Tupac Shakur

"Who do you believe in?", a Tupac Shakur song made after his death on his album "Better Dayz". Tupac died in 1996, but he still is creating new music after his death. Tupac Shakur is also known as 2pac, Makaveli, The Don, and MC New York. He got the name Makaveli from Machiavelli, who was a political philosopher, historian, play writer, and poet. Machiavelli lived from 1469 to 1527 who stated, "Power in itself was the basis of longevity in life". 2pac wanted to relate himself to Machiavelli, because of his own ideals on life and power. Others that affiliated with 2pac were Noriega, Napoleon, Hussein, and Khadafi. These people were also named after political philosophers. 2pac was the general of his army of reincarnated philosophers who spoke not through books, but through the rap industry. 2pac led his west coast army against the notorious east coast army, Bad Boy Records. Bad Boy Records consisted of Biggie Smalls/The Notorious B.I.G./Christopher Wallace, Shawn Puffy Combs/P Diddy/Puff Daddy, Mobb Deep, and Nas. Biggie Smalls was the general of the east coast, and only had music related beef with 2pac. These two notorious names raged a massive coast to coast war in the music industry and gang related activities. Who could believe that 2pac and Biggie were ever best friends. In fact, they had always been friends stated by Biggie Smalls in an interview after 2pac had been shot again. 2pac states that he had small drama with biggie smalls in the beginning of the song Runnin On E (Dying To Live). Biggie smalls also stated after 2pac was shot that, "I would never wish death on nobody, because there is no coming back after that". Though 2pac's death is not connected to Biggie Smalls, it is still believed that he was the mastermind of his death. Loyal followers of 2pac took drastic terms in the murder of 2pac, to take revenge of Biggie. Biggie died March 9, 1997 by a drive by shooting, when he was leaving the Vibe Magazine party in Los Angeles. Biggie is dead, but the question still remains about 2pac's death. 2pac now has seven new albums after his recorded death. They are "The 7 Day Theory"(1996), "R U Still Down"(1997), "Still I Rise"(1999), "Until The End Of Time"(2001), "Better Dayz"(2002), "The Resurection Soundtrack"(2003), and "Loyal 2 the Game"(2004). The question in a lot of people's mind, is 2pac alive? Is there someone that sounds like 2pac? The real answer begins when he was shot five times on November 1994 during an apartment robbery outside his music studio. The robbers made about $40,000 off his jewelry. During this time, he was also dealing with a sexual assault trial by a women who he met in a night club. By this time 2pac has released two albums "2pacalypse Now" and "Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z". 2pac was found guilty in his trial and was released on bail set at one million dollars. He then created two more albums "Me Against The World" and "All Eyez On Me". On Saturday September 7, 1996, He was shot again after leaving the Mike Tyson fight. He lived through the shooting for five days, when he was then pronounced dead on Friday September 13. Many people say that 2pac is still alive and faked his death. These people believe this because of his likings towards Machiavelli who staged one's death in order to evade one's enemies. This play was called "The Prince". They believe that 2pac was trying to evade those who wanted to kill him to gain power in the music industry. The real answer though lies in his documentary movie, "Resurection", when it explains that he recorded hundreds of songs, that are not all yet released. He did this during the time period of the first time he was shot, to the time of his death. Snoop Dogg, a loyal friend to 2pac, stated that 2pac was a workaholic. He would create 2 to 3 songs a day in his recording studio. Eminem, His Mother Afeni, The Outlawz, and others take the recording of 2pac's voice and create an up to date beat to blend in with his voice. The most amazing thing about 2pac, is that he knew he would not make it to thirty. Since 2pac was a Machiavelli fan, he knew how to achieve greatness through Machiavelli's quote "a prince who wishes to achieve great things must learn to deceive". Therefore, he said things that would make it sound as if he were still alive; he would deceive everyone about his death. In his newest album "Loyal 2 The Game" he says the names of fellow rap artist's Obie Trice, 50 Cent, Eminem, and relevant terms such as the year 2005. I believe 2pac will have at least 5 more albums in the future. With the amount of unreleased material, and lyrics he has, his voice could be alive for another millinnium. I calculated that if 2pac created 2 songs every day over two years, he would have 1,460 songs. Though 2pac may be dead, he is still alive in the music industry.