Tupac Amaru Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in East Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. While born Lesane Parish Crooks, at age one he was renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur. He was named after Túpac Amaru II, … See more

Shakur began recording under the stage name MC New York in 1988. That year, he began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg, and she soon became his manager. Steinberg organized a concert for Shakur an… See more

Before and during his hip-hop career, Shakur wrote dozens of poems. Some of the most notable are "Can U C The Pride in The Panther", "If I fail", "Family Tree", and "The Rose that grew from the concrete". In 1993 Tupa… See more