He also started rapping during this time, and quickly gained a reputation as the best rapper at BSA. After a stint at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, he transferred to the Baltimore School for the Arts during his junior year, where he studied acting, poetry, jazz, and ballet. In Baltimore, Shakur first became interested in the arts. After Mutulu was arrested in 1986 in connection with a number of crimes, including a 1981 armored car robbery, Afeni and the children, including Tupac, his stepbrother Mopreme, and half-sister Sekyiwa, moved to Baltimore, MD.

When he was one year old, Lesane was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur, after Tupac Amaru II, an 18th century Peruvian revolutionary. Afeni and Billy Garland split up not long after Lesane's birth, and Afeni later married Mutulu Shakur. A month before Lesane's birth, Afeni was acquitted of more than 150 charges of 'Conspiracy against the United States government and New York landmarks' as part of the New York Panther 21 trial.

Born Lesane Parish Crooks on Jin New York, NY, Shakur was the son of two highly active Black Panthers, Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland. West Coast rap wars of the 1990s, and his death was a cautionary tale, his influence and legacy continues to live on long after him. With his vividly poetic lyrics and outspoken, charismatic personality, Shakur drew portraits of black life in America in all its sad, messy, and problematic glory, mourning the struggles of black women while celebrating what he called the 'thug life.' While his life was defined by violence and conflict as one of the figureheads in the East Coast vs. Tupac Shakur was an American musician, writer, and actor who, during his short and eventful life, became one of the most legendary and important figures in the history of hip-hop.

Tupac r u still down poster