"He wore braces over his gapped, slightly brown teeth and walked like a duck, exhibiting a self-conscious swagger that made him stand out for all the wrong reasons. But even then, Shakur was magnetic and drew people in a charm that, as writer Jeff Pearlman argues in his book Only God Can Judge Me: The Many Lives of Tupac Shakur, helps explain the contradictions that shaped Shakur's short, extraordinary life."
""When people give too much grandeur to his thoughts and his behavior, both negative and positive, actually, I would say you have to remember, he was a baby, like he was a baby," Pearlman said. Shakur was 19 years old when he began working on his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, and only 25 when he was shot and killed. "He didn't know what he was doing. He was trying his best," Pearlman said."
Tupac Shakur began as an awkward, eccentric teenager who wore braces, had a gapped smile, and walked with a self-conscious gait. He nonetheless possessed a magnetic charm that drew people to him. Early experiences produced constant dualities: sensitive yet hard-edged, sexualized yet inexperienced, and a devoted son who watched his mother develop a crack addiction. He began work on his debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, at 19 and was killed at 25. Extensive interviews and research uncovered more than 100 love letters, influences from Marin City crack dealers, and a baby who inspired "Brenda's Got A Baby," all shaping his music and tragic trajectory.
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