Hard as it may be to believe, the Tennessee gentleman booked into jail Saturday under the name Tupac Shakur was not born with that handle.

According to cops, Shakur, 40, was busted after he pulled a knife on officers seeking to arrest him on an outstanding probation violation warrant.

When officers in Johnson City sought to place Shakur in custody, he allegedly pulled away from them and reached into his waistband, where he retrieved a knife. Shakur was quickly taken to the ground and handcuffed.

A subsequent search of Shakur turned up a syringe and “multiple baggies of methamphetamine,” police reported. The suspect was booked into the Washington County Detention Center, where he is being held on $18,000 bond in advance of arraignment this afternoon.

Shakur, seen above, was born Timothy Steven Oliver, according to public records. At some point during the past decade Oliver started using the Shakur handle, though it is unclear whether he formally filed for a name change (a check with courts in the counties where Oliver has resided turned up no record of a name change application).

Tennessee’s Department of Correction lists Timothy Steven Oliver as a current felony probationer who uses the alias Tupac Amaru Shakur. Criminal court records--of which there are many for the defendant--alternately list Oliver with the Shakur alias and Shakur with the Oliver alias.

The combined Oliver/Shakur rap sheet spans more than two decades and includes collars for assault; public intoxication; resisting arrest; passing bad checks; burglary; theft; vandalism; obstruction; filing a false report; narcotics possession; and trespassing.