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(#1) He Did Charity Work And Named His Publishing Company After A Terminally Ill Boy He Met
Pac named his publishing company, Joshua's Dream, after a terminally ill kid who wanted to meet the rapper/actor as his last wish. Pac granted 11-year-old Joshua Torres's wish when he flew to Aberdeen, MD, to visit the boy experiencing complications from muscular dystrophy. When Pac was on trial, the Torres family wrote a letter to the presiding judge asking that he not put Pac in jail. -
(#2) He Began Performing Under The Name MC New York
Before he started using his given name as a stage name, Pac called himself MC New York. The irony is he went by the pseudonym after his family relocated from Harlem to Baltimore when he was a teenager. Pac lived in Baltimore only briefly. He attend the Baltimore School for the Arts and won a rap contest sponsored by the Enoch Pratt Free Library before moving to Northern California during his junior year. -
(#3) He Was A Member Of Digital Underground - And A Roadie
Pac's first major appearance as a rapper came via Digital Underground's "Same Song." The track featured on the Nothing but Trouble soundtrack, as well as Digital Underground's This Is an EP Release. Nothing but Trouble also marked Pac's first appearance in a major motion picture.Pac hooked up with the group, known for their hit "The Humpty Dance," and served as an MC and roadie. Digital Underground leader Shock G told Rolling Stone:
Setting the stage up was his thing. Of all the roadies we've had over the years, like in the 20-year period, they'd always wander off, get pulled into something by a chick, a party, or getting high. Sometimes we'd get to the hotel and find, "Hey, the turntables are still onstage at the Oakland Coliseum." Nothing got lost on Pac's watch. Nothing. He always handled his business. Pac was solid.
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(#4) Tupac Shakur Wasn't His Birth Name, But It Was A Tribute To An Incan Revolutionary
Most fans believe the iconic rapper's birth name was Tupac Amaru Shakur, but that's not the case. Pac was born in Brooklyn under the birth name Lesane Parish Crooks. His mother, Black Panther activist Afeni Shakur, renamed him a year after he was born. The name was a tribute to Tupac Amaru, an Incan revolutionary.
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(#5) He Started A Rap Duo With Ray Luv Before Going Solo
After leaving Digital Underground, Pac moved to Marin City, CA, where he and Ray Luv formed a group together. The two went on to make several songs as a duo and continued to work together as solo artists. Santa Rosa, CA, native Ray Luv was credited as a writer on Pac's first single, "Trapped."According to Luv, he initially wrote the song but threw it in a trash can, where Pac later found it and asked if he could use it. Luv recalled:
He read it and was like, "Man, this sh*t is dope." So I gave it to him. It was purely on love. I wasn't looking for no bread. Later he called me up and told me he had just recorded it as a single. He said "We want it to be the first f*ckn' single." And then he told me he was gonna shoot me a couple G's, which he did, and we was even.
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(#6) A Documentary On His Life Earned An Oscar Nomination
There have been roughly 15 documentaries featuring Pac, as well as numerous television shows and even a feature film based on his life, but only one has been nominated for an Academy Award. Tupac: Resurrection was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2005 awards show. The documentary lost out to Born Into Brothels, a film about the children of prostitutes in India's largest red-light district.
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(#7) Tupac And Notorious B.I.G. Started Out As Friends
Before they became mortal enemies, Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. were good friends. Although already a megastar, Pac was highly instrumental in Big's development as an artist prior to their falling-out, hanging out with Big in Brooklyn and inviting him on stage, including the now notorious "Where Brooklyn At" freestyle. The two later appeared together on tracks "Let's Get It On" and "Runnin'."
The two stars allegedly had a falling-out after Pac was robbed and shot outside a New York City recording studio in 1994. Pac claimed Big knew the suspects.
Naughty by Nature's Treach told MTV News:
[Pac] really thought when he got shot the first time, that... not Big set it up or anything, just Big didn't tell him who did it. In his heart, he was like, "The homie know who did it."
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(#8) He Planned To Build A Rap Supergroup To Unite The Coasts
Pac planned to unite both coasts with a project called One Nation that included several rappers from California, the South, and the East Coast. He outlined plans for the project in a letter he wrote while serving eight months in prison for sexual abuse.
Pac planned for One Nation to include E-40, Outkast, Scarface, Outlawz, Buckshot, Greg Nice, and more. Some of the unfinished songs were on the Makaveli bootlegs that leaked after Pac's death.
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(#9) His Work Ethic Was Legendary
Pac's work ethic is infamous. He was known to record multiple songs in one night. Although some of the songs were meant for other artists, Pac recorded his vocals for every song on his double album All Eyez on Me in just two weeks.According to collaborator Nate Dogg, Pac had a reason for the rushed pace: He wanted to leave Death Row Records. He explained:
[Working with Pac was] like working with your little brother. He was a little wild muthaf*cka, full of life. He got an opportunity and ran with it. 'Cause he didn't want to be on Death Row Records. And I think he had a three or four... I'm not sure what kind of album deal he had. But he wanted to get off, though. So he pushed out at least two to three songs a day.
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(#10) Many Think 'All Eyez On Me' Was The First Double Album In Hip-Hop, But It Wasn't
All Eyez on Me is commonly referred to as the first double album in hip-hop history, but that is not technically true. It was the first double album of original music in the genre, but the distinction belongs to Boogie Down Productions. BDP's Live Hardcore Worldwide, released in 1991, included 24 tracks of live music and new songs spread out over two LPs.
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(#11) Pac's Decision To Record 'Got My Mind Made Up' Increased The Rift Between Him and Dr. Dre
Inspectah Deck and The Lady of Rage's verses were cut from Pac's song "Got My Mind Made Up." Both MCs were on the song when it was originally recorded for the Dogg Pound, but when Pac got out of jail, the song was given to him. Listeners can hear Deck's tag "INS the Rebel" at the end of the track.
According to producer Daz Dillinger, Pac's decision to take the song increased the rift between the rapper and Dr. Dre. Dillinger explained:
Pac didn't know that I did the beat, 'cause Dre said he did the beat. Then, when they came playin' it, I said, "N****, that's my shit." That's when Tupac and Dr. Dre got into a little [verbal altercation].
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(#12) He Was Fired From 'Menace II Society' For Attacking The Director
Tupac was supposed to play the character Sharif in Menace II Society, but one of the film's directors, Allen Hughes, kicked him off the movie for causing problems on the set. The dispute eventually became physical, and Pac fought both Allen and his brother, Albert. He was eventually found guilty of assault and battery.
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Tupac Shakur is a famous American rapper, songwriter, and actor. Known by his stage name 2Pac and his alias Makaveli. In 1991, when he released his first album 2Pacalypse Now, he had become a central figure in West Coast hip-hop music, and his music was mostly related to social issues. Unfortunately, he was murdered in 1996. There are many fascinating stories in his short life.
Many people consider him to be one of the most influential rappers of all time. The random tool has collected 12 fascinating facts about Tupac Shakur, do you know that he began performing under the name MC New York? Here shows more information about him.
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