated from his mother before his birth, and his stepfather was imprisoned for armored car robbery when he was two years old, leaving his family to struggle frequently under conditions of extreme poverty. While a teenager in Baltimore, Tupac developed an interest in performance; eventually he managed to gain entrance to The Baltimore School for the Performing Arts, where he studied acting and ballet. Before he could complete his education, however, he was forced to relocate to California. Tupac Amaru Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur was one of the most influential poets; slash song writers, slash actors, and much more than that he was an icon for all those who knew the harsh reality of “Thug Life” Tupac Shakur 1994. Before his death he accomplished more than any of us will in our life. During his short life, Tupac Amaru Shakur became a living symbol of his generation’s frustration and rage. As a rapper, his songs often depicted the misery, desperation, and violence of ghetto life. As a personality, he easily embodied the common street thug that spoke his mind and soul. As an actor, he was charismatic and very natural; he appeared in five films and was offered a chance at the big screen in a variety of personas. But Shakur never had time to realize any of these embodiments. The sons of political activists Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland, Tupac grew up a troubled child. His home life was unstable, and he ended up moving from one inner-city community to another. Because of that instability, Shakur sought to assert himself through gangs. By the time he was twenty, Shakur had been