Tupac “2Pac” Shakur was announced today (December 20) to be one of the inductees to the 2017 class of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The late and still influential rapper/actor will be officially inducted April 7 at the Barclays Center in New York, joining other music legends such as Journey, Niles Rogers, Pearl Jam, and Joan Baez, among others.
2Pac was nominated for the prestigious honor this past October and is just the sixth Hip-Hop artist to be named for induction. For artists to be considered for induction, they must pass a vote after a career of 25 years. By this measure, acts like A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul could potentially see induction. So far, N.W.A, the Beastie Boys, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC and Public Enemy have all been entered.
Chuck D had previously questioned 2Pac’s nomination, saying that LL Cool J should have been considered before the West Coast legend. But upon hearing news of Tupac’s official inclusion into the Class of 2017, the Public Enemy rapper had nothing but praise for ‘Pac.
2Pac’s storied career began as a soloist in 1991 with his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, which celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. He went on to release three more LPs before his death in September 1996. The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory was released posthumously two months later under the name Makaveli.
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Tupac also made a name for himself as a poet and actor, starring in Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson, playing the infamous Birdie in Above the Rim as well as Bishop in Juice withOmar Epps.
