Shakur, Tupac 255a 1981 Brinks armored car robbery that left two New York
policemen and a Brinks guard dead. Mutulu went under-
ground for several years, maintaining his innocence, but
was arrested in 1986 and found guilty of the robbery and
attempting to break famed African American activist As-
sata Shakur out of prison.
With Mutulu on the run, Afeni and her children
moved between Harlem and the Bronx during the 1970s
and mid-1980s. Hip-hop was developing in the Bronx at
this time, potentially off ering Tupac his fi rst exposure to the
culture in which he would later become a legend. In 1983,
Tupac enrolled in the Harlem-based 127th Street Ensemble
theater group, where he played Travis in Lorraine Hans-
berry’s “A Raisin in the Sun.” Th at same year, Afeni Shakur
was introduced to crack cocaine by her boyfriend “Legs,” a
gangster and street hustler. As a result, Afeni and her family
spent many of the next few years living in homeless shelters
while on welfare.
In 1985, Afeni moved her family to Baltimore, where
Tupac enrolled in the Baltimore School for the Arts. In ad-
dition to studying jazz, ballet, and poetry, he continued
acting and performed in various Shakespeare plays before
landing the role of the Mouse King in “Th e Nutcracker.”
Tupac also began his rap career while in Baltimore. With
his friend Dana “Mouse” Smith as his beatbox, Tupac began
competing with the other kids in his school, quickly gain-
ing recognition as one of the best. Around this time, he also
wrote his fi rst rhyme, inspired by the fatal shooting death
of a friend, under the name MC New York. Despite his
obvious poverty, Tupac used his signifi cant charisma and
sense of humor to parlay his connection to New York into
a tough-guy reputation, adding a swagger and air of cool to
his already-popular school persona. While at school, Tupac
also fi rst met Jada Pinkett (later wife of Will Smith), who
would be a close friend until his death.
Afeni again moved her family in 1988, taking them to
Marin City, California. In Marin City, a poor and predomi-
nantly African American section of the otherwise affl uent
Marin County, Tupac underwent one of the most painful
parts of his life. Afeni’s drug addiction grew worse, and
Tupac became increasingly responsible for his family’s well-
being. Although he tried to stay involved in the performing
arts, he eventually dropped out of high school, moved from
his mother’s house, and began selling drugs.
By the end of the 1980s, Tupac dropped MC New York
in favor of his given name and was rapping with a localfragmented nature of Tupac’s music, namely the tension be-
tween sensitive social and political awareness and the need
to be a hardened “gangsta.” Th rough the continuous release
of posthumous albums, and the establishment of the Tupac
Amaru Shakur Foundation by his mother, Tupac’s legacy
has been profound. Th e intelligence, astute social com-
mentary, and keen political awareness—all a product of his
unique upbringing—combined with the swagger, continued
legal troubles, and violence of his public persona, have all
contributed to the mythologizing of Tupac into a black folk
hero or martyr for the hip-hop generation. Like no other
musician save Elvis, the mythology surrounding Tupac has
given rise to the belief that he still lives.
Afeni Shakur, a member of the Black Panther Party, be-
came pregnant with Tupac while out on bail, having been
arrested in April 1969, along with 20 other New York Black
Panthers, for allegedly conspiring to bomb several New
York locations, including police and train stations. Midway
through her pregnancy, the bail was revoked, and she was
again incarcerated. At trial, Afeni—though 8 months preg-
nant and lacking a high school diploma—acted as her own
lawyer and succeeded in getting herself acquitted for lack
of evidence.
Once out of jail, Afeni married fellow black revolution-
ary, Mutulu Shakur, who was later accused of orchestrating
Tupac Shakur in a scene still from Gang Related ( 199 7). (Photofest)