Tupac Shakur's given name at birth was Lesane Crooks. Born on June 16, 1971, he was the son of Afeni Shakur-goverment name, Alice Faye Walker-one of the defendents in New York city's infamous Panther 21 trial.

Despite the compliments that he would receive from female fans about his handsome face, Tupac was very insecure about his good looks during his adolescent years. "All my cousins was like, 'You too pretty.'" he recalled during an interview with Kevin Powell in VIBE magazine. "I didn't have hard features. I don't know, I just didn't feel hard.

Tupac was a student at Baltimore's School for the Arts, where he not only made a name for himself studying drama, but was also known as MC New York. Shakur also made a longtime friend there who went on to become one of the more talented and instantly recognizable in Hollywood. Her name? Jada Pinkett.

When he first dropped his debut LP, 2Pacalypse Now, in the winter of 1991-'92, Tupac's only concern was that it wouldn't be taken by fans as a title bite from Public Enemy's LP, Apocalypse '91: The Enemy Strikes Black, also released during that same time period.

As reflected in a few of his records, Tupac grew up a very bitter man because he didn't have a father figure to identify with during his young years. "It made me bitter seeing all these other niggaz with fathers gettin' answers to questions that I have," he said. "Even now i still don't get 'em."

Tupac Amaru Shakur was named after an Inca Indian chief, Tupac Amaru meaning "shining serpent," and the last name, Shakur, is Arabic for "Thankful to god."

When Tupac was twelve years old, his mother gave him his first shot at an acting career by enrolling him in Harlem's prestigious 127th Street Ensemble, where, in his first performance, he played Travis in the play A Raisin' in the sun..

Despite the fact that he was a very articulate man in his interviews and in one-on-one conversations, Tupac never finished High School, later earning his G.E.D. shortly before hooking up with Digital Underground as a roadie/equipment manager.

During his time with Digital Underground Tupac;s career nearly came to a premature end when, following an appearance with DU during a Martin Luther King, Jr. festival, an unidentified man shoved a 12-gauge shotgun in his face in an alleged dispute over a woman.

The meaning of individuals letters in he "THUG LIFE" tatoo across Tupac's belly was "The Hate U Give Little Infants Fuck Everybody."

In the movie that launched his motion-picture career, Juice, Tpac, playing the role of the social Bishop, is remembered for uttering the infamous line, "I am crazy. But you know what else ? I don't give a fuck."

Thoughts of death and suicide was a constant companion to Tupac, which were freely expressed on several of the more hardcore cuts on his albums. These feelings were especially strong during the last month leading up to his conviction on sexual assault charges. "Some days I go 'POW!'" he confessed in an interview. "But I wouldn't do that because I don't want no one to think that's the way to go."

Because of his mothers past ties to the Black Panther Party, Tupac revealed in a 1991 interview that the Federal Bural of Investigating (FBI) still to this day targeted his family for counterintelligence harassment (COINTELPRO). "We're gonna be targeted for arresment forever," Tupac explained. "All my life, ther's going to be a stigma on my name because it's 'Shakur'. That's why my name isn't MC Joe Dancer or nothin' like that. That's why my name is Tupac Shakur, my rapping and my offstage name, because I'm real, and I'm rapping about my life.

Tupac's first ever appearance was on Digital Underground's 1990 hit single "Same Song." The song's video features him flowin' on the mic dressed in West African warrior attire

Porn star Spontaneous XXXstacy, a familiar face in skin magazines such as Portfolio, Players, and Black Tall, sports a tatoo on her left forearm that bears Tupac's name and the title of his hit song "Keep Ya Head Up."

Tupac, aside from the huge "THUG LIFE" tatoo across his belly, also had a huge Gothic crucifix tatooed on his back which read: Exodus 18: 11, a reference to a book of the Old Testament which states, "Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them."