Tupac is a hip-hop icon. In the years since his death, he has sold more records than at the peak of his career. The first black artist to have become as legendary as Elvis or James Dean, his reputation rests on a mass of contradictions: the gangsta-rapper who eulogised the thug life ; the erudite young man who hoped for a political and spiritual awakening among his peers; the star who served a prison term for sexually abusing a female fan; the sensitive son of a politicised single mother. A Thug Life explores every aspect of Tupac s career in a thorough selection of interviews, articles, reviews and essays on rap music s enduring icon. Extensively illustrated, it tells the definitive story.