Tupac Shakur left this world far too soon: The rapper and actor died in September 1996 at just 25 years old, days after he was targeted by unknown assailants in a drive-by shooting. (A suspect was finally arrested in October 2023.) More than 27 years later, Shakur’s legacy lives on through his profound poetry and insightful lyricism. While some of his music tackled issues of drugs, poverty, sexism and violence, other songs seemed to glorify those ideas—a testament to his own contradictory nature.

“I got a big mouth. I can’t help it. I talk from my heart. I’m real,” Shakur said in a 1994 interview.

The son of activist Afeni Shakur, 2Pac (the stage name he went by in his music) made it a point to not just raise awareness about racial, economic and social injustices in his music, but also to raise tempers.

As Shakur once said about the anger that courses through rap music, “We asked 10 years ago. We was asking with the Panthers, we was asking with the Civil Rights Movement. Now, those people that were asking are now all dead and in jail… We shouldn’t be angry and my raps that I’m rapping to my community shouldn’t be filled with rage? They shouldn’t be filled with the same atrocities that they gave to me? In the media, they don’t talk about it. So in my raps, I have to talk about it.”

And talk he did, through his lyrics and more. If you’re in need of a jolt of genius, then put “all eyez on” these Tupac quotes and lyrics will inspire you to make the most of the precious time you have left.

Tupac Quotes and 2Pac Shakur Lyrics

1. “Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.”

2. “They have money for war but can’t feed the poor.”

3. “I mean, why have 52 rooms and you know there’s somebody with no room? It just don’t make sense to me.”

4. “Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real.”