2Pac was the stage name for Tupac Amaru Shakur (1971-1996), a rap artist and record producer from East Harlem, New York whose life and death stands as one of the more legendary stories in contemporary hip-hop history. Often cited as a revolutionary force in hip-hop during the 1990s, 2Pac not only helped elevate the form to mainstream popularity but also brought many of the issues plaguing American inner cities to the forefront of public awareness. Throughout his career, 2Pac was considered to be a leader of the form of hip-hop that came to be known as East Coast Hip-Hop, while "Biggie" Smalls, his apparent rival (both commercially and personally), was a major player in West Coast Hip-Hop. This rivalry, though considered to have been necessary for the growth and evolution of the hip-hop genre, is widely believed to have contributed directly to 2Pac's murder in 1996 (and later, that of "Biggie" Smalls in retaliation), elevating the artist to the status of martyr and legend as a result.
