Name	Yukmouth
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jerold Dwight Ellis III
Alias	Thug Lord, Mr. Smoke-A-Lot
Born	October 18, 1974
Origin	East Oakland, Oakland, California, USA
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	1994 – present
Label	Rap-A-Lot, Smoke-A-Lot, Asylum, Godzilla
Associated acts	Luniz, The Regime, Thug Lordz, Too Short
Url	www.smokealotrecords.com

Jerold Dwight Ellis, III, (born October 18, 1974 in Oakland, California) better known by his stage names Yukmouth & Yuk, is an Grammy-nominated American rapper from East Oakland, Oakland, California. He is the founder of The Regime, Smoke-A-Lot Records and Godzilla Entertainment.

He is a member of the platinum-selling rap duo Luniz along with Numskull. Luniz recorded the successful weed anthem, "I Got 5 on It". He went on to sign a solo record deal at J-Prince's Rap-a-Lot Records, releasing four albums. His double album debut on the label, entitled went gold. Under his own label, Smoke-a-Lot Records, he has released DVD's and compilation albums, such as the United Ghettos of America series.

He is a member of Thug Lordz, with C-Bo and Spice 1. He is known in the rap industry for both his remarkable history of collaborations and his ruthless diss tracks.

Smoke-A-Lot Records

Yukmouth is CEO of Smoke-a-Lot Records, which is distributed by Rap-a-Lot Records. The label is home to established artists such as Luniz, Dru Down, Thug Lordz (Yukmouth, C-Bo & Spice 1), The Regime, and Yukmouth himself. The Regime is a large collective of MCs including Tech N9ne, Tha Realest, Dru Down, GONZOE, Monsta Ganjah and Messy Marv among various others. It is home to new comers Ampichino, Nyce, Young Dru, and Marc Shyst. Attached to the label as In-House DJ is former Cali Untouchable DJ, DJ Fingaz.

Feuds

Too Short

Luniz had an early rivalry with fellow Oakland rapper Too Short. The rivalry began in 1994 shortly after Luniz released the undeground EP Formally Known As Lunitunz (later re-released as Bootlegs and B-Sides in 1997). Around the time Chris Hicks brought out Luniz, Too Short introduced his rap duo Bad-N-Fluenz consisting of Ant Diddley Dog and the late Rappin Ron. Due to the rising popularity between the two duos in the streets of Oakland, both Too Short and Chris Hicks set up a freestyle battle between the two acts. The agreement was the loser of the battle would buy pizza for everyone who was at the studio who witnessed the battle. No one outside The Dangerous Crew or C-Note Records circle knows the true outcome of the battle, however it was this event that is credited for spawning the feud between the two crews. Later that year Too Short relocated to Atlanta, GA and Luniz taunted him on the song "Playa Hata" with the lyric "that's why The Town got rid of Short" which led to rumors of Too Short being ran out of Oakland against his own will. Too Short responded back on his tenth album with the song "That's Why" with the hook mimicking lyrics from Luniz song. On the song he boasts "Rappin Ron tore them up on the freestyle tip, them niggas ain't ran nobody outta shit." Too Short continued to take shots at Luniz on the song "Trouble" from J-Dubb's EP Game Related. The artists later "squashed" their rivalry by appearing on a track together called "Funkin' Over Nothing", however Yukmouth continued to later take shots at Too Short alongside Scarface & Master P on the song " Friends" from his compilation United Ghettos of America. Since then Yukmouth appeared on the Too Short compilation released in 2007 titled "I Love the Bay."

Master P

Yukmouth's most famous and long lasting rivalry is with veteran rapper Master P. Yukmouth has claimed in numerous songs that he used to know Master P before either man became a famous rapper. According to Yukmouth, Master P "stole" or copied Yukmouth's nickname "The Ice Cream Man". In 1993 Dru Down released single and video "Ice Cream Man" featured on the album Fools from the Streets (Later re-released in 1994 as Explicit Game). In 1995, Operation Stackola featured a remix of "Ice Cream Man" called "Yellow Brick Road" containing the original hook with the lyrics "It's the Ice Cream Man! Bitch don't you hear the music?". Ice Cream Man later became the name of a Master P CD in 1996. Yukmouth, also claims that Master P, uses Tupac Shakur's name to gain fame, as noted in the West Coast Bad Boys Compilation in the song "Tupac Shakur tribute." Yukmouth has dissed Master P on every solo CD that he has recorded (with the exception of his latest CD's Million Dollar Mouthpiece, The West Coast Don and Free at Last) , along with both of the United Ghettos of America CDs and all of his mixtapes.

G-Unit

Yukmouth has had a rivalry with G-Unit. Yukmouth first took shots at 50 Cent on the song "Thug Lordz" with C-Bo from his 2003 release Godzilla and later collaborated with Silverback Guerillaz aka Bang 'Em Smurf & Domination on the song "He Ain't a Thug" from the album In Thugz We Trust. Yukmouth had an ongoing feud with Spider Loc which began with an altercation at a L.A. nightclub where he was jumped by Spider Loc and his entourage, one of whom managed to steal Yukmouth's chain. Yukmouth reclaimed his chain the very next day as a mutual friend intervened. Yukmouth disses Spider Loc in many songs such as "Aaaadadamean", "Get Wild", "Im Da Shit" and "Playa Hata". In a recent interview, Yukmouth stated he and Spider Loc ended the rivalry by way of a phone conversation they had.

The Game

Yukmouth first met The Game at a club stating he had a feud with 50 Cent. Game released a diss track aimed at the rapper, entitled "I Got a Mill on It," over the "I Got 5 on It" instrumental, a song which Yukmouth recorded when he was a part of Luniz. [2] Yukmouth responded with the track "Game Over" using the instrumental from Young Buck's song "Let Me In" that mocked Game's appearance on Change of Heart. The two later tried to bury the hatchet, due to a personal friend and even recorded a song together with C-Bo's protege Speedy, named "Peace". However the rivalry continued afterward, since Game dissed Yukmouth on the "Peace" song (they recorded their verses separately). [3] Since then, Yukmouth responded by releasing the song and music video "Game Over Part 2" over Fabolous' "Breathe" instrumental in which it parodied Game. In the video there is a look-a-like of the rapper getting robbed and beaten up. Yukmouth claimed on the song that Game had a tongue ring and was slapped by mogul Suge Knight. Yukmouth dissed The Game once more with the song "Wartime". Since the West Coast Peace Conference both rappers ended the feud and have recorded a song with Erick Sermon called "Across The Coast" on a Game mix cd called "The Face Of L.A.".

Afroman

Yukmouth has called out fellow California rapper Afroman on "World War 3" on his Million Dollar mixtape. Yukmouth called him a "backpack mother a... drunk ass, 40 oz drinkin ass nigga." After Afroman spoke on him in an interview. Afroman is rumored to have dissed Yukmouth in "Whack Rappers 2"(Yukmouth is not mentioned or referred to in whack rappers 2).

Numskull

Numskull is one half of the platinum selling group Luniz. After years of bad press between the duo, multiple songs that depict them saying bad things of one another, it finally happens. Numskull attends the infamous BARS awards and tells the crowd " Yukmouth", and then puts a wad of money up and says "I bet 10 racks he wont come up here", and is soon after stormed up on stage by the late Pretty Black. Two diss tracks are later released, one of which was released on Yukmouth's Lord of War mixtape titled "I dont miss my dawgs".

Yukmouth revealed many new details about the Numskull beef and how Luniz were formed. Among other things, he stated that "the group was an idea he came up with while in prison, that he came up with the logo and the names Luniz, Yukmouth and Numskull". He stated that before Luniz, Numskull was rapping under the name "The Skinny One" but was prompted by Yukmouth to change his stage name.

Squashed Beef

Yukmouth has confirmed that he had settled his grievances with Daz Dillinger, The Game, Young Buck, JT the Bigga Figga and Master P. Yukmouth claimed in the interview that "all beef is squashable."

Yukmouth claims that he no longer has a rivalry with 50 Cent and The Game on the track "Bloody Mary" on his latest mixtape, The City of Dope Volume 1.

Discography

1998:

2001:

2003: Godzilla

2008: Million Dollar Mouthpiece

2009: The West Coast Don

2010: ''Free at Last

2011: Thuggin' & Mobbin'

Filmography

Original Gangstas (1996)

Mexican Blow (also released as Warrior) (2002) - The Midnight Sun

United Ghettos of America vol. 1 (2002)

United Ghettos of America vol. 2 (2004)

T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience (2004)

United Ghettos of America: Eye Candy (2007)

Yukmouth Uncut (2007)

Million Dollar DVD (2007)

Awards

Grammy Award nominations

References

External links

Official Website

Showcase Magazine article on The Luniz

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:Rappers from California Category:People from Oakland, California Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area

Name	Tech N9ne
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Aaron Dontez Yates
Born	November 08, 1971
Origin	Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	1985–present
Associated acts	The Regime, K.A.B.O.S.H., 57th Street Rogue Dog , Nnutthowze, 816 Boyz, Krizz Kaliko, Kutt Calhoun, Yukmouth
Label	Strange Music
Url	TheRealTechN9ne.com

Aaron Dontez Yates (born November 8, 1971), better known by his stage name Tech N9ne (pronounced "Tech Nine"), is an American rapper from Kansas City, Missouri. In 1999, Yates and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music. Throughout his career, Yates has sold over one million albums and has had his music featured in film, television, and video games. In 2009, he won the Left Field Woodie award at the mtvU Woodie Awards.

Early life

Tech N9ne was born Aaron Dontez Yates on November 8, 1971 in Kansas City, Missouri. He never met his father, and his mother suffered from epilepsy and lupus when he was a child, which deeply affected him and inspired him to "search for God". Yates later applied a deeper meaning to the name, claiming that it stands for the complete technique of rhyme, with 'tech' meaning technique and 'nine' representing the number of completion.

Career

Early in his career, Yates was a member of a group called Black Mafia. He saw glimpses of success in the group 57th Street Rogue Dog with their single "Let's Get Fucked Up." As a member of the group Nnutthowze, Aaron Yates signed with Perspective Records in 1993. However, the group disbanded soon after being released from the label. Yates signed with Qwest Records briefly before moving to JCOR Records. The following year, he was featured on the soundtrack for the film Gang Related. Yates appeared on the song "The Anthem" by Sway & King Tech in 1999, which also featured artists RZA, Eminem, Xzibit, Pharoahe Monch, Jayo Felony, Chino XL, KRS-One, and Kool G. Rap. Later that year, he and Travis O'Guin founded the record label Strange Music.

In 2001, Yates released the studio album Anghellic on JCOR Records. The following year, he released Misery Loves Kompany. Yates announced that the album was the first in a series of "Tech N9ne Collabos" albums that feature a wide range of guest appearances. That September, he exceeded one million album sales.

Yates later performed at the Rock The Bells 2009 Festival and the tenth annual Gathering of the Juggalos. That October, he released K.O.D., short for King of Darkness. The album featured a dark overtone, as Yates was dealing with the illness of his mother. An EP of cut songs from the album was released in 2010 as The Lost Scripts of K.O.D. Later that year, Yates released his third Collabos album, The Gates Mixed Plate. Yates hopes to feature both T-Pain and Lil Wayne on his song "Fuck Food" on the new album. Yates was originally set to score the entire film Alpha Dog, but the studio decided to replace some of his music with more commercially known songs. In 2009, his song "Let's Go" was used in an online promotional short film for AXE body spray. Yates also appears as an actor in the films Vengeance and .

Video games

Several of Yates' songs are featured in the video games Madden NFL 2006, ,EA Sports MMA, and 25 To Life, the latter of which Yates is also an unlockable character. In 2009, Yates and label mate Krizz Kaliko appeared in a promotional video for the Fight Night Round 4 video game.

Television

Yates' music has appeared on the television shows Dark Angel, I'm From Rolling Stone, My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Spike Guys' Choice Awards, and Warren The Ape. In 2008, his song "Earthquake" was featured on an episode of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew in which the crew had to visually convey the title of the song in their performance. On the August 15, 2009 Strikeforce event, , MMA fighter Gilbert Melendez entered the arena to Tech N9ne's 2006 song "The Beast" for his bout with Mitsuhiro Ishida. His song "Riot Maker" was used as the official theme song for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's 2010 Hardcore Justice pay-per-view.

Discography

Studio albums

1999: The Calm Before the Storm

2000: The Worst

2001: Anghellic

2002: Celcius

2002: Absolute Power

2006: Everready (The Religion)

2007: Misery Loves Kompany

2008: Killer

2009: Sickology 101

2009: K.O.D.

2010: The Gates Mixed Plate

2011: All 6s And 7s

;with K.A.B.O.S.H. 2011: Amafrican Psycho

EPs

2010: The Lost Scripts of K.O.D.

2010: Seepage

Mixtapes

2010: Bad Season with DJ Whoo Kid

Selected filmography

2003: Beef

2003: Das Bus

2004: T9X: The Tech N9ne Experience

2004: United Ghettos of America Vol. 2

2005: Hip Hop Nation Vol. 1

2005: Letter to the President

2006: Alpha Dog 2008: The Psychumentary

2009: The Life of Lucky Cucumber

2009: Strictly Strange

2010: K.O.D. Tour (Live in Kansas City)

2010: Vengeance

2011:

:Selected filmography notes :1. Tech N9ne does not physically appear, but he did have a helping hand in scoring the movie, this includes the placement of several of his songs in the films score as well as the appearance of a song from fellow label mates Skatterman & Snug Brim.

Awards and nominations

mtvU Woodie Awards

References

External links

Official website

Category:1971 births Category:African American rappers Category:Horrorcore artists Category:Living people Category:Rappers from Missouri Category:People from the Kansas City metropolitan area Category:Underground rappers

Name	Tha Realest
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jevon Jones
Alias
Born	October 11, 1973
Origin	Dallas, Texas, United States
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	1993 – present
Label	Death RowOmerta/Tommy BoyTru 'Dat'Team Dime/RBC Records
Associated acts	The Regime
Url	www.tharealest.com

Jevon Jones (born in Dallas, Texas) is an American rapper better known by his stage name Tha Realest, and formerly Tenkamenin The Vigilante (or simply Tenkamenin). His debut album, Witness Tha Realest, was released on July 14, 2009, following numerous delays. Tha Realest is also known, often in a negative light, for his strikingly similar appearance and voice to that of the deceased rapper and former label-mate, Tupac Shakur. Tha Realest is also a member of The Regime.

Early life

Jevon Jones was born in Dallas, Texas. His father worked as a preacher. As an Oak Cliff native, Jones started rapping in the early 1980s at the age of 10 and competed in rap battles on the local circuit. In the early 1990s, Jones and former Dallas Cowboys player, Kevin Smith, formed their first record label.

Death Row Records

Jones began his association with Death Row Records in March 1996 when he auditioned for Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. Following Shakur's death in September 1996, Suge Knight offered Jones a contract with the label. while working on Suge Knight Represents: Chronic 2000, Tha Realest sustained relatively serious injuries to the foot, having been shot in a drive-by shooting after leaving the studio in which he had just finished recording a song with Tha Dogg Pound (Kurupt and Daz Dillinger).

After Death Row Records

Following Suge Knight's release from prison, Tha Realest left Death Row Records in late 2001 to pursue a record deal in order to release his debut album, for which he had recorded approximately 150 songs.

Tha Realest was signed to Tru 'Dat' Entertainment in 2006, a company founded by Hysear Randell to seek and recruit talented individuals in film, music, fashion and sports. The music video for his debut single, "Eurry Now and Then" was released shortly thereafter. It features cameo appearances by C-Bo, Yukmouth, Nutt-So, Young Hogg, Big C-Style and Ray J. In 2007, Hysear was accused of embezzling millions of dollars worth of tax payers money through fraudulent money transfers. Tru 'Dat' Entertainment was subsequently forced to discontinue the label.

On July 14, 2009, Tha Realest released his album Witness Tha Realest, which had been delayed substantially due to the demise of Tru 'Dat' Entertainment. It is distributed by E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records) via RBC Records and Team Dime Entertainment. Witness Tha Realest features guest appearances from Yukmouth, Fat Joe, Dru Down, C-Bo, WC, E.D.I., Napoleon, Devin The Dude and Swoop G among others. The albums contains 17 tracks, close to his initial goal of 18 when he told interviewers: Witness Tha Realest Mix Tape, which was released in November 2006 was originally meant to be the Witness Tha Realest studio album scheduled for release on July 15, 2004. This, however, changed due to the absence of a distribution company. He is also working on albums with long-time associate, C-Bo and Washington DC underground artist, Don Twizzi, and many popular pornographic actresses such as Mika Tan, Lyla Lei and Brooke Haven. The films were produced by Antiqua Pictures and Fatt Entertainment. The Realest also appeared in a low-budget film titled Slumber Party which was released in 2005 and also featured several former Death Row Records performers such as Daz Dillinger and Crooked I.

Discography

Studio albums

Witness Tha Realest (2009)

Compilations

(1999)

Too Gangsta for Radio (2000)

Filmography & TV Series

Pornographic movies

References

External links

Tha Realest Official website

Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:Death Row Records artists Category:Musicians from Dallas, Texas Category:American shooting survivors Category:Rappers from Texas Category:Plagiarism Category:1973 births

Name	Method Man
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Maslow Smith
Alias	Meth, Tical, Johnny Blaze, Methtical, Shakwon
Born	April 01, 1971
Origin	Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper, actor
Years active	1990–present (rapping)
Label	Def Jam
Associated acts	Wu-Tang Clan, Method Man & Redman, Erick Sermon, DMX, LL Cool J
Url

Clifford Smith (born April 1, 1971

4:21... The Day After

.]] Method Man's fourth album, entitled was released in August 2006 with a star lineup of producers featuring Havoc, Erick Sermon, Scott Storch, Allah Mathematics, Mr. Porter, and, most importantly to Meth, RZA. This time around, a more focused Method Man went back to his hip hop roots and both hip hop fans and the media took notice. He did an interview on the ItsHipHop.Tv. Despite this being one of Meth's strongest solo efforts to date, the album failed to do well commercially due to it having no single or video, which Method Man has held discontent towards his own label for. However, he has been touring strongly all over the world to promote the album, and has appeared onstage with fellow Wu-Tang member Inspectah Deck, as well as New York up and comers Saigon, and Gat Murdah. Meth contributed various reasons for the problems between him and his label, Def Jam. While puts most of the blame on personal agendas in the Def Jam offices, Meth did take some blame, himself, for giving into his record label.

In early May 2007, Method Man's camp leaked the street single "New York New York" which became a popular track on the internet.

Blackout! 2

On March 27, 2007, Redman confirmed on BET's Rap City: Tha Bassment that the sequel to How High, How High 2, is currently being written.

In an April 10, 2007 Onion AV Club interview, Redman hinted that there would be a second collaborative album with Method Man, with work beginning in midsummer or early September.

In early 2008, a remake of the Smoothe da Hustler and Trigger tha Gambler classic Broken Language was released to the internet by the duo entitled Broken Language 2008, fueling rumors of a Blackout! sequel coming soon. This rumor was further fueled by the duo while performing in Gainesville, Florida at the University of Florida. A Blackout! 2 LP was scheduled for a December 9, 2008 release but was recently pushed back to the first quarter of 2009, with a new release date on May 19. Bun B has confirmed that he will guest star on Blackout! 2 - in April 2009, a single has been released named City Lights, produced by Nasty Kutt Also producers such as Erick Sermon, Rockwilder and Pete Rock have announced their presence on the album.

The duo has finished their Still High tour with Termanalogy, the Alchemist, and Evidence of Dilated Peoples.

The Crystal Meth

The Crystal Meth is the Method Man's upcoming fifth studio album. The album has no confirmed release date. The Crystal Meth was first announced before Method Man began working on his and Redman's sophomore collaboration album, Blackout! 2. In the liner notes of that album, it was given a scheduled release date for 2009. The album, however, was further postponed until it was later mentioned in an MTV interview it would be released in early 2010. "Number 1 on my shit list right now is Divine from Wu-Tang management. He took something major from me that he had no intention of giving back." Divine is multiplatinum record producer RZA's brother who along with Oli "Power" Grant took over the business end of Wu-Tang around 1997.

Aside from the financial issues, Method Man was unhappy with the decision to bring Wu-Tang into the fashion world for a brief period of time with Wu-Wear, despite the brand being a major money-maker for the group. "When Wu-Wear started making shoes and sneakers and pants, it was shoddy material. I never rocked that shit."

Williams also reported rumors that Method Man had even been having an affair with his wife's doctor. Method Man first heard of this while in recording sessions in Los Angeles.

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Sean Combs

During a concert in 2006, Method Man criticized Diddy's decisions on the posthumous The Notorious B.I.G. album, saying that Biggie never would have worked with some of the subpar rappers. "They got niggas on that album Big would have never rocked with," Meth said of the album. "Musically, I ain't fuckin' with Puff Daddy". He also brought up the fact that he was the only other rapper that Biggie chose to have on his debut album Ready To Die. He was featured on the track "The What".

Previously, Diddy had been one of the executive producers for Method Man's 2004 album , to which Meth later voiced his displeasure on the final product.

Fox Television

He starred in a Fox sitcom called Method & Red in late 2004, however after only a short time on the air the show was put on hiatus and never returned. Method Man later complained in the press about Fox's influence on the show's style, claiming that "there's been too much compromise on our side and not enough on their side" and bemoaning the network's decision to add a laugh track. Before the show even aired for the first time, he was telling fans not to bother watching it. He told the newspaper:

Legal issues

On Thursday May 17, 2007 Method Man was arrested in New York City on marijuana charges. His Mercedes-Benz convertible was pulled over at the Battery Tunnel en route to Manhattan, and when he rolled his window down the officer noticed a strong smell of marijuana. "It was like something out of Cheech & Chong. He rolls down the window and the smoke would choke a horse," a source later said. The arresting officer said he noticed two blunts and a plastic bag with more marijuana in plain view. Upon further inspection more marijuana was found under the driver's seat. The arrest was made at about 10 P.M. Thursday night near the Battery Tunnel toll booths on Hamilton Ave. in Carroll Gardens.

He was charged with unlawful possession of marijuana, criminal possession of marijuana, operating a motor vehicle under the influence and driving an uninspected motor vehicle. He later made many public service appearances to try to make up for it, most notably at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn.

On 5 October 2009, Method Man was arrested for income tax violations after turning himself in. He is accused of failing to file income tax returns for the state of New York between 2004 and 2007 and owes nearly $33,000 in taxes.

Acting career

In the early 2000s Method Man began a career in acting. He has had recurring roles in critically acclaimed television shows such as HBO's The Wire in which he plays Prop Joe's nephew Cheese, HBO's Oz as Tug Daniels, The Twilight Zone and . He and Redman hosted a pilot on MTV called Stung. He has made numerous appearances as himself on TV shows such as Mind of Mencia and Chappelle's Show.

Method Man portrays on CSI, a wealthy Las Vegas party promoter who clashes with the CSI team, specifically investigator Nick Stokes, in their investigations involving his clubs or entourage. His first appearance on CSI as Drops was in the 2006 episode "Poppin' Tags". He resumed the role in the 2007 episode "Big Shots" and again in the 2008 episode "Drops Out".

His first prominent role came in 1998 with the film Belly along with fellow rappers Nas and DMX. He has since added many credits to his name, including roles in the films Garden State, One Eight Seven, and many others, with starring roles in the feature films such as How High and Soul Plane. On March 27, 2007 Redman confirmed on BET's show Rap City that the sequel to How High was being written. The script for How High 2 is being written by Dustin Lee Abraham of CSI, who also wrote the first movie. In 2005 Method Man also had a cameo in the horror movie Venom, where he played a deputy who shortly into the movie is killed. He appears in the 2008 movies The Wackness and also, Meet the Spartans.

Method Man stars in the episode "Snitch" of Law & Order SVU as the main antagonist. The episode was first broadcast December 4, 2007.

Method Man has made an appearance in the Def Jam series of video games. In he voiced Blaze, one of the main characters. In , he voiced Gooch, a major character in the storyline. In , He voiced Meth, one of the major characters. He made a guest appearance in the music video for the 2003 "If I Ain't Got You" by Alicia Keys, where he played the role of her boyfriend. He also appeared in Beanie Sigel's music video "Feel It in the Air", where Method Man played an undercover cop leading an operation against Sigel.

Method Man has fallen back from pursuing more acting roles after the situation with his sitcom on Fox left a bad taste in his mouth, and now mostly just acts if the project is being handled by a friend of his, as was the case with and The Wire. He also played an arsonist and a wealthy executive as well as main antagonist in an episode of the fox TV show the The Good Guys.

Method Man appears as a hip hop business mogul in an episode of Burn Notice.

Method man had a cameo appearance in the 1997 film Cop Land as a physically violent fleeing criminal that throws Peter Berg's character off of a New York rooftop. Method Man has also appeared in the TV drama Wonderland, as a patient in a mental hospital.

Other work

Method Man appeared in the 1995 documentary entitled The Show. There is a memorable scene in which Method Man, on a train in Japan, gets into an argument with U-God and Ghostface Killah, over camera time, radio interviews, and clothing mishaps.

In 2006, Method Man appeared on the MTV reality game show Yo Momma in the first episode of Season 1.

Method Man is the first of the Wu-Tang Clan to produce a series of eponymous graphic novels for Hachette Book Group USA's imprint Grand Central Publishing (to be followed by GZA and Ghostface Killah).

Discography

; Solo albums

Tical (1994)

(1998)

(2004)

(2006)

The Crystal Meth (2011)

; Collaboration albums

Blackout! (with Redman) (1999)

Blackout! 2 (with Redman) (2009)

Wu-Massacre (with Ghostface Killah and Raekwon) (2010)

Filmography

References

External links

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:1990s rappers Category:2000s rappers Category:2010s rappers Category:Actors from New York City Category:African American film actors Category:African American rappers Category:Def Jam Recordings artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Members of the Nation of Gods and Earths Category:People from Staten Island Category:Rappers from New York City Category:Wu-Tang Clan members

Name	Lil Jon|Background = solo_singer
Birth name	Jonathan Mortimer Smith
Born	January 27, 1971Atlanta, Georgia
Instrument	Keyboards, Synthesizers, Roland TR-808, Drum Machine, Sampler
Genre	Hip hop, Crunk
Years active	1993–present
Label	BME Recordings Universal Republic RecordsTVT Records (2001–2008)
Associated acts	Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz, Pitbull, Ying Yang Twins, Ice Cube, E-40, Ludacris, Lil Scrappy
Url

Jonathan Mortimer Smith (born January 27, 1971), better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American music producer, rapper, crunkster and occasional disc jockey who was a member of the group Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. He is often recognized for his hype shouts of "Yeah!", "What?", "Okay!", and "Everybody!". Lil Jon formed the group in 1997, and the group released several albums between then and 2004.

In March 2011, Lil Jon will be a part of the fourth season of The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.

Life and career

Lil Jon was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He lived in Bridgeport, Connecticut for a short time and many of his earliest influences stem from his time there. He attended Douglass High School, and later graduated from the Ohio State University in 1993, moving back to Atlanta to officially begin his music career. He worked for So So Def Recordings between 1993 and 2000. The group signed to the Atlanta-based Mirror Image Records and were distributed by Ichiban Records. In 1997, Lil' Jon & the East Side Boyz debuted with . It included singles "Who U Wit?" and "Shawty Freak a Lil' Sumthin'", the latter of which came out in 1998. Both singles charted on the Billboard Hot R&B;/Hip-Hop Songs chart at #70 and #62 respectively. Under BME Recordings, the group followed in 2000 with We Still Crunk, and scored a hit with "I Like Dem Girlz", which reached #55 on the R&B; chart and #3 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. Lil' Jon & The East Side Boyz signed to TVT Records in 2001 and debuted there with Put Yo Hood Up, which combined previously released tracks with new ones. The group's first nationally played single was "Bia' Bia'", a song written about and dedicated to Lil' Jon's girlfriend at the time. It featured rappers Ludacris, Too Short, Big Kapp, and Chyna Whyte.

In 2006, Lil' Jon severed his negotiation with record label TVT. He vowed never to record for TVT Records again, alleging that TVT owner Steve Gottlieb was shortchanging him.

}}

MTV News reported in March 2008 that Crunk Rock was taking more time to complete than Lil' Jon already planned. As part of TVT Records' 2008 bankruptcy auction, Lil' Jon withdrew his multi-million dollar objection to the TVT sale proceedings and agreed to TVT’s transfer of his artist agreement to The Orchard. In return, The Orchard released Lil' Jon from all future obligations and returned the rights to the master recordings of ''Crunk Rock' Crunk Rock features artists such as LMFAO, Soulja Boy, Ying Yang Twins, Waka Flocka Flame and Aaron Shaw'.

Musical style

Jason Birchmeier of allmusic has described Lil' Jon's production as "bass-heavy" and his album Put Yo Hood Up as having "a long and varied list of guest rappers to accompany the beats". With the guest performers featured on that album much more than the East Side Boyz, Birchmeier remarked: "[T]he end result is an album that resembles a street-level mixtape rather than a traditional artist-oriented album". Alex Henderson, also of allmusic, contrasted Lil' Jon's style of "rowdy, in-your-face, profanity-filled party music" with other Southern rappers', those who "have a gansta/thug life agenda" and those who convey "serious sociopolitical messages". Lil' Jon has also found influence in rock music, having worked with Rick Rubin and Korn. For Trick Daddy's "Let's Go", Lil' Jon sampled the bass line from Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train". Lil Jon is a fan of Atlanta Thrashers, a hockey team of the NHL and writes a blog on the NHL website NHL.com. On the blog, he has stated that his son plays hockey. Former Atlanta Thrashers goalie Kari Lehtonen once had a picture of Lil' Jon on the back of his helmet. Lil Jon has one son. On October 30, 2010 Lil Jon performed his first live DJ set in Seattle as a headliner at the annual Freaknight event.

Discography

Albums with the East Side Boyz:

(1997)

We Still Crunk!! (2000)

Put Yo Hood Up (2001)

Kings of Crunk (2002)

Crunk Juice (2004)

Solo albums:

Crunk Rock (2010)

Video games

:Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

25 To Life (cameo appearance)

"Get Low" song is featured in this game

Filmography

2004: Soul Plane

2005: Boss'n Up

2005: Hip-Hop Honeys: Las Vegas

2006: Date Movie

2006: Scary Movie 4

2007: Class of 3000

2008: Smoke and Mirrors

2009: Pimp My Ride International

2010: (voice only)

See also

List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References

External links

Official website

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:African American rappers Category:American dance musicians Category:American hip hop record producers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hip hop DJs Category:Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia Category:The Apprentice (U.S. TV series) contestants Category:TVT Records artists Category:Universal Records artists

Name	Killa Tay
Background	solo_singer
Alias	Tay Capone
Born	October 24, 1978
Origin	Fresno, California
Genre	West Coast hip hop, Rap, Gangsta rap
Occupation	Rapper
Years active	1995 - present
Label	AWOL Records
Associated acts	C-Bo, Missippi, Lunasicc, Guce, Bullys Wit Fullys, Hollow Tip
Url

Killa Tay is an American rapper from Fresno, California.

Biography

Born in Washington, D.C., he moved to Fresno while in his youth. Killa Tay is best known for his tenure on AWOL Records, including his collaborations with C-Bo, as well as his debut album, Mr. Mafioso, released in 1998. A few months after his debut, Killa Tay joined forces with Lunasicc and KJ to form the supergroup, Dosia. They went on to produce one album, Waiting to Inhale, released November 3, 1998 on AWOL Records.

In 2000, Killa Tay continued releasing solo projects, with Snake Eyes and Thug Thisle both being released that year.

Discography

Studio albums

1998: Mr. Mafioso

1998: Waiting to Inhale (with Dosia)

2000: Snake Eyes

2000: Thug Thisle

2001: Thug Religion

2001: Murder Show OST

2005: Flood the Market

2006: The Moment of Truth (with C-Bo)

2007: Paper Politicians (with Pat Lowrenzo Coleone)

with Bullys wit Fullys

2000: Westside Stories

2004: Gangsta Without the Rap

2005: 2.5 Hardball

2006: The Infrastructure

2008: The Best Of Bullys Wit Fullys: The Movement

External links

Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:People from San Francisco, California Category:Living people Category:1978 births

Name	Tupac Amaru Shakur
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Lesane Parish Crooks
Alias	2Pac, Pac, Makaveli
Origin	Marin City, California, U.S.
Born	June 16, 1971East Harlem, New York City, New York, U.S.
Died	September 13, 1996Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper, actor, record producer, poet, screenwriter, activist
Years active	1988–1996 (rapping)
Label	Interscope, Death Row, Amaru
Associated acts	Outlawz, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Digital Underground, Biggie, Richie Rich, K-Ci & JoJo, Dave Hollister, Johnny "J", Dr. Dre, Tha Dogg Pound, Boot Camp Clik, Nate Dogg
Url	www.tasf.org

Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world. In the United States alone he has sold 37.5 million records. Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time.

In addition to his career as a top-selling rap artist, he was a promising actor, and a social activist. Most of Shakur'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 began his career as a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.

In September 1996, Shakur was shot four times in the Las Vegas metropolitan area of Nevada. He was taken to the University Medical Center, where he died of respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.

Early life

Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City. He was named after Túpac Amaru II, a Peruvian revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain and was subsequently executed.

His mother, Afeni Shakur, and his father, Billy Garland, were active members of the Black Panther Party in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s; he was born just one month after his mother's acquittal on more than 150 charges of "Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks" in the New York Panther 21 court case.

Although unconfirmed by the Shakur family, several sources (including the official coroner's report) list his birth name as "Lesane Parish Crooks". This name was supposedly entered on the birth certificate because Afeni feared her enemies would attack her son, and disguised his true identity using a different last name. She changed it later, following her separation from Garland and marriage to Mutulu Shakur.

Struggle and incarceration surrounded Shakur from an early age. His godfather, Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt, a high ranking Black Panther, was convicted of murdering a school teacher during a 1968 robbery, although his sentence was later overturned. His stepfather, Mutulu, spent four years at large on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list beginning in 1982, when Shakur was a pre-teen. Mutulu was wanted in part for having helped his sister Assata Shakur (also known as Joanne Chesimard) to escape from a penitentiary in New Jersey, where she had been incarcerated for allegedly shooting a state trooper to death in 1973. Mutulu was caught in 1986 and imprisoned for the robbery of a Brinks armored truck in which two police officers and a guard were killed. Shakur had a half-sister, Sekyiwa, two years his junior, and an older stepbrother, Mopreme "Komani" Shakur, who appeared on many of his recordings.

At the age of twelve, Shakur enrolled in Harlem's 127th Street Repertory Ensemble and was cast as the Travis Younger character in the play A Raisin in the Sun, which was performed at the famous Apollo Theater. In 1986, the family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland. After completing his second year at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. He performed in Shakespeare plays, and in the role of the Mouse King in The Nutcracker. Although he lacked trendy clothing, he was one of the most popular kids in his school because of his sense of humor, superior rapping skills, and ability to mix in with all crowds. He developed a close friendship with a young Jada Pinkett (later Jada Pinkett Smith) that lasted until his death. In the documentary , Shakur says, "Jada is my heart. She will be my friend for my whole life," and Pinkett Smith calls him "one of my best friends. He was like a brother. It was beyond friendship for us. The type of relationship we had, you only get that once in a lifetime." A poem written by Shakur titled "Jada" appears in his book, The Rose That Grew From Concrete, which also includes a poem dedicated to Pinkett Smith called "The Tears in Cupid's Eyes". During his time in art school, Shakur began dating the daughter of the director of the Baltimore Communist Party USA.

In June 1988, Shakur and his family moved once again, this time to Marin City, California, He began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg in 1989. That same year, Steinberg organized a concert with a former group of Shakur's, Strictly Dope; the concert led to him being signed with Atron Gregory who set him up with the up-and-coming rap group Digital Underground. In 1990, he was hired as the band's backup dancer and roadie.

Legal issues

Even as he garnered attention as a rapper and actor, Shakur gained notoriety for his conflicts with the law. In October 1991, he attempted to file a $10 million civil suit against the law enforcement of the Oakland Police Department, alleging they brutally beat him for jaywalking.

In 1992, a Texas state trooper was killed by a teenager who was listening to 2Pacalypse Now which included songs about killing police. This caused a swirl of media controversy. Dan Quayle, the Vice President of the United States at the time, demanded that the album be withdrawn from music stores and media across the country; Interscope refused.

On August 22, 1992, in Marin City, California, Shakur rapped at an outdoor festival, and stayed for an hour signing autographs and pictures. Some earlier negative remarks made by Shakur about Marin City had caught up and when arguments started, voices got loud; he pulled a Colt Mustang, cocked it, fumbled and it fell. Someone picked up the gun and a bullet discharged. Though nobody in the crowd was shot, about 100 yards away, 6-year old Qa'id Walker-Teal rode a bicycle at a schoolyard and was hit in the forehead, the bullet killing him. Shakur and Mopreme left in their car and were stopped by an angry mob, by chance, in front of a sheriff's substation. The police "rescued" and took the two into custody, who were released without charge. In 1995, a civil case was brought up by Qa'id's mother. Shakur's lawyer said that the festival was a "nasty situation," and Shakur was saddened by the death of the boy. Shakur's record company settled the lawsuit for a figure reported between $300,000 and $500,000.

In October 1993, in Atlanta, two brothers and off-duty police officers, Mark and Scott Whitwell, were with their wives celebrating Mrs. Whitwell's recent passing of the state bar examination. As they crossed the street, a car with Shakur inside passed by them or "almost struck them," after which the Whitwells began an altercation with the driver, Shakur and the other passengers, which was then joined by a second passing car. Shakur shot one officer in the buttocks, and the other in the leg, back, or abdomen, according to varying news reports. There were no other injuries, but Mark Whitwell was charged with firing at Shakur's car and later lying to the police during the investigation, and Shakur with the shooting, until prosecutors decided to drop all charges against all parties.

In November 1993, Shakur and others were charged with sexually assaulting a woman in a hotel room. According to the complaint, Shakur sodomized the woman and then encouraged his friends to sexually abuse her. Shakur denied the charges. According to Shakur, he had prior relations days earlier with the woman; she performed oral sex on him on a club dance floor and the two later had consensual sex in his hotel room. The complainant claimed sexual assault after her second visit to Shakur's hotel room; she alleged that Shakur and his entourage gang banged her, and she said to Shakur when she left, "Why you let them do this to me?" Shakur said that he fell asleep shortly after the woman arrived and later awoke to her accusations and legal threats. In the ensuing trial, Shakur was convicted of sexual abuse. In sentencing Shakur to 1½–4½ years in prison, the judge described the crime as "an act of brutal violence against a helpless woman." After serving part of his sentence, Shakur was released on bail pending appeal. On April 5, 1996, a judge sentenced him to serve 120 days in jail for violating terms of his release on bail.

In 1995, a wrongful death suit was brought against Shakur for a 1992 shooting that killed Qa'id Walker-Teal, a six-year old of Marin City. The child was the victim of a stray bullet in a shootout between Shakur's entourage and a rival group. Ballistics tests proved the bullet that killed the boy was not from Shakur's or any members of his entourage's guns. No criminal charges were brought. Shakur settled with the family for an undisclosed amount, estimated at $300,000–$500,000.

November 1994 shooting

On the night of November 30, 1994, the day before the verdict in his sexual abuse trial was to be announced, Shakur was shot five times and robbed after entering the lobby of Quad Recording Studios in Manhattan by two armed men in army fatigues. He would later accuse Sean Combs, Andre Harrell, and Biggie Smalls—whom he saw after the shooting—of setting him up. Shakur also suspected his close friend and associate, Randy "Stretch" Walker, of being involved in the attempt. According to the doctors at Bellevue Hospital, where he was admitted immediately following the incident, Shakur had received five bullet wounds; twice in the head, twice in the groin and once through the arm and thigh. He checked out of the hospital, against doctor's orders, three hours after surgery. In the day that followed, Shakur entered the courthouse in a wheelchair and was found guilty of three counts of molestation, but innocent of six others, including sodomy. On February 6, 1995, he was sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison on a sexual assault charge.

A year later on November 30, 1995, Stretch was killed after being shot twice in the back by three men who pulled up alongside his green minivan at 112th Ave. and 209th St. in Queens Village, while he was driving. His minivan smashed into a tree and hit a parked car before flipping over.

On March 27, 2008, the LA Times issued an apology to Combs for blaming him for having a role in the November 1994 shooting. The article stated that Shakur was led to the studio by Biggie's associates to gun him down to make favor with Biggie. The newspaper relied on forged documents that The Smoking Gun proved to be faked. Combs stated that he is disgusted with the LA Times for printing the story.

Prison sentence

Shakur began serving his prison sentence at Clinton Correctional Facility on February 14, 1995. Shortly afterwards, he released his multi-platinum album Me Against the World. Shakur is the only artist ever to have an album at number one on the Billboard 200 while serving a prison sentence. The album made its debut on the Billboard 200 and stayed at the top of the charts for five weeks. The record album sold 240,000 copies in its first week, setting a record for highest first week sales for a solo male rap artist at the time. While serving his sentence, he married his long-time girlfriend, Keisha Morris, on April 4, 1995; the couple later divorced in 1996. While imprisoned, Shakur read many books by Niccolò Machiavelli, Sun Tzu's The Art of War and other works of political philosophy and strategy. He also wrote a screenplay titled Live 2 Tell while incarcerated, a story about an adolescent who becomes a drug baron.

In October 1995, Shakur's case was on appeal but due to all of his legal fees he could not raise the $1.4 million bail. After serving eleven months of his one-and-a-half year to four-and-a-half year sentence, Shakur was released from the penitentiary due in large part to the help and influence of Suge Knight, the CEO of Death Row Records, who posted a $1.4 million bail pending appeal of the conviction in exchange for Shakur to release three albums under the Death Row label.

Death Row Records

Upon his release from Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur immediately went back to song recording. He began a new group called Outlaw Immortalz. Shakur began recording his first album with Death Row and released the single "California Love" soon after. On February 13, 1996, Shakur released his fourth solo album, All Eyez on Me. This double album was the first and second of his three-album commitment to Death Row Records. It sold over nine million copies. The record was a general departure from the introspective subject matter of Me Against the World, being more oriented toward a thug and gangsta mentality. Shakur continued his recordings despite increasing problems at the Death Row label. Dr. Dre left his post as house producer to form his own label, Aftermath. Shakur continued to produce hundreds of tracks during his time at Death Row, most of which would be released on his posthumous albums R U Still Down? (Remember Me), Still I Rise, Until the End of Time, Better Dayz, Loyal to the Game and Pac's Life. He also began the process of recording an album with the Boot Camp Clik and their label Duck Down Records, both New York–based, entitled One Nation.

On June 4, 1996, he and Outlawz released the "Hit 'Em Up", a scathing lyrical assault on Biggie and others associated with him. In the track, Shakur claimed to have had intercourse with Faith Evans, Biggie's wife at the time, and attacks Bad Boy's street credibility. Though no hard evidence suggests so, Shakur was convinced that some members associated with Bad Boy had known about the '94 attack on him beforehand due to their behavior that night and what his sources told him. Shakur aligned himself with Suge, Death Row's CEO, who was already bitter toward Combs over a 1995 incident at the Platinum Club in Atlanta, Georgia, which culminated in the death of Suge's friend and bodyguard, Jake Robles; Suge was adamant in voicing his suspicions of Combs' involvement. Shakur's signing with Suge and Death Row added fuel to building an East Coast-West Coast conflict. Both sides remained bitter enemies until Shakur's death. On July 4, 1996, he performed live at the House of Blues with Outlawz, Tha Dogg Pound, and Snoop Doggy Dogg also headlining. This was Shakur's very last live performance.

While incarcerated in Clinton Correctional Facility, Shakur read and studied Niccolò Machiavelli and other published works, which inspired his pseudonym "Makaveli" under which he released the record album . The album presents a stark contrast to previous works. Throughout the album, Shakur continues to focus on the themes of pain and aggression, making this album one of the emotionally darker works of his career. Shakur wrote and recorded all the lyrics in only three days and the production took another four days, combining for a total of seven days to complete the album (hence the name).

Makaveli Records

He mentioned Makaveli Records a few times before his death. This was supposed to be a music label for up and coming artists that Shakur had an interest in developing or potentially signing, and his own future projects would have also been published through it as well.

September 1996 shooting and death

, from the cover of the book The Killing of Tupac Shakur by Cathy Scott]] On the night of September 7, 1996, Shakur attended the Mike Tyson–Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. After leaving the match, one of Suge's associates spotted 21-year-old Orlando "Baby Lane" Anderson, a member of the Southside Crips, in the MGM Grand lobby and informed Shakur, who then attacked Anderson. Shakur's entourage, as well as Suge and his followers, assisted in assaulting Anderson. The fight was captured on the hotel's video surveillance. Earlier that year, Anderson and a group of Crips had robbed a member of Death Row's entourage in a Foot Locker store, precipitating Shakur's attack. After the brawl, Shakur went to rendezvous with Suge to go to Death Row-owned Club 662 (now known as restaurant/club Seven). He rode in Suge's 1996 black BMW 750iL sedan as part of a larger convoy including many in Shakur's entourage.

At 10:55 p.m., while paused at a red light, Shakur rolled down his window and a photographer took his photograph. At around 11:00–11:05 p.m., they were halted on Las Vegas Blvd. by Metro bicycle police for playing the car stereo too loud and not having license plates. The plates were then found in the trunk of Suge's car; they were released without being fined a few minutes later. At about 11:10 p.m., while stopped at a red light at Flamingo Road near the intersection of Koval Lane in front of the Maxim Hotel, a vehicle occupied by two women pulled up on their right side. Shakur, who was standing up through the sunroof, exchanged words with the two women, and invited them to go to Club 662. Suge was hit in the head by fragmentation, though it is thought that a bullet grazed him. According to Suge, a bullet from the gunfire had been lodged in his skull, but medical reports later contradicted this statement.

At the time of the drive-by Shakur's bodyguard was following behind in a vehicle belonging to Kidada Jones, Shakur's then-fiancée. The bodyguard, Frank Alexander, stated that when he was about to ride along with the rapper in Suge's car, Shakur asked him to drive Kidada Jones' car instead just in case they were too drunk and needed additional vehicles from Club 662 back to the hotel. Shortly after the assault, the bodyguard reported in his documentary, Before I Wake, that one of the convoy's cars drove off after the assailant but he never heard back from the occupants.

After arriving on the scene, police and paramedics took Suge and a mortally wounded Shakur to the University Medical Center. According to an interview with one of Shakur's closest friends the music video director Gobi, while at the hospital, he received news from a Death Row marketing employee that the shooters had called the record label and were sending death threats aimed at Shakur, claiming that they were going there to "finish him off". Upon hearing this, Gobi immediately alerted the Las Vegas police, but the police claimed they were understaffed and no one could be sent.

Despite having been resuscitated in a trauma center and surviving a multitude of surgeries (as well as the removal of a failed right lung), Shakur had gotten through the critical phase of the medical therapy and was given a 50% chance of pulling through.

Murder case

Due largely to a perceived lack of progress by law enforcement in the investigation of Shakur's murder, many independent investigations and theories emerged. Because of the acrimony between Shakur and Biggie (who was murdered in March 1997), there was speculation from the outset about the possibility of Biggie's involvement. Biggie, as well as his family, relatives, and associates, vehemently denied all such accusations. In 2002, the LA Times published a story by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter Chuck Philips, who claimed to have uncovered evidence implicating Biggie, in addition to Anderson and the Southside Crips, in the attack. Philips quoted unnamed gang-member sources who claimed Biggie had ties to the Crips, often hiring them for security during West Coast appearances, and that Biggie colluded with the Crips to murder Shakur. In 2008, after The Smoking Gun reported that the documents relied upon by Philips for his story were fraudulent, the LA Times printed an official front-page retraction of Philips' story. Less than five months later, Philips accepted a buyout and left the LA Times.

In support of their claims, Biggie's family submitted documentation to MTV suggesting that he was working in a New York recording studio the night of the drive-by shooting. His manager Wayne Barrow and fellow rapper James "Lil' Cease" Lloyd made public announcements denying Biggie's partaking in the crime and claimed further that they were both with him in the recording studio during the night of the event.

The high profile nature of the killing and ensuing gang violence caught the attention of English filmmaker Nick Broomfield, who made the documentary film Biggie & Tupac which examines the lack of progress in the case by speaking to those close to the two slain rappers and the investigation. Shakur's close childhood friend and member of Outlawz, Yafeu "Yaki Kadafi" Fula, was in the convoy when the drive-by occurred and indicated to police that he might be able to identify the assailants, however, he was shot and killed shortly thereafter in a housing project in Irvington.

A DVD titled was released on October 23, 2007, more than eleven years after Shakur's murder. It explores aspects surrounding the event and provides fresh insights into the cold case with new details about the environment.

Influences

Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in many American, African-American, and World entities, including the Black Panther Party, Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty. His debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, revealed the socially conscious side of Shakur. On this album, Shakur attacked social injustice, poverty and police brutality on songs "Brenda's Got a Baby", "Trapped" and "Part Time Mutha". His style on this album was highly influenced by the social consciousness and Afrocentrism pervading hip hop in the late 1980s and early 1990s. On this initial release, Shakur helped extend the success of such rap groups as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash, as he became one of the first major socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.

On his second record, Shakur continued to rap about the social ills facing African-Americans, with songs like "The Streetz R Deathrow" and "Last Wordz". He also showed his compassionate side with the anthem "Keep Ya Head Up", while simultaneously putting his legendary aggressiveness on display with the title track from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. he added a salute to his former group Digital Underground by including them on the playful track "I Get Around". Throughout his career, an increasingly aggressive attitude can be seen pervading Shakur's subsequent albums.

The contradictory themes of social inequality and injustice, unbridled aggression, compassion, playfulness, and hope all continued to shape Shakur's work, as witnessed with the release of his incendiary 1995 album Me Against the World. In 1996, Shakur released All Eyez on Me. Many of these tracks are considered by many critics to be classics, including "Ambitionz Az a Ridah", "I Ain't Mad at Cha", "California Love", "Life Goes On" and "Picture Me Rollin'".; All Eyez on Me was a change of style from his earlier works. While still containing socially conscious songs and themes, Shakur's album was heavily influenced by party tracks and tended to have a more "feel good" vibe than his first albums. Shakur described it as a celebration of life, and the record was critically and commercially successful.

Personal life

Shakur was a voracious reader. He was inspired by a wide variety of writers, including William Shakespeare, Niccolò Machiavelli, Donald Goines, Sun Tzu, Kurt Vonnegut, Mikhail Bakunin, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Khalil Gibran. In his book, Dyson describes the experience of visiting the home of Shakur's friend and promoter Leila Steinberg to find "the sea of books" once owned by Shakur.

Legacy

, Germany]] At a Mobb Deep concert following the death of the famed icon and release of , Cormega recalled in an interview that the fans were all shouting "Makaveli," and emphasized the influence of The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory and of Shakur himself even in New York at the height of the media-dubbed 'intercoastal rivalry'.

Shakur is held in high esteem by other MCs – in the book How to Rap, Bishop Lamont notes that Shakur “mastered every element, every aspect” of rapping and Fredro Starr of Onyx says Shakur, "was a master of the flow." "Every rapper who grew up in the Nineties owes something to Tupac," wrote 50 Cent. "He didn't sound like anyone who came before him."

To preserve Shakur's legacy, his mother founded the Shakur Family Foundation (later re-named the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation or TASF) in 1997. The TASF's stated mission is to "provide training and support for students who aspire to enhance their creative talents." The TASF sponsors essay contests, charity events, a performing arts day camp for teenagers and undergraduate scholarships. The Foundation officially opened the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts (TASCA) in Stone Mountain, Georgia, on June 11, 2005. On November 14, 2003, a documentary about Shakur entitled was released under the supervision of his mother and narrated entirely in his voice. It was nominated for Best Documentary in the 2005 Academy Awards. Proceeds will go to a charity set up by Shakur's mother Afeni. On April 17, 2003, Harvard University co-sponsored an academic symposium entitled "All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero." The speakers discussed a wide range of topics dealing with Shakur's impact on everything from entertainment to sociology.

Many of the speakers discussed Shakur's status and public persona, including State University of New York at Buffalo English professor Mark Anthony Neal who gave the talk "Thug Nigga Intellectual: Tupac as Celebrity Gramscian" in which he argued that Shakur was an example of the "organic intellectual" expressing the concerns of a larger group. Professor Neal has also indicated in his writings that the death of Shakur has left a "leadership void amongst hip-hop artists." Neal further describes him as a "walking contradiction", a status that allowed him to "make being an intellectual accessible to ordinary people."

Professor of Communications Murray Forman, of Northeastern University, spoke of the mythical status about Shakur's life and death. He addressed the symbolism and mythology surrounding Shakur's death in his talk entitled "Tupac Shakur: O.G. (Ostensibly Gone)". Among his findings were that Shakur's fans have "succeeded in resurrecting Tupac as an ethereal life force." In "From Thug Life to Legend: Realization of a Black Folk Hero", Professor of Music at Northeastern University, Emmett Price, compared Shakur's public image to that of the trickster-figures of African-American folklore which gave rise to the urban "bad-man" persona of the post-slavery period. He ultimately described Shakur as a "prolific artist" who was "driven by a terrible sense of urgency" in a quest to "unify mind, body, and spirit".

Michael Eric Dyson, University of Pennsylvania Avalon Professor of Humanities and African American Studies and author of the book Holler If You Hear Me: Searching for Tupac Shakur indicated that Shakur "spoke with brilliance and insight as someone who bears witness to the pain of those who would never have his platform. He told the truth, even as he struggled with the fragments of his identity." At one Harvard Conference the theme was Shakur's impact on entertainment, race relations, politics and the "hero/martyr". In late 1997, the University of California, Berkeley offered a student-led course entitled "History 98: Poetry and History of Tupac Shakur."

In late 2003, the Makaveli Branded Clothing line was launched by Afeni. In 2005, Death Row released . The DVD was the final recorded performance of Shakur's career, which took place on July 4, 1996, and features a plethora of Death Row artists. In August 2006, Tupac Shakur Legacy was released. The interactive biography was written by Jamal Joseph. It features unseen family photographs, intimate stories, and over 20 removable reproductions of his handwritten song lyrics, contracts, scripts, poetry, and other personal papers. Shakur's sixth posthumous studio album, Pac's Life, was released on November 21, 2006. It commemorates the 10th anniversary of Shakur's death. He is still considered one of the most popular artists in the music industry .

According to Forbes, in 2008 Shakur's estate made $15 million. In 2002, they recognize him as a Top Earning Dead celebrity coming in on number ten on their list.

Library of Congress

Shakur's hit song "Dear Mama" is one of 25 songs that was added to the National Recording Registry in 2010. The Library of Congress has called "Dear Mama" "a moving and eloquent homage to both the murdered rapper's own mother and all mothers struggling to maintain a family in the face of addiction, poverty and societal indifference." This honor comes seven days after his birthday, where the rapper would have been 39. Shakur is the third rapper to enter the library, behind Grandmaster Flash and Public Enemy.

Honors

MTV ranked him at #2 on their list of The Greatest MCs of All Time. Shakur was inducted into the Hip-Hop Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2003, MTV's "22 Greatest MCs" countdown listed Shakur as the "number 1 MC", as voted by the viewers. In 2004, at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors Shakur was honored along with DJ Hollywood, Kool DJ Herc, KRS-One, Public Enemy, Run-D.M.C., Rock Steady Crew, and Sugarhill Gang. A Vibe magazine poll in 2004 rated Shakur "the greatest rapper of all time" as voted by fans. At the First Annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival held on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, Shakur was honored for his undeniable voice and talent and as a performer who crossed racial, ethnic, cultural and medium lines; his mother accepted the award on his behalf. In 2008, The National Association Of Recording Merchandisers in conjunction with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame recognized him as a very influential artist and has added him in their Definitive 200 list. On Wednesday, June 23, 2010, Shakur was inducted to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. The seat of the Catholic Church released a list of 12 songs onto the social networking Web site's streaming music service. Among the artists included are Mozart, Muse and Dame Shirley Bassey; the list also includes Shakur's song "Changes", which was released two years after his shooting death on a greatest hits album in 1998. His double album, All Eyez on Me, is one of the highest-selling rap albums of all time, with over 5 million copies of the album sold in the United States alone by April 1996; it was eventually certified 9x platinum in June 1998 by the RIAA.

Discography

Studio albums

Posthumous albums

Documentaries

Shakur's life has been recognized in big and small documentaries each trying capture the many different events during his short lifetime, most notably the Academy Award–nominated , released in 2003.

1997: ''Tupac Shakur: Thug Immortal

1997: ''Tupac Shakur: Words Never Die (TV)

2001: ''Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake...

2001: ''Welcome to Deathrow

2002: ''

2002: ''Biggie & Tupac

2002: ''Tha Westside

2003: ''2Pac 4 Ever

2003: ''

2004: ''Tupac vs.

2004: ''Tupac: The Hip Hop Genius (TV)

2006: ''So Many Years, So Many Tears

2007: ''

2009: ''Tupac: Assassination II: Reckoning

See also

List of best-selling music artists

List of number-one albums (United States)

List of number-one hits (United States)

References

Sources

. .

External links

2Pac Legacy (Official website)

Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation for the Arts

Tupac Legacy Tour

Yaki Kadafi Official Website

Online catalog of Shakur's personal library from his apartment at the time of his death, online at LibraryThing

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