While serving his sentence for the sexual assault, Shakur became the first artist to reach number one on the Billboard charts while in prison with his hit album “Me Against the World.”
In his next album on Suge Knight’s Death Row label, Tupac Shakur made verbal attacks on his enemies with his release of “All Eyez on Me” in 1995. He also foretold of his death in the lyrics of the album.
Then on September 7, 1996 after a fight in the lobby of the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas, NV, Tupac Shakur was shot while riding alongside Suge Knight in his SUV. He died six days later. Knight served nine years in prison for violating parole.
After a court battle with Death Row Records, the estate of Tupac Shakur released seven posthumous albums, six of them reaching platinum status. In 2010, his hit single “Dear Mama” was inducted into the U.S. Library of Congress because it represents a “moving and eloquent homage to both the murdered rapper’s own mother and all mother’s struggling to maintain a family in the face of addiction, poverty and social injustice.”
It was recently announced that the late rapper’s hit songs will be the focus of a new Broadway musical entitled “Holler if Ya Hear Me” set for the 2013-2014 season. The production will be produced by Afeni Shakur. The storyline is based upon the book by Todd Kreidler, and the presentation will be choreographed by Tony winner Wayne Cilento.
(Photo: Retna)
Little Known Black History Fact: Tupac Shakur was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
