Tupac Shakur's solo career existed with the release of his debut solo album called 2Pacalypse Now (alluding to the 1979 film of Apocalypse Now). It was released in November 1991. This album was different than his Digital Underground works. This album talked about important social issues in America (that are still relevant now) like racism, police brutality, poverty, gang violence, teenage pregnancy, and drug abuse. The album was controversial to some people, and many people (especially those who were far right and those who hate hip hop music) hated it. There was the situation when Ronald Ray Howard murdered a Texas Highway Patrol trooper and his defense attorney claimed he was influenced by 2Pacalypse Now and its strong theme of police brutality. This is a silly argument as no album can influence a person to do murder as murder is wrong period. Also, the album never condones killing all police officers. U.S. vice president Dan Quayle criticized the album, making the statement, "There's no reason for a record like this to be released. It has no place in our society." Tupac, finding himself misunderstood. Tupac said in response to the controversy that, "I just wanted to rap about things that affected young black males. When I said that, I didn't know that I was gonna tie myself down to just take all the blunts and hits for all the young black males, to be the media's kicking post for young black males." It is also true that artists do have the responsibility to do what is right. In other words, you can't blame music for all evils in the world, but music that glorifies evil should be criticized.
Despite controversies, 2Pacalypse Now was certified Gold, and peaked at No. 64 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. The three singles were released being: "Trapped", "Brenda's Got a Baby" (No. 23 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs), and "If My Homie Calls" (No. 3 on Hot Rap Songs). Some prominent rappers—like Nas, Eminem, Game, and Talib Kweli—cite the album 2Pacalypse as an inspiration. Aside from "If My Homie Calls", the singles "Trapped" and "Brenda's Got a Baby" poetically depict individual struggles under socioeconomic disadvantage. Later, Tupac starred in his first acting role in the movie Juice. Juice was released in 1992 about young teenage black people who try to survive in the streets. A robbery gone round causes one friend in the crew to die by a mentally ill, unstable person. The crew falls apart, and the unstable person dies after a fight. Tupac plays the role of Roland Bishop who shows charisma on the screen. Rolling Stone's Peter Travers calls him "the film's most magnetic figure." Multiple actors had auditioned for the role of Roland Bishop, but none were considered right for the role. Shakur accompanied Money-B to the audition and asked producer Neal H. Moritz to read. He was given 15 minutes to rehearse before the audition and secured the role. Tupac Shakur's 2nd album was Strictly for My N_____Z. It was released in February 1993.
A critical and commercial success, it debuted at No. 24 on the pop albums chart, the Billboard 200. An overall more hardcore album, it emphasizes Tupac's sociopolitical views and has a metallic production quality. The song "Last Wordz" features Ice Cube, co-writer of N.W.A's "F____ tha Police", who in his own solo albums had newly gone militantly political, and gangsta rapper Ice-T, who in June 1992 had sparked controversy with his band Body Count's track "Cop Killer." The album carries the single "I Get Around", a party anthem featuring Digital Underground's Shock G and Money-B, which became Shakur's breakthrough, reaching No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album also carries the optimistic compassion of another hit, "Keep Ya Head Up", an anthem for women's empowerment, charting No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's fourth and final hit, "Papa'z Song", peaked at No. 87 on Billboard 200. The album was certified Platinum by April 1995, with a million copies sold. In 1993, he starred in his 2nd film with Janet Jackson in John Singleton's romance film of Poetic Justice. The film is about Justice (played by Janet Jackson) who say his boyfriend murdered. She fails to adequately cope with her loss until she meets a postal worker (played by Tupac Shakur). They don't get along at first and later love each other romantically after many adventures. Tupac played a gangster named Birdie in the 1994 basketball film of Above the Rim.
At first, Tupac was initially selected for many films. Director Allen Hughes had cast Shakur as Sharif in the 1993 film Menace II Society but replaced him once Shakur assaulted him on set due to a discrepancy with the script. Nonetheless, in 2013, Hughes appraises that Shakur would have outshone the other actors "because he was bigger than the movie." Singleton initially cast Shakur in his 1995 film Higher Learning but was fired because the studio would not finance the film following his arrest. He also had Shakur in the lead role as mind in the 2001 film Baby Boy, a role played by Tyrese Gibson. Ultimately, after his death, the set design includes a Shakur mural in the protagonist's bedroom, and the film's score includes Shakur's song "Hail Mary." Tupac Shakur was a naturally born actor.
In 1993, while visiting Los Angeles, the Notorious B.I.G. asked a local drug dealer to introduce him to Shakur and they quickly became friends. The pair would socialize when Shakur went to New York or B.I.G. to Los Angeles. During this period, at his own live shows, Shakur would call B.I.G. onto stage to rap with him and Stretch. Reportedly, B.I.G. asked Shakur to manage him, whereupon Shakur advised him that Sean Combs would make him a star. Yet in the meantime, Shakur's lifestyle was comparatively lavish to B.I.G. who had not yet established himself.
In 1993, Tupac's world would turn upside down. That was the year when Tupac Shakur and others were accused of raping a black woman named Ayanna Jackson. To the time of his death, Tupac denied the allegations. With tons of research, we all can agree that Ayanna was raped by many people who were around Tupac. The debate is whether Tupac raped the woman or not. Rape and any form of sexual assault is evil and unjustified period to be clear. What both Ayanna and Tupac agree is factually is that they both at first had consensual sexual relationships in New York City. The night of November 19, 1993, Jackson had hanging with Tupac and three other men. These three other men raped her. After the rape, Ayanna said to Tupac, "How could you do this to me? I came here to see you. I can’t believe you did this to me?'” Ayanna accused Haitian Jack and Tupac of raping her. She said that Charles Fuller never raped her. Tupac denied all allegations. He said that, "If the case is about me and this girl then we wouldn’t be here. I’m guilty of a lot of things, but I’m not guilty of rape. Just because I don’t want to be with a girl doesn’t mean they can accuse me rape. It’s a crime for that girl to turn this into a rape charge. In the report it says I was in concert, where are those guys? I don’t want to go to jail for something I didn’t do.” Haitian Jack back then was a stone-cold gangster involved in violence and robbery for years. He dated Madonna, and the Notorious B.I.G. warned Tupac that Haitian Jack had a negative reputation. Haitian Jack said that he gave money to Tupac. Tupac considered Haitian Jack a snitch and informant. By November 30, 1994, Tupac was shot five times in the Quad Studios. Tupac wanted to record a video with Lil Shawn and people with army fatigues beat and shot Tupac. We know now that one person confessed to the shooting under orders from Jimmy Henchman. This person is Dexter Isaac. The Notorious B.I.G. had nothing to do with the 1994 shooting. In 1995, Tupac accused Sean Combs, Jimmy Henchman, and the Notorious B.I.G. or having foreknowledge or being involving in the shooting. Biggie's Who Shot Ya? was made before the shooting, but it was insensitive to be released so soon after the shooting.
Against medical advice, Shakur checked out of Metropolitan Hospital Center a few hours after surgery and secretly went to the house of the actress Jasmine Guy to recuperate. The next day, Shakur arrived at a Manhattan courthouse bandaged in a wheelchair to receive the jury's verdict for his sexual abuse case. Shakur spent the next few weeks being cared for by his mother and a private doctor at Guy's home. The Fruit of Islam and former members of the Black Panther Party stood guard to protect him.
Interviewed on The Arsenio Hall Show, Shakur said he was hurt that "a woman would accuse me of taking something from her", as he had been raised in aa women household and surrounded by women his whole life. On December 1, 1994, Shakur was acquitted of three counts of sodomy and the associated gun charges, but convicted of two counts of first-degree sexual abuse for "forcibly touching the woman's buttocks" in his hotel room. Jurors have said the lack of evidence stymied a sodomy conviction. Shakur's lawyer characterized the sentence as "out of line" with the groping conviction and the setting of bail at $3 million as "inhumane." Shakur's accuser later filed a civil suit against Shakur seeking $10 million for punitive damages which was subsequently settled. After Shakur had been convicted of sexual abuse, Jacques Agnant's case was separated and closed via misdemeanor plea without incarceration. A. J. Benza reported in New York Daily News Shakur's new disdain for Agnant who Shakur theorized had set him up with the case.
Halle Berry went into the next level of her acting career (entering another level of superstardom) starring in the television film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge in 1999. It showed her life in honesty and power. She won a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award with her role in the film. By the 2000s, she was one of the highest paid actresses in Hollywood. One of her most controversial roles was the role in Monster's Ball that came in 2001. He played the character of Leticia Musgrove, the troubled wife of an executed murderer (played by Sean Combs). Many people criticized the film for having a graphic nude love scene with a racist character played by co-star Billy Bob Thorton. Many African Americans didn't agree with the part. Berry responded: "I don't really see a reason to ever go that far again. That was a unique movie. That scene was special and pivotal and needed to be there, and it would be a really special script that would require something like that again." You know what my views on that movie was. I didn't agree with certain aspects of the film. Her performance was awarded the National Board of Review and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress. She became the first African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. The NAACP issued the statement: "Congratulations to Halle Berry and Denzel Washington for giving us hope and making us proud. If this is a sign that Hollywood is finally ready to give opportunity and judge performance based on skill and not on skin color then it is a good thing." After Halle Berry winning the Oscar, She asked for a higher fee for Revlon advertisements.
Ron Perelman, the cosmetics firm's chief, congratulated her, saying how happy he was that she modeled for his company. She replied, "Of course, you'll have to pay me more." Perelman stalked off in a rage. In accepting her award, she gave an acceptance speech honoring previous black actresses who had never had the opportunity. She said, "This moment is so much bigger than me. This is for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance tonight because this door has been opened." In 2002, she played the agent Giacinta "Jinx" Johnson in the 2002 film Die Another Day. Halle Berry filmed an homage to Dr. No, emerging from the surf to be greeted by James Bond as Ursula Andress had 40 years earlier. Lindy Hemming, costume designer on Die Another Day, had insisted that Berry wear a bikini and knife as a homage. Berry has said of the scene: "It's splashy," "exciting," "sexy," "provocative" and "it will keep me still out there after winning an Oscar." According to an ITV news poll, Jinx was voted the fourth toughest girl on screen of all time. Berry was hurt during filming when debris from a smoke grenade flew into her eye. It was removed in a 30-minute operation. After Berry won the Academy Award, rewrites were commissioned to give her more screentime for X2. Halle Berry played Storm in the X-Men trilogy.
She starred in the psychological thriller Gothika opposite Robert Downey, Jr. in November 2003. She had broken her arm while filming a scene with Downey, who twisted her arm too hard. Production was halted for eight weeks while she healed. It was a moderate hit at the United States box office, taking in $60 million; it earned another $80 million abroad. Berry appeared in the nu metal band Limp Bizkit's music video for "Behind Blue Eyes" for the motion picture soundtrack for the film. The same year, she was named No. 1 in FHM's 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll. She was in the film Catwoman. The film was about her playing Catwoman with a black suit. She was awarded the Worst Actress Razzie Award for her performance; she appeared at the ceremony to accept the award in person (while holding her Oscar from Monster's Ball) with a sense of humor, considering it an experience of the "rock bottom" in order to be "at the top." Holding the Academy Award in one hand and the Razzie in the other she said, "I never in my life thought that I would be up here, winning a Razzie! It's not like I ever aspired to be here, but thank you. When I was a kid, my mother told me that if you could not be a good loser, then there's no way you could be a good winner."
Her next role was in the Oprah Winfrey-produced ABC television film Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005), an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston's novel of the same name. Berry portrayed a free-spirited woman whose unconventional sexual mores upset her 1920s contemporaries in a small community. She received her second Primetime Emmy Award nomination for her role. Also in 2005, she served as an executive producer in Lackawanna Blues. She was the voice for the character of Cappy, one of the many mechanical beings in the animated feature Robots.
In the thriller Perfect Stranger (2007), Berry starred with Bruce Willis, playing a reporter who goes undercover to uncover the killer of her childhood friend. The film grossed a modest US$73 million worldwide, and received lukewarm reviews from critics, who felt that despite the presence of Berry and Willis, it is "too convoluted to work, and features a twist ending that's irritating and superfluous." Her next 2007 film release was the drama Things We Lost in the Fire, co-starring Benicio del Toro. She played a recently widowed woman who befriended the troubled friend of her late husband. The film was the first time in which she worked with a female director, Danish Susanne Bier, giving her a new feeling of "thinking the same way," which she appreciated. While the film made US$8.6 million in its global theatrical run, it garnered positive reviews. 'The Austin Chronicle found the film to be "an impeccably constructed and perfectly paced drama of domestic and internal volatility" and felt that "Berry is brilliant here, as good as she's ever been."
In April 2007, Berry was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of the Kodak Theatre at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the film industry. By the end of the decade, she established herself as one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, earning an estimated $10 million per film. In the independent drama Frankie and Alice (2010), Berry played the leading role of a young multiracial American woman with dissociative identity disorder; she struggled against her alter personality to retain her true self. The film received a limited theatrical release, to a mixed critical response. The Hollywood Reporter described the film as "a well-wrought psychological drama that delves into the dark side of one woman's psyche" and found Berry to be "spellbinding" in it. She earned the African-American Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama. She next made part of a large ensemble cast in Garry Marshall's romantic comedy New Year's Eve (2011), with Michelle Pfeiffer, Jessica Biel, Robert De Niro, Josh Duhamel, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Sofía Vergara, among many others. In the film, she took on the supporting role of a nurse befriending a man in the final stages (De Niro). While the film was panned by critics, it made US$142 million worldwide.
The opening took place by 2016. President Barack Obama dedicated the museum. There were special events planned too. NMAAHC officials said that construction scaffolding around the exterior of the building should come down in April 2016, at which time some of the more dust-and-humidity resistant artifacts and displays could be installed. Installation of more delicate items would wait until the building's environmental controls had stabilized the interior humidity and removed most of the dust from the air. The museum identified 3,000 items in its collections which would form 11 initial exhibits. More than 130 video and audio installations would be installed as part of these exhibits. By January 2016, the museum received a 10-million-dollar gift from David Rubenstein, the CEO of The Carlyle Group and a Smithsonian regent. There was a 1 million donation from Wells Fargo. As of January 30, 2016, the museum still needed to raise $40 million toward its $270 million construction goal. Two unique documents, both signed by President Abraham Lincoln, would be loaned to the museum for its opening. These are commemorative copies of the 13th Amendment and the Emancipation Proclamation, of which only a limited number were printed. Few of these have survived. David Rubenstein purchased both items in 2012. Microsoft announced a 1 million donation to the museum by late March 2016. People debated whether items about the career of Bill Cosby will be in the museum as Bill Cosby has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women. In response to the resulting controversy, the museum added the following sentence to its description of Cosby's career: "In recent years, revelations about alleged sexual misconduct have cast a shadow over Cosby's entertainment career and severely damaged his reputation."
Google donated $1 million (~$1.28 million in 2024) to the museum in early September 2016. The technology firm had previously worked with the NMAAHC to create a 3D interactive exhibit which allows visitors to see artifacts in a close-up, 360-degree view using their mobile phone. The 3D exhibit was created by designers and engineers from the Black Googler Network. On September 16, 2016, violinist Edward W. Hardy composed and performed Evolution - Inspired by the Evolution of Black Music for the Congressional Black Caucus at a Google sponsored event in Howard Theatre. This event was a part of the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. On September 23, 2016, The Washington Post reported that Robert F. Smith, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, had given $20 million (~$25.5 million in 2024) to the NMAAHC. The gift was second-largest in the museum's history, exceeded only by the $21 million donated by Oprah Winfrey.
Ava DuVernay was commissioned by the museum to create a film which debuted at the museum's opening on September 24, 2016. This film, August 28: A Day in the Life of a People (2016), tells of six significant events in African-American history that happened on the same date, August 28. The 22-minute film stars Lupita Nyong'o, Don Cheadle, Regina King, David Oyelowo, Angela Bassett, Michael Ealy, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, André Holland and Glynn Turman. Events depicted include William IV's royal assent to the UK Slavery Abolition Act in 1833, the 1955 lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi, the release of Motown's first number-one song, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvellettes, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech, the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the night then-senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.
On September 24, 2016, President Barack Obama formally opened the new museum along with four generations of the Bonner family, from 99-year-old Ruth Bonner to Ruth's great-granddaughter Christine. Together with the Obamas, Ruth and her family rang the Freedom Bell (rather than cut a ribbon) to officially open the museum. The bell came from the first Baptist church organized by and for African Americans, founded in 1776 in Williamsburg, Virginia, where at the time it was unlawful for black people to congregate or preach. During his speech at the museum's opening, Obama shed tears discussing his thoughts on visiting the museum with future grandchildren. The opening ceremony also included a speech by Muriel Bowser and a performance by Angélique Kidjo.
The total cost of the museum's design, construction, and installation of exhibits was $540 million ($707,495,840 in 2024 dollars). By the time the museum's founding fundraising campaign had ended, the NMAAHC had raised $386 million ($505,728,508 in 2024 dollars), 143 percent more than its goal of $270 million.
When did artificial intelligence begin? It started thousands of years ago with stories, myths, and a belief that artificial beings can have intelligence or consciousness by a person. People have studied logic and other concepts for a long time. In the 17th century, Leibniz, Thomas Hobbes and René Descartes explored the possibility that all rational thought could be made as systematic as algebra or geometry. In the 18th and 19th centuries Luigi Galvani, Emil du Bois-Reymond, Hermann von Helmholtz and others demonstrated that the nerves carried electrical signals and Robert Bentley Todd correctly speculated in 1828 that the brain was an electrical network. Camillo Golgi's staining techniques enabled Santiago Ramón y Cajal to provide evidence for the neuron theory: "The truly amazing conclusion is that a collection of simple cells can lead to thought, action, and consciousness." The invention of the programmable digital computer in the 1940s changed the game. Now, a computer is a machine that can use abstract mathematical reasoning in a rapid fashion. Many scientists from that time onward wanted to create a possible electronic brain. By the 1950s, experimental cybernetic robots were created by William Grey Walter and Johns Hopkins University. AI research began at Dartmouth College in 1956 through a workshop. The workshop became leaders of AI research for decades. The federal government sent millions of dollars to promote artificial intelligence (or making machines as intelligent as human beings). This plan proved difficult. Many people wanted to stop direct funding into research into artificial intelligence by the 1970s. The Japanese government promoted this research in the 1980s. Artificial intelligence grew slowly in the 1990s and early 21st century. By 2017, the transformer architecture existed to create generative AI applications. Since the 2020s, the AI boom existed into the next level with large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. Today, AI is used for public usage now. Debates and controversies exist with AI. Many people want legitimate regulations involving artificial intelligence too.
By Timothy
