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Late 1993, Tupac Shakur formed the group Thug Life with a number of his friends, including Big Syke, Macadoshis, his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and Rated R. The group released their only album Thug Life: Volume 1 on September 26, 1994, which went gold.

The album featured the single " Pour Out a Little Liquor " produced by Johnny " J " Jackson, who went on to produce a large part of Shakur's album All Eyez on Me.

The group usually performed their concerts without Shakur. Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in many American, African-American, and World entities, including the Black Panther Party, Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty.

His debut album, 2Pacalypse Now, revealed the socially conscious side of Shakur.

On this album, Shakur attacked social injustice, poverty and police brutality on songs " Brenda's Got a Baby ", " Trapped " and " Part Time Mutha ".

His style on this album was highly influenced by the social consciousness and Afrocentrism pervading hip hop in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

On this initial release, Shakur helped extend the success of such rap groups as Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, X-Clan, and Grandmaster Flash, as he became one of the first major socially conscious rappers from the West Coast.