It wasn't just a case of choosing a sample because it sounded good artists and producers would often incorporate people and songs that meant something to them. Tupac Shakur, an American rapper, was fatally shot on September 7, 1996, in a drive-by shooting in the Las Vegas Valley.He was 25 years old. They were both powerful, strong figures for the black community. Trapped, one of the hit singles from his first record, samples James Brown's The Spank.īrown is one of the most sampled artists in hip hop, along with Curtis Mayfield. Tupac sampled a range of artists on his records, such as Herbie Hancock, Pink Floyd, Parliament, Joe Cocker, Public Enemy and Stevie Wonder. It tells the story of a 12-year-old girl from the ghetto who has a baby and ends up slipping into drugs and prostitution and is eventually killed. Songs like Brenda's Got A Baby on his debut studio album, 2Pacalyse Now, highlight that. Digging into the impact of Tupac's 'Changes' and how his career could've gone way differently had the record dropped before he died. On the other side was that social conscience, showing all the facets of what life was life in the ghetto as a young black male, telling stories that hadn't been heard, and speaking out for the black community. There was a side of him that wanted to just let it all out and cut loose and not care about consequences. It wasn't necessarily about telling a story in the most intricate and detailed of ways, it was about making you feel like you were there seeing what he was seeing. Tupac's ability to communicate what was going on around him was second to none. ' wrote some of the rawest stories, man,' he told the LA Times in 1995.

Neither 2Pac nor Elton John physically appeared in the video - though clips of 2Pac are shown on a television. The music video showcases the last day of a mans life before he is fatally shot in the evening.

He also studied theatre as a teenager at the Baltimore School of Performing Arts, and was inspired by Shakespeare. 'Ghetto Gospel' was the only song on Loyal to the Game with an accompanying music video on YouTube. Tupac took a lot of early inspiration from the politically-charged music of Public Enemy and Ice Cube. He had a level of self-empowerment that made people want to listen to what he had to say.Įven today, you could fly anywhere and surely there'd be someone who knows of Tupac. What he brought to hip hop was a level of rawness and a poetic drive in the way he delivered his words. Michael Ray Michael Ray oversees coverage of European history and military affairs for Britannica. Tupac Shakur, known by his stage names 2Pac, Pac, and Makaveli, is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential rappers of all time.

Who sang changes before tupac