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. Rolling Stone Magazine named him the 86th Greatest Artist of All Time.
In addition to his status 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, problems in the society and conflicts with other rappers. Shakur was initially a roadie and backup dancer for the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground.
He was later convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to one-and-a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison.
In September 1996, Shakur was shot 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 6 days later.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupac_Shakur
