This week in Hip-Hop History, the hip-hop world and urban America sat silent as we learned that Tupac Amaru Shakur was shot and killed leaving a fight in Las Vegas. There are many speculations about who killed Tupac and why. Many urban legends say that it was an inside job by owner of Death Row Records (Tupac's label) Suge Knight (especially after the death of Bad Boy Records' and well-known rival (former ally) Notorious B.I.G. 6 months later).
Shakur was an actor, poet, and rapper having won many awards for his albums and gone platinum several times (even after his death).
Tupac stepped onto the 90s rap scene as a part of Digital Underground before releasing his first solo project 2pacalypse Now in 1991 on Jive/Interscope Records. From then on he went to release a total of three solo albums on Jive before getting arrested and serving time for violating probation (Tupac had several legal problems including being accused of rape, a wrongful death suit, and attacking an employee).
After his release, he then made the West Coast switch to Death Row Records owned and operated by Suge Knight with clients that included Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. His first album on Death Row, All Eyez on Me, went platinum (multiple times over) and began to shine a light on him and his affiliates.
Within a year of being signed to Death Row, Shakur was gunned down by an unidentified shooter after leaving a fight in Las Vegas and posing for this picture a few minutes earlier:
Tupac influenced a generation, he was more than a "thug" and convict, he did a lot for his community and left an everlasting mark on the hip-hop industry.
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