This first full length biography of Tupac Shakur details each step in Shakur's development, from his early exposure to racism and political activism to his studies of drama to his move from New York to the West Coast and his innovative work with early hip hop culture and music. Armond White's understanding of Tupac's art will uncork the bottled up rage and confusion that attends the way hip hop culture is produced and received.

The ever controversial Shakur offers a great occasion for a close, passionate reading of rap and ghetto culture. His art can be helpful in cross-referencing the ideas of self-expression and the efforts toward survival and resistance that seem so haphazard and conflicted in much of hip hop music. Through connections drawn between Shakur and Public Enemy, Notorious B.I.G., Dr. Dre, Ice-T, Ice Cube, and Sister Souljah, White examines Shakur's life as a prism for the hip hop world.