Thug Life (group)

Thug Life
From left to right: Big Syke, Mopreme, Tupac, Macadoshis, The Rated R.
Background information
Genres	Hip hop, G-funk, gangsta rap
Years active	1993–1995
Labels	Jive Records, Out Da Gutta Records
Past members	2Pac (deceased) Stretch (deceased) Mopreme Macadoshis Big Syke (deceased) The Rated R

Thug Life was an American hip hop group that consisted of Tupac Shakur, Big Syke, Stretch, Mopreme Shakur, The Rated R, and Macadoshis. They released one album, 1994's Thug Life: Volume 1, before disbanding after Tupac died on September 13, 1996. Big Syke died on December 5, 2016, 20 years after Shakur's death.

Makaveli, Randy "Stretch" Walker and Princess Mel formed Thug Life in 1992 with Tyruss “Little Psycho” Himes. They recorded a song also titled "Thug Life" and soon Little Psycho joined the group, under the name Syke. Later Macadoshis and The Rated R joined the group. They signed with Interscope Records and recorded an LP titled Thug Life Volume 1. Tupac’s stepbrother, Mopreme Shakur, later joined the group.

On September 26, 1994, Thug Life: Volume 1 was released.

The first single and video was "Pour Out a Little Liquor" which was a Tupac solo song. Additional singles, "Cradle to the Grave", "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" and "It Don't Stop" followed.

Tupac performed "Out on Bail" at the 1994 Source Awards. The album was originally released on Shakur's label Out Da Gutta. Tupac's mother's label, Amaru Entertainment, has since gained the rights to the album.

The track "How Long Will They Mourn Me?" appeared on 2Pac's 1998 Greatest Hits album.

Thug Life: Volume 1 sold 478,419 copies in the United States as of 2011.

The track "Str8 Ballin'" was redone and released three years later on the Tupac album R U Still Down? (1997) under the title "I'm Gettin Money".

On November 30, 1995, Stretch died after being shot four times in the back by three men who pulled up alongside his minivan in Queens Village. Stretch was killed exactly one year after 2pac's 1994 Quad Studio shooting.