Tupac, who attended a Harlem stage school at the age of 12, seemed to transcend his circumstances. A popular student, he began his career in 1991 when he rapped on a single by the alternative rap group Digital Underground. The release of his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, brought him success and condemnation from critics who railed against its controversial lyrics. After that, he was seldom out of the spotlight. In 1992 he was charged with shooting two off-duty policemen, but the case was dropped due to a lack of evidence. He made his views known in his songs: With the lights out, rollin' down a dirt road But I ain't goin' alive, I'd rather die than be a convict

I'd rather fire on my target." - from Open Fire A year later he was convicted of sexual assault, but vehemently denied the charge. It hurt him that the public believed he was guilty after writing rhymes like Keep Ya Head Up, in which he raps:

Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it's time to kill for our women Time to heal our women, be real to our women." After leaving prison, Shakur's lyrics became more furious and fearless as he was hell-bent on seeking revenge for the shooting:

Who shot me but you punks didn't finish Now you're about to feel the wrath of a menace" Shakur began a working relationship with another notorious member of rap community, Marion "Suge" Knight, the head of Death Row Records. It was a dangerous liaison. Shakur was in the passenger seat of Knight's car on September 7, 1996, when an unknown gunman shot him four times. This time he did not manage to cheat death. He died six days later. He was 25.

His murder remains unsolved and some of his fans refuse to believe the heavily tattooed rapper is dead. Rumours have circulated that he faked his own death. Shakur divided people like no other rap artist, with the possible exception of Eminem, himself a great fan of Shakur. Rapper Chuck D, of Public Enemy, called him "the James Dean of our times". But for many Shakur was a foul-mouthed thug who reaped what he sowed by explicitly threatening his rivals on records. But that ignores his work for poor communities and African Americans. It also pigeonholes a thoughtful man who was an avid reader of authors from Shakespeare to Machiavelli. He once said: "If you walked … on concrete and you saw a rose growing … even if it had messed up petals and it was a little to the side you would marvel at just seeing a rose grow through concrete. "So why is it that when you see some ghetto kid grow out of the dirtiest circumstance and he can talk and he can sit across the room and make you cry, make you laugh, all you can talk about is my dirty rose, my dirty stems and how I am leaning crooked to the side, you can't even see that I've come up from out of that." The artist, who released songs under the names 2Pac and Makaveli, was a prolific writer of lyrics and poetry. He penned a tribute to Mandela on the day of his release:

and watched you slowly die inside As you breathe your first air of freedom on the day you become a free man Raise your regal brow in pride

For now you are in God's hands." Shakur's fan base expanded rapidly after his death. He also worked at a pace that could be matched by few other entertainers. He could write lyrics in minutes, record all songs in one take, and knock out up to three tracks a day, often spending the early hours of a morning in the studio after a day of shooting films. The first album released after his death, under the name Makaveli and called The Don Killuminati: The Seven Day Theory, has 12 songs, was written and recorded in seven days, and went five times platinum. There have been seven other albums released since. He left behind such a vast number of unreleased songs - an estimated 800 - that 2Pac albums are still being released a decade after his death. A new album is expected to be released by his mother this year.

Undeniably, the fans were attracted to the way he delivered his rhymes: always with maximum feeling. Websites and blogs dedicated to Shakur are full of comments from fans who have been "inspired". Shakur covered all topics - death, life, poverty, wealth, family, friends, enemies, revenge, forgiveness, politics, self-doubt and self-belief - and his colleagues were in awe that even with an incredibly hectic schedule he never gave less than 100 per cent on the microphone. Eminem produced Shakur's last album, Loyal to the Game, which reached No. 1 in the US. He says: "Tupac … stood up for everything he believed in, no matter what the outcome may be. To me, that is the true definition of a soldier. Tupac reached so many people with such power on so many different levels." Today's most successful hip-hop artists, including 50 Cent and Jay Z, talk about Shakur the same way rock fans talk about Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Kurt Cobain. Janet Jackson, Shakur's co-star in the 1993 movie Poetic Justice, says: "I feel very fortunate to have seen another side of Tupac, someone who was very caring and loving, a contrast to his public image. He just went all out. Everyday was his first and last."

In Shakur's final recorded interview, four months before his death, a radio announcer asked where he saw himself in five years. Shakur said he wanted to set up Little League football competition to steer youngsters away from drugs and the streets. In his final poem, he wrote: "I will die before my timeHe Because I feel the shadow's depth so much I wanted to accomplish

before I reached my death I have come to grips with the possibility and wiped the last tear from my eyes I loved all who were positive In the event of my demise."

He travelled on a short rough road, and his trip was cut short. But the legend of Shakur continues to drive a legion of fans, musicians and the underprivileged towards their goals. It is an enormous accomplishment for a man who was larger than life, who has become colossal in death. Tupac's most important songs Life Goes On An ode to dead and incarcerated friends, this track has been played at the funerals of numerous young men in the United States and Australia.

Hit 'Em Up Tupac boasts about having sex with the wife of his rival Notorious B.I.G. , before threatening death to a number of New York rappers. This song created an East Coast-West Coast rivalry and made the artist truly infamous. Keep Ya Head Up His observations of the mistreatment of black women and a call for the end to female abuse in ghettos. Dear Mama A powerful tribute to his mother, who raised two children on her own while battling drug addiction.

Changes Tupac's challenge for blacks to rise above poverty and discrimination. Jamie Pandaram