Tupac Shakur
QUICK FACTS
- NAME
- Tupac Shakur
- DEATH DATE
- September 13, 1996
- ORIGINALLY
- Lesane Parish Crooks
- AKA
- 2Pac
- Lesane Crooks
- Tupac
- FULL NAME
- Tupac Shakur
Synopsis
Born in New York City in 1971, Tupac Shakur, known by his stage name 2Pac, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold more than 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. Most of Tupac's songs are about growing up amid violence and hardship in ghettos, racism, other social problems and conflicts with other rappers during the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry. Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1996.
Early Life
Shakur has become a legend in hip-hop and rap circles for his talent, his violent behavior, and his brutal death. The son of Black Panther activists, Shakur was raised by his mother Afeni Shakur. She was actually in jail on bombing charges during her pregnancy with Tupac. She was later acquitted in the case. He had no contact with his biological father, Billy Garland, until he was an adult.
According to The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Shakur was originally named Lesane Parish Crooks, but his moniker was soon changed to Tupac Amaru Shakur. "Tupac Amaru" means "shining serpent." He had a difficult childhood, moving frequently around in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and the Bronx. Shakur received an education in radical politics from his mother, but he also saw some of life's hardships through her struggles with substance abuse. In his youth, he explored acting by becoming a member of the 127th Street Ensemble, a Harlem-based theater company.
As a teenager, Shakur attended the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he took acting and dance classes, including ballet. While living in Baltimore, he discovered rap and began performing as MC New York. In the late 1980s, Shakur and his family moved to the West Coast. He joined the Oakland, California-based hip-hop group Digital Underground, which earlier had scored a hit with the song "The Humpty Dance." Shakur appeared on two of the group's recordings—1990's This Is an EP and Sons of the P before going solo.
Debut as 2Pac
In 1991, Shakur emerged as a solo artist—using the name 2Pac—with his debut album 2Pacalypse Now. The track "Brenda's Got a Baby" reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart. His second album, Strictly 4 My N. I. G. G. A. Z., crossed over to the pop charts, with singles "I Get Around" and "Keep Ya Head Up." The album went platinum, selling more than a million copies.
Around this time, Shakur made his film debut in the 1992 urban crime dramaJuice with Omar Epps, Samuel L. Jackson and Queen Latifah. He showed his softer side in Poetic Justice (1993), which was billed as "A Street Romance." Shakur starred opposite Janet Jackson in the film. The following year, he played a drug dealer in the basketball drama Above the Rim.
Controversy
2Pac became quite a sensation, earning praise for his musical and acting talent as well as condemnation for his explicit, violent lyrics. Many of his songs told of fights, gangs, and sex. He appeared to be living up to his aggressive gangster rap persona with several arrests for violent offenses in the 1990s. In 1994, he spent several days in jail for assaulting director Allen Hughes and was later convicted of sexual assault in another case. Shakur himself fell victim to violence, getting shot five times in the lobby of a recording studio during a mugging.
The next year, after recovering from his injuries, Shakur was sentenced to four and a half years in prison in the sexual assault case. His third solo album,Me Against the World (1995), started out in the number one spot on the album charts. Many critics praised the work, noting that tracks like "Dear Mama" showed a more genuine, reflective side to the rapper. The possibility of an early death runs through several songs on this recordings - something that many have seen as a chilling moment of foretelling.
After serving eight months in prison, Shakur returned to music with the albumAll Eyez on Me (1996). He was reportedly released after Death Row Records CEO Marion "Suge" Knight paid a bond of more than $1 million as part of Shakur's parole. In his latest project, Shakur as the defiant street thug was back in full force on this recording. The song "California Love" featured a guest appearance by famed rapper-producer Dr. Dre and made a strong showing on the pop charts. "How Do You Want It" also was another smash success for Shakur. It appeared to be a golden time for Shakur.
Besides his hit album, Shakur continued to pursue his acting career. He landed several film roles around this time. He co-starred with Mickey Rouke in the 1996 crime drama Bullet. Before his untimely death, Shakur completed work on two other projects—Gridlock'd and Gang Related—that were released in 1997.
Violent Death
During his career, Shakur had become embroiled in a feud between East Coast and West Coast rappers. He was known to insult his enemies on his tracks. On a trip to Las Vegas to attend a boxing match, Shakur was shot while riding in a car driven by Knight on September 7, 1996. He died six days later, on September 13, 1996, from his injuries at a Las Vegas hospital. Shakur was only 25 years old at the time of his death, and his killer has never been caught. Since his death, numerous albums of his work have been posthumously released, selling millions of copies.
Shakur's life has inspired numerous books and theatrical productions, including the 2012 musical Holler If Ya Can Hear Me. That same year, he made a posthumous appearance at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with the help of technology. A 2-D image of the late rapper accompanied Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg during one of their performances at the California event. Shakur's return to the stage from beyond the grave stirred up a new wave of interest in his videos and his music
50 Cent
50 Cent | |
|---|---|
50 Cent at the CES 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show | |
| Born | Curtis James Jackson III July 6, 1975 South Jamaica, Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | |
| Years active | 1998–present |
| Home town | Queens, New York, New York |
| Net worth |  $155 million (2015)[1] |
| Children | 2 |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Instruments | |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | 50cent.com |
Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975),[2] known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, businessman, and investor. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of the borough of Queens, Jackson began selling drugs at age twelve during the 1980s crack epidemic. Although he left drug-dealing to pursue a musical career, he was struck by nine bullets in a 2000 shooting. After Jackson released the compilation albumGuess Who's Back? in 2002, he was discovered by Eminem and signed by Shady Records, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records.
With the aid of Eminem and Dr. Dre (who produced his first major-label album, Get Rich or Die Tryin'), Jackson became one of the world's best selling rappers and rose to prominence with East Coast hip hop group G-Unit(which he leads de facto). In 2003 he founded G-Unit Records, signing his G-Unit associates Young Buck, Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo. Jackson had similar commercial and critical success with his second album, The Massacre, which was released in 2005. He released his fifth studio album, Animal Ambition, in 2014 and is working on his sixth studio album: Street King Immortal.
During his career Jackson has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and won several awards, including a Grammy Award, thirteen Billboard Music Awards, six World Music Awards, three American Music Awards and fourBET Awards.[3] He has pursued an acting career, appearing in the semi-autobiographical film Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005), the Iraq War film Home of the Brave (2006) and Righteous Kill (2008). 50 Cent was ranked the sixth-best artist of the 2000s, the third-best rapper (behind Eminem and Nelly).[4] Rolling Stone consider Get Rich or Die Tryin' and “In Da Club" to be in their lists of “100 Best albums of the 2000s” and “100 Best songs of the 2000s” at numbers 37 and 13.[5][6]
ACE HOOD
Early life[edit]
Ace Hood was born in Port St. Lucie, Florida, on May 11, 1988 and was raised by his mother with his younger cousin Ty Barton, Jr. in Deerfield Beach, part of Broward County. He graduated from Deerfield Beach High School. Following a football injury in the 10th grade, and after realizing he wouldn't be able to go pro, the Broward County native began to seriously consider rapping as a career. So Hood teamed up with a local group called Dollaz & Dealz and released a single titled "M.O.E." in 2006. He also began promoting himself via open mic events and talent shows around town.[1][2]
Musical career[edit]
Early career[edit]
In 2007, he met DJ Khaled outside the office of the WEDR 99 Jamz (located at the South Florida) radio station, where they mainly played the hip hop and R&B music. After Ace gave Khaled an autobiography and his demo tape, Khaled asked Ace to do a freestyle over the instrumental of his song "I'm So Hood" (which during at that time, the song was released as his single from his second album, We the Best), and later signed Hood to hisWe the Best Music Group label.[3] Ace was named as an artist, along with several others, to be placed on the Freshmen of '09 by XXL magazine.[4]
2008: Gutta[edit]
His first album, Gutta, was released in 2008. Singles included "Cash Flow" featuring T-Pain and Rick Ross, and "Ride" featuring Trey Songz. Hood also released mixtapes called Ace Won't Fold and All Bets On Ace. He made a guest performance among several rappers on DJ Khaled's single "Out Here Grindin'", also featuring Akon, Rick Ross, Plies, Lil Boosie and Trick Daddy, which peaked at #38 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Ace Hood's biggest hit.[3] It is from Khaled's third studio album We Global, and was eventually certified gold by the RIAA. Ace Hood appeared on Wildstyle Radio on WUAG 103.1FM in Greensboro, North Carolina, on September 7, 2008, to promote his album, Gutta, along with DJ Khaled.[5] The album debuted at #36 on the Billboard 200, selling 25,000 copies its first week.
2009: Ruthless[edit]
On June 30, 2009, seven months later, Ace Hood released his second album, titled Ruthless, once again on Def Jam. The album's first single was "Overtime", which was produced by The Runners and featured Akon and T-Pain. The album's second single is "Loco Wit The Cake", which was produced by Schife, of the Palm Beach County Karbeen Mafia. The album's guest lists includes Rick Ross, Ludacris, Jazmine Sullivan, The-Dream, Birdman, and Lloyd. The album debuted at #23 on the Billboard 200, selling 20,000 copies its first week.
2011: Blood, Sweat, & Tears[edit]
Ace Hood confirmed that his third album will be called, Blood, Sweat & Tears. It was released on August 9, 2011. The first official single, "Hustle Hard", became Ace's highest charting solo single, peaking at #60 on the Billboard 100. The second official single is "Go 'N' Get It". Both tracks are produced by Lex Luger. The third single is "Body 2 Body" featuring Chris Brown and the song is produced by J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League. It peaked at #65 on the Hot 100. The album features artists like T-Pain, Yo Gotti, Kevin Cossom, Rick Ross &Lil Wayne. The album debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200, selling 26,000 copies, becoming the rapper's most successful album so far. He promoted the album with his first concert tour, the Hustle Hard Tour.[6] He also appeared on three tracks from DJ Khaled's fifth studio album, We the Best Forever: "I'm Thuggin'", "Future", and the "Welcome to My Hood (Remix)".
2012: Signing to Cash Money[edit]
Ace started the year 2012 by collaborating with Cash Money Records artist Bow Wow on a song called "We Going Hard". He will be appearing on Maybach Music's Self Made Vol. 2 album. Birdman & DJ Khaled signed Ace Hood and We The Best Music Group to Cash Money Records. Now DJ Khaled's label We The Best Music Group has combined with YMCMB family. Ace will be recording his fourth studio album under We The Best & Cash Money. He has also made numerous guest appearances on tracks by other huge recording artists since he was signed, like Talib Kweli, Jadakiss & Brisco. But the most noticed tracks he made a guest appearance on was "The Drill" by Game, also featuring Meek Mill, which appears on his California Republic. Ace Hood and Game have collaborated once before on a song called Different People for the Starvation mixtape.
2013: Trials & Tribulations[edit]
For his debut single on the We The Best & Cash Money label, he reunited with Trey Songz after 4 years, to make the early 2000s styled love single known as I Need Your Love. The song is produced by Ben Billionz. Ace started the year by releasing his mixtape Starvation 2 on January 10, 2013. The mixtape features guest appearances from Meek Mill, French Montana and Plies.[7] On January 16, 2013, Ace Hood announced his fourth studio album titled Trials & Tribulations and released the first single from the album titled "Bugatti" featuring Future and Rick Ross. The song is produced by Mike WiLL Made It.[8] On February 6, 2013, the music video was released for "Bugatti" featuring Future and Rick Ross.[9] The song made a hot-shot debut on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at #42. "Bugatti" has since peaked at #33 on the Hot 100, becoming Ace Hood's most successful single to date as a lead artist, and his first top 40 hit since "Out Here Grindin'". On February 19, 2013, it was announced that Trials & Tribulations would be released on July 16, 2013.[10]
On April 7, 2013, While stopping by Power 99 Philly to talk to Mina SayWhat about his "Trials and Tribulations" album, Ace Hood opens up about his family and deciding to go a different route with this album. He has showed an interest in working with Anthony Hamilton & John Legend on the album. He also plans to get Lil Wayne and Kendrick Lamar for the album too.[11] On May 6, 2013, Ace released the remix to "Bugatti" featuring all star guests DJ Khaled, Future, Meek Mill, T.I., Wiz Khalifa, Birdman, French Montana and 2 Chainz. On June 5, 2013, Ace Hood released the second single called "We Outchea" featuring his Cash Money label-mate Lil Wayne. On June 26, 2013, the final track listing was revealed revealing guest appearances on the album from Meek Mill, Anthony Hamilton, Chris Brown and Betty Wright.[12]
2014-present: Starvation 3 & Body Bag 3[edit]
Ace Hood began the year with the release of his Starvation 3 mixtape on January 17. The free project included features from We The Best label-mates Vado and Mavado, as well as Betty Wright and Kevin Cossom. Production for the mixtape came courtesy of Cool & Dre, The Renegades, StreetRunner, and The Beat Bully, among others.[13] Since then, he's been dropping off freestyles left and right, most of which was gathered up for the third installment of Ace's Body Bag mixtape series called Beast Mix. Body Bag 3 was released on August 29.[14] Two months after that, Ace Hood would team up with Rich Homie Quan for a return single titled "We Don't".[15]
Personal life[edit]
Ace Hood and his longtime girlfriend, Shanice Tyria Sarratt, welcomed twin girls, Lyric and Sailor Blu McColister into the world on May 25, 2011. Lyric, however, unfortunately died shortly after birth due to health complications.[16]
Discography[edit]
- Gutta (2008)
- Ruthless (2009)
- Blood, Sweat & Tears (2011)
- Trials & Tribulations (2013)
Award show performances[edit]
- BET Hip Hop Awards
- 2008: "Cypher 3" (with Juelz Santana, Fabolous and Jadakiss)
- 2011: "Cypher 5" (with Kevin McCall, Tyga and Chris Brown)
- BET Awards
- 2011: "Hustle Hard (Remix)" (with DJ Khaled, Rick Ross and Lil Wayne)[17]
References[edit]
- ^ Jump up to:a b Concepcion, Mariel (2008-05-20). "Ace Hood". Billboard.