The Life of the Notorious B.I.G. And Tupac Shakur
Their reign in the world of Rap music and their tragic ends…
The Notorious B.I.G and Tupac Shakur were two of the greatest rappers of all time. They are the most looked up to, revered, and respected artists in all of rap history. They shall be missed for generations to come.
Limitations
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This term paper will talk about Christopher Wallace aka The Notorious B.I.G. life as a rapper and a drug dealer.
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This term paper will talk about Tupac Shakur’s life as a rapper.
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The paper will also talk about their contributions to the growth of the international popularity in the rap industry.
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur was born in Brooklyn, New York in June of 1971 to Afeni Shakur, his father abandoned him before he was born. In Tupac’s “Word to his father” he wanted to “hit it”1. Big Syke discovered Tupac in 1987 in Baltimore, Maryland. Tupac Shakur was studying theater with famous actress, Jada Pinkett Smith. Big Syke discovered Tupac’s freestyling2 ability in Baltimore. Big Syke then introduced Tupac to other rappers, Tone Loc and Humpty Dumpty (Pseudonym). When Syke joined the Loc, Dumpty, and Shakur amongst other rappers the group “Digital Underground”. One of their hits include the song “All Around the World (The Same Song) in 1989.
In 1991 Tupac’s multi-talented skills are displayed in the field of motion pictures. Shakur starred along with Omar Epps in the blockbuster “Juice”. The movie was about four friends bound for a tragic end. This foreshadowed with the relationship with the Notorious B.I.G. Among his other films have been’93s Poetic Justice and ’94s blockbuster hit “Above The Rim”. He starred with Dwayne Martin and Marlon Wayans. Amongst his films others weren’t as unsuccessful as these including ’96’s “Gridlock’d” with John Belushi.
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher Wallace a.k.a. The Notorious B.I.G. was born on May 21, 1972 to Viola Wallace in Brooklyn, New York. Through his early elementary school days, young Christopher was known for misbehaving, and was kicked out of most of the schools he attended. This led him to a later life of selling drugs and a few misdemeanors and jail time. During those years he was known as a comedian, and sometimes freestyled1 to his friends. Big Syke also picked up Christopher Wallace, along with Tupac and many others. Biggie’s2 lyrical style consisted of loud yelling and hard-core lyrics that appealed to fans. One freestlyle that shows these skills is one that he did with Tupac at an underground3 concert. Later Puff Daddy4, CEO and manager of Bad Boy Records discovered Biggie and later in 1993 Biggie dropped5 his first album, the original “Ready to Die”.
“Ready to Die’s lyrics
were so hard-core and grotesque Puff Daddy took certain tracks off and replaced those tracks to release the album on the surface6. The re-made album in 1994 went multi-platinum. During this time, he joined the rap group Junior M.A.F.I.A. where he met soon-to-be girlfriend, Kimberly Jones a.k.a. Lil’ Kim. During Ready to Die’s success the couple broke up and he met Faith Evans, future wife, and label-mate of Bad Boy Records. Three years later his long awaited sophomore album “Life after Death” dropped. This album was quite different from his freshman7 album. This album was his first double disc, and Puff Daddy asked him to tone down and go a little soft on the album lyric-wise. This album gave him the name the “Black Frank White” and Biggie’s two albums gave Bad Boy millions and millions of dollars along with other artists such as MA$E, The Lox, Lil’ Kim, Black Rob, 112, Shyne, Carl Thomas, Faith Evans, Total, and Puff Daddy himself.
