![Damian Marley- Road To Zion (feat Nas) [Welcome To Jamrock] 2005](http://web.archive.org./web/20110418140915im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/g4Vp_XzwjOg/0.jpg "Damian Marley- Road To Zion (feat Nas) [Welcome To Jamrock] 2005")
| Name | Road to Zion |
|---|---|
| Cover | 24010-large.jpg |
| Artist | Damian Marley featuring Nas |
| From album | Welcome to Jamrock |
| Released | 2005 |
| Format | 12" single |
| Recorded | 2005 |
| Genre | Reggae fusion (Reggae/Hip Hop) |
| Length | 5:17 |
| Label | Tuff Gong/Universal |
| Writer | Damian Marley, Nasir Jones |
| Producer | Stephen Marley |
| Chronology | Damian Marley singles |
| Last single | "The Master Has Come Back" (2005) |
| This single | "Road to Zion" (2005) |
| Next single | "Beautiful" (2006) |
"Road to Zion" was the 2nd US single to be taken from Damian Marley's Welcome to Jamrock, while "The Master Has Come Back" was released in Europe.
It contains a sample from "Russian Lullaby" by Ella Fitzgerald.
The song also inspired Nas and Damian Marley to record an EP together, which later turned into the full-length album Distant Relatives released in 2010.
The video was filmed in Kew Gardens and it features cameos from Chali 2na of Jurassic 5 (on the street), George Clinton and Game being locked up with Nas, and Damian handing out postcards with the Lion of Judah on them. After Nas analyzes the card, he manages to escape the prison he’s in and reunite with the young Marley back in a project hallway.
Category:2005 singles Category:Damian Marley songs Category:Nas songs
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| Name | Damian Marley |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Damian Marley |
| Alias | Junior Gong |
| Born | July 21, 1978Kingston, Jamaica |
| Genre | Reggae, reggae fusion, dancehall, dub, ragga, hip-hop |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Label | Tuff Gong, Ghetto Youth International, Universal |
| Associated acts | Bob Marley, Ky-Mani Marley, Ziggy Marley, Stephen Marley, Julian Marley, Nas, Bruno Mars, K'naan |
Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley (born July 21, 1978) is a reggae artist who has won three Grammy awards. Damian is the youngest son of Bob Marley.
Damian was two years old when his father Bob Marley died; he is the only child born to Marley and Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976. Damian's nickname Junior Gong is derived from his father's nickname of Tuff Gong. Marley has been performing since the age of 13. He shares, along with most of his family, a full-time career in music.
Marley frequently tours with his brothers Julian and Stephen, who are both members of the Ghetto Youths Crew. In December 2006 Marley appeared alongside brothers Stephen and Julian in Stephen's music video "The Traffic Jam". In 2004, Marley recorded a song with hip hop group Cypress Hill called "Ganja Bus" on their album Till Death Do Us Part. Marley also appears on the song "Get a Light" by Snoop Dogg. This song is on the album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. He also made a song with Method Man and Redman. He is featured on a recent Gwen Stefani remix "Now That You Got It" (produced by Swizz Beatz).
January 25, 2005 was the release date of Morgan Heritage's album Full Circle; Damian Marley appeared on the song "Girlz 'Round The World".
On September 7, 2005 he did a 1 minute long freestyle as a guest in the famous hip hop programme Rap City on BET, freestyling on the beat of his song, "Welcome To Jamrock".
During mid-2006, Marley went on tour with musical artist Ben Harper all around the US. He played on many known stages, such as Central Park New York. He was also one of the many artists who played at the inaugural Osheaga Festival, in Montreal.
In May 2006, Marley performed at KROQ Weenie Roast. In June 2006, Marley performed at Bonnaroo Music Festival. In July 2006, Damian should have played at the Danish music festival Roskilde Festival, but had to cancel due to troubles with customs.
On January 7, 2006 Marley conducted the main performance at Peace Fest in Trinidad.
On September 19, 2006 Marley became the first reggae artist to perform for the popular PBS show Austin City Limits.
Marley also participated in Season 3 of Extreme Makeover Home Edition by performing a special concert for the Rainford family, in which the father Dunstin was a Jamaican native.
Over the last year he has played numerous University homecomings including Emory and Indiana, often accompanied by his brother Stephen. Stephen was also present when Marley played music festivals such as Miami's Bang, Earth Day in San Francisco and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April 2007 in Indio, California.
Marley was the opening act for Van Halen during their 2007 Reunion tour concerts in Philadelphia.
Marley performed at the June Black Arts festival in Huntsville, Alabama on June 2007, alongside his second cousin Lance "Wayne" Marley.
Marley recently did a song with pop sensation Gwen Stefani. The two made a remix version to the song "Now That You Got It" off of the album The Sweet Escape. Stefani now performs this song on her Sweet Escape Tour.
A collaboration with Guru has been released on Jazzmatazz 4, "Stand Up Some Things'll Never Change" in 2007
Marley recorded his song "Welcome to Jamrock" in Simlish for , an expansion pack in the The Sims series. The song also featured on FIFA 06 soundtrack.
He also collaborated with Mariah Carey on her new album E=MC² (April 15, 2008) on a song called "Cruise Control". The two recorded the song together in Boca Raton, Florida in December 2007.
Marley recently appeared at the Sonoma County Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa on June 7, 2008.
Marley also made an appearance at the 1st annual Romantic Rhythms Music Festival on the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. He appeared alongside a varied list of entertainers such as Shaggy, Lionel Ritchie, Kenny Rogers, Keyshia Cole, Maxi Priest and Brian McKnight, to name a few. The festival ran from June 13 to 15, 2008.
Marley has also helped out on B-Real's debut solo album with the song "FIRE".
Marley and Stephen's latest release is a song called "The Mission", a track from Reggae Gold 2008 album. The track was produced by Trevor "Baby G" James.
Every February in Miami, Marley and his brothers perform at his family's annual Caribbean Festival in honour of their late father Bob Marley.
A song of his, "Something For You (One Loaf Of Bread)" also produced by Trevor "Baby G" James, appears on hit videogame FIFA 09.
In 2009, Damian Marley and Nas are slated for an international tour after the release of their collaborative album Distant Relatives.
Damian Marley is also slated to perform at the Rock the Bells hip hop festival this summer. The concert will hit 10 North American Cities from June 27 and Aug 9. The festival will include, Common, Nas, The Roots and Big Boi along with others. The tour will make stops in Chicago, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Boston, New York, Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Vancouver.
February 5, 2010: Damian Marley participated along with Hip-Hop artist Nas at BET's SOS Help for Haiti, a telethon in aid of the earthquake ravaged nation. They performed the song "Strong Will Continue" from their long-awaited album Distant Relatives.
February 23, 2010: Damian Marley performed a free show at the Whistler Live Village Square as part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
February 24, 2010: Damian Marley performed a free show at LiveCity Yaletown as part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games Cultural Olympiad.
March 19, 2010: Damian Marley teamed up with Nas again to perform at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas.
May 19, 2010: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno featured a performance by Damian Marley and Nas of the first single - As We Enter - off of their newly released CD Distant Relatives.
May 25, 2010: Damian Marley and Nas performed in front of a sold out crowd at the Fox Theater in Oakland, CA.
June 11, 2010: Damian Marley and Nas performed in Manchester, Tennessee at the 9th Bonnaroo music and arts festival.
July 3, 2010: The 25th Cologne Summerjam on his tour with Nas
July 24, 2010: Splash Music Festival in Germany on his tour with Nas
August 3, 2010: The Late Show with David Letterman performing "Count Your Blessings" with Nas.
August 14, 2010: Damian & Nas played in Commerce city Colorado at Mile High Music Festival.
August 15, 2010: Damian & Nas played at the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco, CA.
August 28, 2010: Damien Marley and Nas perform at the Charlottesville Pavilion on the historic Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, Va.
September 3, 2010: Damian "Junior Gong" Marley and Nas perform at Moe.Down music festival in Mohawk, New York.
September 6, 2010: Damian Marley and Nas performed at first avenue in Minneapolis Mn.
September 8, 2010: Nas and Damian Marley performed at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA.
Category:Jamaican reggae musicians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Reggae fusion artists Category:Jamaican Rastafarians Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kingston, Jamaica Category:Jamaican people of English descent
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | AOL Inc. |
|---|---|
| Logo | |
| Type | Public () |
| Foundation | 2009 as AOL Inc.1983 as Control Video Corporation, Vienna, Virginia |
| Location city | 770 Broadway,New York City |
| Location country | U.S. |
| Owner | with the help of angelique & annabella theyachived teir destination with aol. |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Key people | Tim Armstrong(Chairman and CEO) |
| Num employees | 6,700 (12-31-2009) |
| Industry | Internet & Communications |
| Products | Online advertising |
| Homepage | AOL.com portal AOL.com Corporate site |
| Revenue | $3.257 billion (2009) |
| Operating income | $458 million (2009) |
| Net income | $248 million (2009) |
| Assets | $3.963 billion (2009) |
| Equity | $3.061 billion (2009) |
AOL Inc. () logo typeset as "Aol.", (formerly known as America Online), is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services.
AOL is best known for its online software suite, also called AOL, that allowed customers to access the world's largest "walled garden" online community and eventually reach out to the internet as a whole. At its zenith, AOL's membership was over 30 million members worldwide, most of whom accessed the AOL service through the AOL software suite.
On May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin off AOL into a separate public company. The spin off occurred on December 9, 2009, ending the 8 year relationship between the two companies.
In January 2000, AOL and Time Warner announced plans to merge. The terms of the deal called for AOL shareholders to own 55% of the new, combined company. The deal closed on January 11, 2001 after receiving regulatory approval from the FTC, the FCC and the European Union.
America Online, Inc., as the company was then called, was led by executives from AOL, SBI and Time Warner. Gerald Levin, who had served as CEO of Time Warner, was CEO of the new company. Steve Case served as Chairman, J. Michael Kelly (from AOL) was the Chief Financial Officer, Robert W. Pittman (from AOL) and Dick Parsons (from Time Warner) served as Co-Chief Operating Officers. The total value of AOL stock subsequently went from $226 billion to about $20 billion. Similarly, its customer base decreased to 10.1 million subscribers as of November 2007, just narrowly ahead of Comcast and AT&T; Yahoo!. As of June 2010, AOL's subscriber base dropped to 4.4 million.
News reports in late 2005 identified companies such as Yahoo!, Microsoft, and Google as candidates for turning AOL into a joint venture; those plans were apparently abandoned when it was revealed on December 20, 2005 that Google would purchase a 5% share of AOL for $1 billion.
AOL was rated both one of the best and worst Internet suppliers in the UK, according to a poll by BBC Watchdog.
On March 31, 1997, the short-lived eWorld was purchased by AOL. The ISP side of AOL UK was bought by The Carphone Warehouse in October 2006 to take advantage of their 100,000 LLU customers which made The Carphone Warehouse the biggest LLU provider in the UK.
On May 28, 2009, Time Warner announced that it would spin AOL off as an independent company once Google's shares ceased at the end of the fiscal year, and AOL's page and logo changed afterward.
AOL ceased to be a part of Time Warner on December 9, 2009. The company declared an IPO on that day, under the stock symbol NYSE:AOL.
AOL began as a short-lived venture called Control Video Corporation (or CVC), founded by Bill von Meister. Its sole product was an online service called GameLine for the Atari 2600 video game console after von Meister's idea of buying music on demand was rejected by Warner Brothers. Subscribers bought a modem from the company for $49.95 and paid a one-time $15 setup fee. GameLine permitted subscribers to temporarily download games and keep track of high scores, at a cost of $1 per game. The telephone disconnected and the downloaded game would remain in GameLine's Master Module and playable until the user turned off the console or downloaded another game.
The original technical team was composed of Marc Seriff, Tom Ralston, Ken Huntsman, Janet Hunter, Dave Brown, Steve Trus, Ray Heinrich, Craig Dykstra, and Doug Coward.
In January 1983, Steve Case was hired as a marketing consultant for Control Video on the recommendation of his brother, investment banker Dan Case. In May 1983, Jim Kimsey became a manufacturing consultant for Control Video, which was near bankruptcy. Kimsey was brought in by his West Point friend Frank Caufield, an investor in the company.
From the beginning, AOL included online games in its mix of products; many classic and casual games were included in the original PlayNet software system. In the early years of AOL the company introduced many innovative online interactive titles and games, including:
In 2008 Neverwinter Nights was honored (along with Everquest and World of Warcraft) at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for advancing the art form of MMORPG games.
In February 1991 AOL for DOS was launched using a GeoWorks interface followed a year later by AOL for Windows. This coincided with growth in pay-based online services, like Prodigy, CompuServe, and GEnie. AOL discontinued Q-Link and PC Link in the fall of 1994.
Steve Case positioned AOL as the online service for people unfamiliar with computers, in particular contrast to CompuServe, which had long served the technical community. The PlayNet system that AOL licensed was the first online service to require use of proprietary software, rather than a standard terminal program; as a result it was able to offer a graphical user interface (GUI) instead of command lines, and was well ahead of the competition in emphasizing communication among members as a feature.
In particular was the Chat Room concept from PlayNet, as opposed to the previous paradigm of CB-style channels. Chat Rooms allowed a large group of people with similar interests to convene and hold conversations in real time, including:
Another area of early AOL leadership was education. Between 1990-94, AOL launched services with the National Education Association, the American Federation of Teachers, National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, Pearson, Scholastic, ASCD, NSBA, NCTE, Discovery Networks, Turner Education Services (CNN Newsroom), National Public Radio, The Princeton Review, Stanley Kaplan, Barron's, Highlights for Kids, the US Department of Education, and many other education providers. AOL's offered the first real-time homework help service (the Teacher Pager—1990; prior to this, AOL provided homework help bulletin boards), the first service by kids, for kids (Kids Only Online, 1991), the first online service for parents (the Parents Information Network, 1991), the first online courses (1988), the first omnibus service for teachers (the Teachers' Information Network, 1990), the first online exhibit (Library of Congress, 1991), the first parental controls, and many other online education firsts.
In September 1993, AOL added USENET access to its features. This is commonly referred to as the "Eternal September".
AOL quickly surpassed GEnie, and by the mid-1990s, it passed Prodigy (which for several years allowed AOL advertising) and CompuServe.
Originally, AOL charged its users an hourly fee, but in 1996 this changed to a flat monthly rate of $19.99. Within three years, AOL's userbase grew to 10 million people. During this time, AOL connections would be flooded with users trying to get on, and many canceled their accounts due to constant busy signals (this was often joked "AOL" standing for "Always Off-Line"). In 1995 AOL was headquartered at 8619 Westwood Center Drive in the Tysons Corner CDP in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near the Town of Vienna.
AOL was quickly running out of room in 1996 for its network at the Fairfax County campus. In 1996, AOL moved to 22000 AOL Way in Dulles, unincorporated Loudoun County, Virginia. The move to Dulles took place in mid-1996 and provided room for future growth. In a five year landmark agreement with the most popular operating system, AOL was bundled with Windows software.
Since its merger with Time Warner (the owners of the aforementioned Warner Bros.) in 2001, the value of AOL has dropped significantly from its $240 billion high. Its subscriber base has seen no quarterly growth since 2002. AOL has since attempted to reposition itself as a content provider similar to companies such as Yahoo! as opposed to an Internet service provider.
In 1999, a class action lawsuit was filed against AOL citing violations of U.S. labor laws in its usage of CLs. The Department of Labor investigated but came to no conclusions, closing their investigation in 2001. AOL began drastically reducing the responsibilities and privileges of its volunteers in 2000. The program was eventually ended on June 8, 2005. Current Community Leaders at the time were offered 12 months of credit on their accounts in thanks for their service.
In February 2010, a settlement was reached in the class action suit. The settlement included a $15 million USD payment divided among more than 7,000 individual former Community Leaders.
AOL was sued by the Ohio Attorney General in October 2003 for improper billing practices. The case was settled on June 8, 2005. AOL agreed to resolve any consumer complaints filed with the Ohio AG's office. In December 2006, AOL agreed to provide restitution to Florida consumers to settle the case filed against them by the Florida Attorney General.
Many customers complained that AOL personnel ignored their demands to cancel service and stop billing. On August 24, 2005, America Online agreed to pay $1.25 million to the state of New York and reformed its customer service procedures. Under the agreement, AOL would no longer require its customer service representatives to meet a minimum quota for customer retention in order to receive a bonus.
On June 13, 2006, a man named Vincent Ferrari documented his account cancellation phone call in a blog post, stating he had switched to broadband years earlier. In the recorded phone call, the AOL representative refused to cancel the account unless the 30-year-old Ferrari explained why AOL hours were still being recorded on it. Ferrari insisted that AOL software was not even installed on the computer. When Ferrari demanded that the account be canceled regardless, the AOL representative asked to speak with Ferrari's father, for whom the account had been set up. The conversation was aired on CNBC. When CNBC reporters tried to have an account on AOL cancelled, they were hung up on immediately and it ultimately took more than 45 minutes to cancel the account.
On July 19, 2006, AOL's entire retention manual was released on the Internet.
On August 3, 2006, Time Warner announced that the company would be dissolving AOL's retention centers due to its profits hinging on $1 billion in cost cuts. The company estimated that it would lose more than six million subscribers over the following year.
Later, AOL discontinued providing access to Usenet on 25 June 2005. No official details were provided as to the cause of decommissioning Usenet access, except providing users the suggestion to access Usenet services from a third-party, Google Groups. AOL then provided community-based message boards in lieu of Usenet.
There have been many complaints over rules that govern an AOL user's conduct. Some users disagree with the TOS, citing the guidelines are too strict to follow coupled with the fact the TOS may change without users being made aware. A considerable cause for this was likely due to alleged censorship of user-generated content during the earlier years of growth for AOL.
This decision drew fire from MoveOn, which characterized the program as an "e-mail tax", and the EFF, which characterized it as a shakedown of non-profits. A website called Dearaol.com was launched, with an online petition and a blog that garnered hundreds of signatures from people and organizations expressing their opposition to AOL's use of Goodmail.
Esther Dyson defended the move in a New York Times editorial saying "I hope Goodmail succeeds, and that it has lots of competition. I also think it and its competitors will eventually transform into services that more directly serve the interests of mail recipients. Instead of the fees going to Goodmail and EON, they will also be shared with the individual recipients."
Other members of the antispam and blogging community were broadly critical of moveon.org and the EFF's attempts to characterize this as a "shakedown".
Tim Lee of the Technology Liberation Front posted an article that questioned the EFF's adopting a confrontational posture when dealing with private companies. Lee's article cited a series of discussions on Declan McCullagh's Politechbot mailing list on this subject between the EFF's Danny O'Brien and antispammer Suresh Ramasubramanian, who has also compared the EFF's tactics in opposing Goodmail to tactics used by Republican political strategist Karl Rove. Spamassassin developer Justin Mason posted some criticism of the EFF's and Moveon's "going overboard" in their opposition to the scheme.
The dearaol.com campaign lost momentum and disappeared, with the last post to the now defunct dearaol.com blog—"AOL starts the shakedown" being made on 9 May 2006.
On August 4, 2006, AOL released a compressed text file on one of its websites containing twenty million search keywords for over 650,000 users over a 3-month period between March 1, 2006 and May 31, intended for research purposes. AOL pulled the file from public access by August 7, but not before its wide distribution on the Internet by others. Derivative research, titled A Picture of Search was published by authors Pass, Chowdhury and Torgeson for The First International Conference on Scalable Information Systems.
The data were used by Web sites such as AOLstalker for entertainment purposes, where users of AOLstalker are encouraged to judge AOL clients based on the humorousness of personal details revealed by search behavior.
In October 2006, AOL UK's ISP business was sold for $688m (£370m) to Carphone Warehouse.
Marc Andreessen (Netscape co-founder and AOL Chief Technology Officer) Jim Barksdale (former director)
On Friday, August 25, 2006, AOL announced that it had signed a deal with several major movie studios to open an online video store allowing users to "download to own" full length movies and television shows. The deal was signed with News Corporation's 20th Century Fox, Sony Corp.'s Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and former corporate sibling Warner Home Entertainment Group.
AOL Argentina AOL Australia AOL Austria AOL Belgium AOL Brazil AOL Canada AOL Chile AOL China AOL Czech Republic AOL Colombia AOL Denmark AOL Finland AOL France AOL Germany AOL Hong Kong AOL India AOL Ireland AOL Italy AOL Japan AOL Malaysia AOL Mexico AOL Netherlands AOL New Zealand AOL Norway AOL Poland AOL Russia AOL Singapore AOL South Korea AOL Spain AOL Sweden AOL Switzerland AOL Taiwan AOL Thailand AOL Turkey AOL United Kingdom AOL United States AOL Venezuela
Category:Companies based in Dulles, Virginia Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Companies established in 2009 Category:Companies established in 1983 Category:Online service providers Category:Internet service providers of the United States Category:Internet services supporting OpenID Category:Former Time Warner subsidiaries Category:Global internet community Category:Web service providers Category:Orphan initialisms Category:Pre-World Wide Web online services
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| 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
Category:1971 births Category:1996 deaths Category:1990s rappers Category:African American film actors Category:African American poets Category:African American rappers Category:African American record producers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American people convicted of assault Category:American screenwriters Category:American sex offenders Category:American shooting survivors Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:Deaths by firearm in Nevada Category:Death Row Records artists Category:Deaths from respiratory failure Category:English-language poets Category:Interscope Records artists Category:Murdered African-American people Category:Murdered entertainers Category:Murdered rappers Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:People from Harlem Category:People from Marin County, California Category:People murdered in Nevada Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:Road crew Category:Shakur family Category:Unsolved murders in the United States Category:West Coast hip hop musicians
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| Name | Chali 2na |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Charles Stewart |
| Alias | |
| Genre | Hip hop |
| Occupation | Rapper |
| Associated acts | Jurassic 5, Ozomatli |
Chali 2na (born Charles Stewart in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rapper and hip hop artist, formerly associated with the groups Jurassic 5 and Ozomatli.
He is a founding member of the activist salsa funk band Ozomatli; although no longer an official member (having been replaced as resident MC by Jabu of 4th Avenue Jones), he continues to collaborate with them on occasion and maintains his friendships with them. Along with salsa, his music and theirs have been influenced by reggae and soul music; he is also a fan of house music.
From "Quality Control" by Jurassic 5 (Chali 2na's 1st Verse) "While you cramming to understand these contraband lyrics, my fam submits to pray, 5 times a day. Climbing into your mind with live rhyme display". This is a reference to "Salah", one of the five pillars of Islam, in which Muslims must perform a ritual or prayer five times a day.
From "Get Focused" by Chali 2na
From "America" by K'naan feat. Mos Def and Chali 2na
Chali 2na also has a large portrait of 20th Century Muslim Icon, Malcolm X, tattooed on his right shoulder.
"Don't Stop", the would-be first single from Fish Outta Water, appeared in January 2006. It showcased 2na's familiar rapid-fire flow; in its lyrics, 2na professed his dedication to hip hop culture, insulting rappers who neglect to pay proper respect to pioneers like Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa. He also spoke deferentially of the beloved late rapper Tupac Shakur. This is a notable decision because Jurassic 5 are frequently criticized by a certain segment of the hip hop community, who believe they are preachy and too-traditionalist. "Don't Stop"'s chorus was sung by neo-soul artist Anthony Hamilton. It was featured in the soundtrack of the video game NBA Live 06. A second Chali 2na solo song, "The Anchor Man", was featured on the Dan The Automator-curated soundtrack to the latest installment in the game series, NBA 2K7. Another song, "Something Different", was also featured on the All-Pro Football 2K8 soundtrack.
5 years after Fish Market, a solo album, titled Fish Outta Water, was released. The album received generally positive reviews, holding a score of 70 on Metacritic. 2na delves into some of the formative experiences in his life, including a tragic incident in which his cousin, Be-Be, was killed in The Station nightclub fire. Collaborators on the album include Beenie Man (with whom he recorded "International"), Raphael Saadiq, his longtime friend Rakaa Iriscience, Talib Kweli, Anthony Hamilton, Damian Marley and Ming Xia (on the final track 4 Be Be).
Another mixtape was released in 2010, titled Fish Market, Part 2. Much like the first Fish Market album, this is mainly filled with collaborations 2na has completed throughout his carrier with famous artists such as Linkin Park.
He is a good friend of and frequent collaborator with British hip hop star Roots Manuva, having worked with him on a number of songs (including "Revolution 5", which appears on Fish Market and Dub Come Save Me, and "Join The Dots", which appears on Roots Manuva's second proper album, Run Come Save Me). He has also referenced his friend in the lyrics.
He has worked with Linkin Park on the song "Frgt/10" on the album Reanimation, also featured on ''Fish Market, Part 2. He worked with Ozomatli on their first album and toured with New Orleans funk band Galactic. He is also featured on Galactic's 2007 release "From the Corner to the Block" on the cut "Think Back".
Fatlip's 2005 Today's Your Day (Whachagonedu) from the acclaimed album The Loneliest Punk features a verse from 2na.
Chali 2na was also featured on Lyrics Born's Everywhere at Once album, performing on the Hott 2 Deff. Lyrics Born was also the MC for The Deadliest Catch Tour 2009. This hip hop tour featured Chali 2na, Gift of Gab and Mr. Lif
On K'naan's 2009 album, Troubadour, Chali was featured on "America" together with Mos Def.
On Long Beach Dub Allstars 2001 album Wonders of the World Chali was featured on "Life Goes On" also featuring Half-Pint, Ives (of Delinquent Habits), and Tippa Irie
Furthermore Chali 2Na recorded a track together with Dutch rap artist Jerome XL in 2008. The track "King Sh#t" was released on JXL's solo debut album "The Last Day" in the first quarter of 2010.
In June 2010 British dubstep star Rusko released a collaboration with Chali 2Na entitled "Gadget GoGo". The track was released as a bonus track to accompany the release of Rusko's debut solo record OMG (album). The track was also featured on ''Fish Market, Part 2.
Chali 2na appears painting a graffiti mural in Melbourne, Australia including a short interview in 2004 in feature documentary RASH, (2005) (73 mins) Rash - Scratch it and it Spreads
Chali 2na is also featured in the documentary: "Freestyle - Art of Rhyme"
Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:African American rappers Category:Living people Category:Hip hop activists Category:Date of birth missing (living people)
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
