Tupac Shakur — East Harlem–born, raised on both coasts, the voice that turned West Coast rap into something the whole world had to reckon with. Broke through as a Digital Underground roadie before going solo with 2Pacalypse Now in ’91. Me Against the World and All Eyez on Me made him the biggest name in the genre — over 75 million records sold worldwide. Killed in a Las Vegas drive-by on September 13, 1996, at 25. Nearly three decades later, no West Coast catalog gets discussed without his name first.
