Between urban legends and biographical data, this book is the story of the human, artistic and social parable that made Tupac one of the most important and beloved figures in black culture. Tupac Amaru Shakur was a controversial character full of contradictions: rapper, political activist, protagonist of "gangsta rap", commercial phenomenon, poet. He had questionable friendships that were the cause, along with his former friend the Notorious B.I.G., of the beginning of a bloody feud between the East and West coasts of the American rap scene. He tragically died in 1996 under the banner of that "Thug Life" that he had chosen as a model of life.