Tupac: What an Enigma

If Tupac can find time to write a poetry book, then anything is possible

As a result of my boredom at work today, I ended up listening to a lot of Tupac, when something struck me. Tupac has released a ton of post-modem albums, and this is not shocking. What is shocking, though, is the fact that Tupac produced such a volume of content in such a short time. Tupac's first album dropped in 1990, and he died in 1996. He also spent 11 of those months in prison due to a rape charge that was eventually dropped. (Imagine if Kobe Bryant actually had to sit in prison the whole time of his rape scandal.) The total count of Tupac albums currently stands at 11. That means he produced 11 albums in almost six years.  Considering the quality of his work, that is remarkable. In addition, he starred in multiple movies, stayed heavily integrated within his community, and wrote a poetry book. He did this all in roughly five years, as well as a plethora of other things that I have failed to find or mention.

It is remarkable that any person would be able to contribute to music and culture as much as Tupac did. Now consider where Tupac came from. Tupac was fucked from the beginning. He had too many enemies and came from a volatile political family. He spent most of his childhood on the run from the FBI as they were tracking his step father Mutulu Shakur who was on the top ten most wanted list for domestic terrorism. His own mother spent time in prison on a trial for plotting to blow up New York police departments with the infamous panther 21. His God father was Geronimo Pratt who was targeted by the FBI illegal Cointelpro, and his god mother is Assata Shakur who is also wanted for domestic terrorism, that Tupacs step-dad broke her out of prison and is now living in Cuba. Bush in 2003 put a $1 million reward on her head during the revival of targeting domestic terrorists at the start of the war on terror. In 2011, Jon Stewart and Bill O'Reilly had an argument over her, as Obama invited an artist to the white house who supported Assata Shakur. Fox was trying to make that out that by default the president supports her too. Tupac comes from a very politically committed family, and as a teenager he was the national chairman of the new African panthers, so he was on route to be the next leader of the movement. Just read the list I stole from a Reddit post- putting it in sentence format would definitely diminish the shock value

• Spent his childhood running from the FBI due to the actions of the Shakurs.
• At 16 became the youngest national Chairman of the New African panthers, himself then getting FBI attention. His FBI file, only 104 pages out of 4000 are released to the public, the rest 3896 pages are censored for "National Security".
• Quit the New African Panthers when he believed the Nation of Islam infiltrated it, the next leader after Shakur was surprise surprise, a member of the NOI.
• Got into a constant war of words with the Nation of Islam throughout his rap career. They would follow him everywhere, trying to make it look like they where associated with him. To get his approval, because he was a Shakur. Tupac hated the Nation of Islam because his family where connected to Malcolm X, and his family blame the Nation for his assassination.
• Became famous to the general public when released 2pacalyspe now, becoming the legendary rapper. Immediately denounced by the Vice President Dan Quayle due to its anti-american political content. It was obvious they knew who he was by his second name, even if the average rap fan didn't.
• Gets mentioned by name at the Republican Nation Convention
• From the help of Mutulu Shakur from prison, starts a movement entitled "Thug Life". Tupac helps enforce truces between rival gangs, including the bloods and the crips under "Thug Life". The plan was to get them to stop killing each other, unite, police their communities, and eventually fight the government. He was seducing gang bangers and trying to turn them into soldiers. After that his life turns to shit and seems to be getting arrested and targeted by police on a weekly basis, most of which is was baseless, but people only remember him getting arrested, not acquitted. His "out of control" image increases.
• Two Police officers are beating a black motorist. Tupac approaches them and they fire shots at him. Tupac goes back to his car and gets his gun and returns fire, hitting both officers, one in the thigh and one in the buttocks. The charges are dropped against Tupac when it turns out both officers are intoxicated, and the gun they used to fire against Tupac was stolen from an evidence locker. Everyone else just remembers "Tupac shot two cops".
• From the help of Dan Quayle and other Republicans, they persuade family members of slain cops to sue Tupac over his music, stating that his music causes the violence. Seriously, here is even a court video of one of the cases against him in 1995
• The republicans convince Time Warner to drop interscope records due to Tupac being one of their artists.
• Two criminals, Haitian Jack and James "Henchman" Rosemand try to extort Tupac. He tells them to fuck off and ends up on their hit list. Both later turn out to be working for the FBI since the late 80s until the late 90s.
• Haitian Jack (The FBI Agent) introduces Tupac to a woman, the same woman accuses Tupac of rape and sexual assault.
• Tupac gets shot by the orders of James Rosemand (another FBI Agent) 5 times in 1994, survives.
• Goes to prison for sexual assault, but found innocent of rape. Released after 11 months when new evidence helping prove his innocence is found. The prosecution states they "lost it" and it was not deliberate.
• The Jewish Defense League (JDL) threaten to kill Tupac due to his familys politics. He tells them to fuck off. This is in Tupacs (released) FBI files.
• Tupac refuses to remain silent about Jimmy Henchman and Haitian Jack, announces them as FBI informers, and publicly humiliates any other rappers being extorted by them, or associated with them (Biggie, Puffy, etc).
• The causes many eastcoast rappers and street gangsters to dislike Tupac

This is the part where I'm supposed to write a conclusion, somehow tying Tupac's public persona with his actual life into a tidy, one paragraph explanation. That is Mission Impossible though, so I'm just going to hang the ending with a Calvin and Hobbes comic.