Culture

Tupac Shakur: Happy Birthday, 2pac

by Jordan Yerman | June 16, 2009 at 08:55 am

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2pac, born Tupac Amaru Shakur, would have been 38 today. Born on June 16, 1971, Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas on September 16, 1996; the murder has never been solved.

Born in Harlem, NY, Tupac Shakur and his family moved first to Baltimore, and then to Marin City, California. A friend of mine had a few classes with Tupac at Tamalpais High School, whom he described as "not really into school, but very popular with girls". At the time, Shakur's dancing and rapping skills earned him a spot with Digital Underground. Soon after, he embarked on a solo career with 2pacalypse Now, and the rest is hip-hop history. Shakur is deified in the hip-hop community, though his frequent encounters with the law suggest that not everyone views him in such a charitable light. However, his musical legacy is undisputed.

I say it's crazy because there's no way Pac could have ever lived that long. Despite the fact that he was murdered, and in a lot of ways, the world was robbed of one of the greatest hip-hop poets to ever walk the earth, Pac lived so strongly and so boldly that he accomplished more in 25 years than most people can accomplish in 65. It wasn't his fate to live into his 30s, and I can't even imagine what a mature 2pac would look like at 38-years-old.

I don't agree with the above: many entertainers who led far more dangerous lives have survived to their forties and beyond. What strikes me is that Tupac's death seemed to stick gangsta rap in a rut, where it grew increasingly stale, where it pretty much remains today. Listening to a 2pac record (any 2pac record) gives a glimpse of what could have been.

This, of course presumes that he isn't still alive, as some tabloids would have you believe.