Long before Tupac Shakur became one of the biggest names in hip-hop, he was studying ballet, theatre and poetry at the Baltimore School for the Arts.
Shakur moved to Baltimore with his family in the mid-1980s and attended the prestigious arts school, where he studied theatre.
During his time there, he also took ballet and dance classes and developed his skills as a performer.
It was also in Baltimore that Shakur began developing his identity as a rapper. He wrote raps and shared them with classmates for feedback, while his teachers recognised his talent as a performer.
He later said that his exposure to the arts in Baltimore had a major influence on the person he became.
One of his classmates was Jada Pinkett Smith, who became a close friend.
The two remained connected after leaving the school, and Pinkett Smith later spoke publicly about their friendship.
Shakur eventually moved with his family to Marin City, California, where his music career began taking shape.
He joined Digital Underground as a roadie and dancer before making his recording debut with the group on “Same Song” in 1991.
His first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now, was released later that year.
That early background helps explain an often-overlooked part of Tupac’s career: he was not only a rapper, but also an actor and trained performer.
His acting career included roles in Juice, Poetic Justice, Above the Rim and Gridlock’d, while his music career ultimately made him one of the best-known artists of his generation.
Tupac died on September 13, 1996, six days after being shot in Las Vegas at the age of 25.
In August 2026, nearly 30 years after his death, Duane “Keffe D” Davis was convicted of first-degree murder in connection with the killing.
