Brandon Yip
Senior Columnist

 

t has been 25 years since the death of rap

superstar, Tupac Shakur. On September 7,
1996, at 11:15 pm, Shakur was a passenger
in a 1996 black BMW driven by Suge Knight,
founder of Death Row Records. Both men
were on their way to Club 662 when the
vehicle stopped at a red light near Koval
Lane and Flamingo Road just outside the
Las Vegas Strip. Suddenly, a white Cadillac
appeared beside them and opened fire.

Shakur died six days later at the
University Medical Center of Southern
Nevada hospital. He was 25. Before the
shooting, Shakur had attended the Mike
Tyson and Bruce Shelton fight at the MGM
Grand. Accompanying the rap icon was
Suge Knight and members of Shakur’s
hip-hop group “The Outlawz” —along with
other friends.

Shakur started his music career in 1990
with the Oakland-based hip hop group,
Digital Underground before venturing out
as a solo artist. From 1991 to 1996, Tupac
Shakur was the brightest star in hip hop
and gangsta rap music. He released four
platinum albums during his lifetime with

another seven albums released
posthumously (also
going platinum).

   
 
 

 

  
  
 
   
  

 

  

To date, Shakur has sold over 75 million
records worldwide. He recorded songs

that have become classics: “Dear Mama,”
“California Love,” “Keep Ya Head Up,” “Hit
‘Em Up” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.”
Shakur had also transitioned his music
career into films; starring in six movies—with
three of the six films released posthumously:
Bullet, Gridlock'd and Gang Related.

The famed rapper came from very
humble beginnings. Shakur was born in
Harlem, New York, on June 16, 1971. His
mother, Afeni Shakur, a political activist
and former Black Panther, raised him and
his sister, Sekyiwa, on her own. The family
struggled for money, moving several times
and at times staying in shelters. Eventually,
they moved to Baltimore; where the young
Tupac attended the Baltimore School of the
Arts where he studied poetry, jazz, acting
and ballet.

Shakur was known to be a voracious
reader who loved the arts. He was
intelligent, articulate and introspective.
These attributes made others jealous; as
rapper 50 Cent recalled in an article he
wrote about Shakur for Rolling Stone in
2010: “[Actor] Laurence Fishburne told me
once that he didn’t like Tupac. He told me it
was because Tupac was so much smarter
than everyone around him. He said he didn’t
like the way Tupac behaved because he
knew that Tupac knew better.”

But Shakur was also a myriad of
contradictions. He advocated about social
issues: poverty, drug addiction and civil
rights for African Americans. His song,
“Dear Mama’ was poignant and

dedicated to his mother —who
passed away in May 2016 at
age 69. Yet, his song, “I Get
Around,” boasted about
his sexual conquests. As
well, in an October 1995
interview with MTV
host, Tabitha Soren,
Shakur admitted
in his early 20s,
he associated
with gang
members,
drug dealers,
pimps and
prostitutes.
He also
projected
a defiant,
tough-
guy

  
  
  
  
   
  
   
  
  
  
   
 

>» The murder of rap icon, Tupac Shakur, in Las Vegas remains unsolved

 

image to the media—a mantra he referred
to as “thug life.” The media focused more
on Shakur’s “bad boy” persona rather than
focusing on his music.

Over time, the image Shakur conveyed
would get him into trouble with the law.

In February 1995, The New York Times
reported Shakur was sentenced to one-and-
a-half to four-and-a-half years in prison for
sexually abusing a fan. Shakur only served
eight months before he was released on bail
pending an appeal of his conviction. Suge
Knight posted Shakur’s bail at $1.4 million
with the agreement the rapper signed with
Death Row.

Shakur’s charisma and good looks drew
women, while his bravado and outspokenness
drew enemies. And in the world of hip hop
and gangsta rap; to hate one another was
the norm. It was all part of the image to sell
records and make money. In the 1990s, the
East Coast and West Coast rivalry dominated
the rap music industry. At the centre of
the rivalry was rapper Notorious B.1.G.
(Christopher Wallace). He was part of Bad
Boy Records in New York, founded by Sean
Combs (P. Diddy). Tupac Shakur was part of
Death Row Records in Los Angeles founded
by Suge Knight. Preceding the rivalry, Wallace
and Shakur had been friends.

But the friendship soon ended after
Shakur was shot multiple times in an
attempted robbery in November 1994.
Shakur had been inside the lobby of Quad, a
Manhattan recording studio before being shot
by two young African American men. Shakur
believed the Notorious B.1.G. and P. Diddy—
who were both upstairs— were behind the
shooting. No one was ever charged. Shakur
later spoke about the shooting in the same
October 1995 MTV interview: “That situation
with me is like what comes around, goes
around. Karma, | believe in karma. | believe in
all of that. I’m not worried about it. You know,
they missed. I’m not worried about it; unless
they come back.” Sadly, someone else did.

Shakur’s murder near the Las Vegas
Strip has never been solved. In 2006, the
Shakur murder case was reinvestigated by
LAPD—as part of the murder of Notorious
B.I.G. in March 1997. In September 2021,
Greg Kading, a retired LAPD detective, gave
an interview to the television station, KTNV,
in Las Vegas. Kading believes Shakur was
murdered by Orlando Anderson; a member
of the Southside Compton Crips gang in
Los Angeles. In addition, Kading states that
Anderson’s uncle, Duane “Keefe D” Davis,
confessed to police in 2009 that he was in Las