Pac was basically born into a gang.He already had a "gang mentality" growing up.It was the remnants of the Black Liberation Movement(Post Cointel Pro) that helped form gangs.It didn't turn violent until they introduced crack and niccaz started fighting over territory.A bunch of children of the movement turned to gangs after being displaced for various reasons.Parents dead, locked up, or on drugs.Pac was a victim of all 3, so that anger was there.That same element that turns niccaz towards the streets, was there.
The phenomenon of gang culture was very much of his time.That's his peer group.When that shyt was in peak form.
Lil celebrity niccaz banging in the 2010's is some altogether different kind of shyt
The Thug Life Code Of Ethics was drafted to specifically incorporate gangs.The objective (Mutulu Shakur, Pac, OG's in the pen) was gang participation in helping to regulate urban communities across America.If you listen to the Monster Kody interview, it was something he battled with.
If you know what you're looking at, It doesn't surprise me that Pac's career would become interlaced with gangs.Whether he was an actual "inititated"/full fledged member, I don't know.But his life leading him to that spot, I'm not surprised.His music was basically the articulation of their pain.He just happened to be blessed with an artistic gift of expression