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Tupac Shakur
Gridlock'd (1997)RAP NAME 2Pac
RAP PERSONA Thug visionary who embodied the tension between higher spiritual yearnings and the call of the street; after his 1996 murder, he was seen as a martyr who prophesized his own doom.
SCREEN CHARACTER Spoon, a jazz musician who, along with bandmate Stretch (Tim Roth, right), tries to kick drugs and enter a rehab program, only to be frustrated by bureaucracy
WHY HE'S GREAT Shakur effortlessly navigates the movie's tricky tonal balance between bleakness and farce, and he has a terrific rapport with Roth.
EW MOVIE GRADE B (Read the review)
IF YOU LIKE THIS 2Pac may have been the most talented actor to emerge from hip-hop, but his early death made him into a James Dean-like figure of unfulfilled screen promise. He delivered a handful of memorable performances, including a street kid who goes bad in Juice, a romantic lead opposite Janet Jackson in Poetic Justice, and a corrupt cop in Gang Related.
