Tupac Shakur (Paperback)

~ Vibe Magazine (Author) "It's a brisk Wednesday morning in November-the day before Thanksgiving-and courtroom 120 at 100 Centre Street in downtown Manhattan is filled to capacity with mostly..." (more)
Key Phrases: thug life, hip hop nation, death row, New York, Tupac Shakur, Suge Knight (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

YAAA collection of articles published in Vibe magazine since 1994 that present an in-depth look at Shakur and his music. The portrait is balanced and does not deify nor demonize the rap artist and, as one might expect, the language is raw. The subject's life is traced from his ghetto beginnings to his being gunned down in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas. The book is profusely illustrated and contains a chronology, a discography, and a filmology. It will appeal to fans of rap music.ARobert Burnham, R. E. Lee High School, Springfield, VA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Based on extensive interviews with hip-hop artist Shakur, including an unpublished online interview from June 1996 and another conducted two weeks before his drive-by shooting death, this book is both a richly illustrated celebration and a memorial.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1st Pbk. Ed edition (September 29, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609802178
• ISBN-13: 978-0609802175
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (73 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #650,979 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has it all: pictures & words..., April 8, 2001

By	Knyte "To The Stars" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

First and foremost, this is an excellent book. In pictures and in words, the life of the (arguably) late Tupac Shakur gets documented and commemorated in 157 glossy pages. The best part about all of this, is that VIBE magazine was (and still is) a major player in the hip-hop music industry - the reader's letters and articles on these pages are as real as it gets. Read on:

"This is my last interview. If I get killed, I want people to get every drop. I want them to get the real story." - (VIBE, "Ready To Live" - April 1995)

Writer Kevin Powell really gets to the heart of things in this interview with 'Pac from Rikers Island.

"When you do rap albums, you got to train yourself. You got to constantly be in character. You used to see rappers talking all that hard [stuff], and then you see them in suits and [stuff] at the American Music Awards. I don't want to be that type of [person]. I wanted to keep it real, and that's what I thought I was doing. But now that [stuff] is dead. That Thug Life [stuff]...I did it, I put in my work, I laid it down. But now that [stuff] is dead."

I can't help but wonder...would Tupac still be alive had he stuck to this quote back in 1995? Would the Notorious B.I.G still be alive? Would they be friends?

There were so many facets to Tupac. He was hard...perhaps the 'realest' rapper to ever live. To say that Tupac Shakur was charismatic is an understatement - his sheer presence had the power to electrify a room. His lyrics were insightful, and his visual package had his female fans in a trance. He was truly a legend.

I (like many others) practically grew up on Tupac. I remember when he landed the role of "Bishop" in 'Juice' (he was still a relative unknown that fall of 1991); how he got to star opposite Janet Jackson (lucky dude!) in 'Poetic Justice'. In music, "I Get Around", was the joint in the summer and fall of 1993 - and it is now a classic.

Then in 1994, the trouble really started. He got shot up; sent to Rikers Island on a sexual assault charge, yet released a new album anyway. Tons of stars turned out for him to shoot the "Temptations" video (dang, Pac had a lot of friends, huh?). Then the infamous Source Awards of 1995 happened - the real powder keg of the Bad Boy/Death Row feud. The letters back and forth - the finger pointing...(I'll leave that at that).

That whole East Coast/West Coast rivalry proved once and for all that hip-hop (as DMX says) is not a game. On that note, all the shadiness, all the unsettling moments, and the unsettling quotes are documented on these pages as well. Read it, and draw your own conclusions - I just hope we never return to that state of affairs. It was most likely a very tenseand scary time to be a music journalist in hip-hop...from the outside looking in.

That being said, I'd say that this is a great place to start finding out more about Tupac. He seemed to be an extremely lovable guy. He was engaged to Quincy Jones' daughter - and he was friends with classy ladies like Jasmine Guy and Jada Pinkett-Smith. Obviously, Tupac had class...but like everyone else has been saying, he must have just turned into his "thug-life" image...and just like his character "Bishop", he died way before his time. Gone too soon.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a very talented rapper w/ an i dont give a fu*k attitde, April 12, 1999

By A Customer

This probably had to be the best autobiography I have read in a long time. (This could also be because I love reading or hearing about Tupac.) This book just made me want to read more and more until I fell asleep. I give this book a 5 all the way. This autobiography on Tupac Amaru Shakur gives so much detail aabout his life. It was great.It got me to look at Tupac at many different perspectiv es. It also gave me a lot of information that I was looking for about him. Tupac quotes on the last page of the book, along with a somewhat submissive picture of him, that says, "I believe that everything you do bad comes back to you. So everything that I do that's bad, I'm going to suffer for it. But in my heart, I believe what I'm doing is right. So I feel like I'm going to heaven." This quote is basically saying that he knows what he is doing is bad, but at the same time, he feels it's right, so therefore he is still going to heaven. This shows how hard-headed he could be but yet still optimistic. The words optimistice andhard-headed usually don't go in the same sentence, but if you are talking about Tupac, they sure can. Tupac definitely without a doubt got the most out of life until he died. Yet another waste of a great rap artist, and a great mind. Who knows what he would have accomplished in the future? Tupac was one of the greatest expressers of feelings. When he rapped, he was real. He would foreshadow his fate and almost be able to tell the future, his future. It is so hard to sum up a review of Tupac's life in a thousand words, or less. He is worth many more words than that. Even though I still listen to Tupac's old albums, the thing I miss about him most is what new albums he would have made. R.I.P. wherever you are, Tupac.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars very informative, February 11, 2002

By A Customer

I my self am not a very big fan of rap music however i was intrigued to read this book after looking into some of the lyrics of 2pacs singles they seemed very in depth. After reading the lyrics i felt that his words had a lot of depth and soul attached to them which intrigued me to find out more about the rap star.

I myself have a genuine interest in politics, philisophy and poetry similarly to 2pac and i felt that i could relate to some of the lyrics he wrote. This book on tupac gives a deeper insight to the rap artist not only his music and talent but to his life it shed light on many differant topics from differant aspects and i found it very inspirational. What i particularly liked about this book was the way it presented both sides of the story (with the rape case) and i felt this ruled out any bias.

I would recommend this book to anyone who has a love for reading regardless of whether they have a genuine interest in rap this book not only looks at his career but looks at his inspiration, ambition, life and above all recognised him as more than a rap artist but as a human being and who he actually was!!!