Tupack Shakur by Gage Martinez

        

         On June 16, 1971, in the East Harlem area of Manhattan, a legend was born. Named after a Peruvian Revolutionary, his influence on modern culture and the African-American community can still be seen to this day (“Greatest Artists of All Time”). His name was Tupac Shakur, and he would go on to be one of the greatest artists of all time (“Greatest Artists of All Time”). Although in life, Shakur provided answers about violence and civil rights, his death sparked mystery. While he was smart and talented, Tupac was also an active gang member, and was known to be dangerous and willing to fight.
            Tupac Shakur did not fit the typical rapper stereotype, one of ignorance, greediness, and materialism. Instead, Tupac showed that he was intelligent and capable of tackling great social and political problems through his lyricism and influence (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). As the child of two members of the Black Panther party, he received a vigorous radical political education (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). Shakur’s family’s radicalism can be seen in the fact that Tupac’s mother was pregnant with him in jail, and charges of terrorism and plotting to bomb public buildings (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). He watched his mother struggle, not only financially, but from severe substance abuse. This motif of single motherhood and hardships in the ghetto that are seen in his music are a direct result of his childhood environment. As a child, he joined the Harlem 127^th Street Repertory Ensemble, a local theater company, and performed in plays (“100 Greatest Artists”). As a teen, he joined the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he studied jazz, theater, and even ballet. Even in his childhood, Tupac was a local legend for his ability to rap (“100 Greatest Artists”). While bouncing around from home to home, Shakur eventually landed in California. His “West-Coast” rapping career was soon to begin.

            After joining the Hip-Hop group Digital Underground, Tupac began to realize his love for making music (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). He saw it as a powerful tool that was especially wide-reaching. Tupac’s music was a reflection of the things he saw in his life, and the feelings he experienced. He was praised for his combination of acting and musical talent, but also widely condemned for his extremely violent lyrics. His songs had mention of drugs, selling drugs, murder, gang life, and sex. While his upbringing created an intelligent man, Shakur did not rap about violent things he did not actually do. In 1994 he was charged for assaulting a director, and spent several days in jail (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). Tupac was also robbed in the lobby of a recording studio, and received five gunshot wounds, yet survived and fully recovered. After his recovery, he was sentenced to four and a half years of prison for sexual assault (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). He released more music while in prison, and critics claimed that this music showed a more genuine, reflective aspect of Tupac (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). Some of his songs noted that he was prepared for his early death, one that was realized soon after his release from prison. He only served eight months, with the aid of Marion “Suge” Knight, who paid a bond of more than a million dollars.

            After his release, Tupac was back into gangster rap full-force. He released the album “All Eyez on Me,” one his most acclaimed albums. Shakur even managed to land multiple film roles, and a spot on a TV show called Bullet. During his whole music career, Shakur had been embroiled in a feud between East-Coast and West-Coast rappers and gangsters (“Tupac Shakur Biography”). He was known to frequently insult his enemies on his tracks, and played a main part in the disputes between the opposing rap groups. On September 7^th, 1996, Tupac’s violent feud caught up to him. On the way to a boxing match, with Suge Knight driving, Shakur was shot multiple times. He died six days later in a Las Vegas hospital, due to his wounds.

            Almost immediately, people blamed his death on his “war” with the East-Coast rap community. As time passed, people began to make suspicious connections about the mysterious and untimely death of this hip-hop icon. Multiple conspiracies explaining his death, or lack thereof, have spurred from the infamous shooting. One leading conspiracy assumes that Biggie Smalls ordered the hit, while another claims that Tupac’s manager Suge Knight ordered the hit on him. While these assume Tupac actually died, one theory states that Shakur didn’t even die in the shooting, but was relocated into witness protection.

            A lot of people wanted Tupac dead. His songs frequently insulted other rappers, discrediting them in the process. On more than one occasion, Tupac “dissed” old friend-turned-rival The Notorious B.I.G. Some theorists believe that the East-Coast rapper ordered a hit on Tupac, one paid up to one million dollars (Philips). Supporters of this theory point to multiple pieces of evidence. One convincing piece is that the gun reportedly belonged to Biggie himself, and he gave it to the hitman to use it. Also, a Las Vegas Times reporter attempted to contact Violetta Wallace, the mother of Biggie, and a friend of the reporter. Hearing that the reporter would question her about Biggie’s alibi, she angrily declined the interview (Philips). While some speculate over Biggie’s connection, a very telling piece of evidence is his well-documented ties to the gang scene (Philips). If he was willing to be a part of a violent gang like the Crips, he may have been more willing to order a hit on his old friend Tupac.

            Another less frequently heard theory is that Tupac was murdered by Diddy, who put out a hit on him (Parry). This theory is supported by the same notion that the East-Coast and West-Coast rap groups were attempting to detrimentally affect one another. An LAPD officer reported that while interviewing a former Crip, the gang member stated that P. Diddy said he would “Give anything for Pac’s and Suge Knight’s heads” (Parry). Duane Davis, the man Diddy initially hired, confessed to police that he passed the hit to his nephew, Orlando Anderson, to help him out (Parry). Another important piece of evidence is the fact that Diddy was close friends with Biggie Smalls, who was killed in retaliation to Pac’s death (Parry). This showcases Diddy’s relationship to the murder of Tupac.

            The last and most intriguing conspiracy surrounding Tupac’s death is that he didn’t die at all. In the latter years of his life, Tupac became so popular that he had no private life (Roa). Tupac had to dedicate so much time to Public appearance and creating new music that his personal life began to suffer, evidenced by his lack of committed relationships, or the existence of a long-time girlfriend (Roa). Even more convincing is the creation of a new stage name right before leaving. Calling himself Makaveli, after the author of “The Prince,” we can rearrange the letters to get AM ALIVE K (Roa). Also, in “The Prince,” Makavelli states that an effective way to confuse enemies is to fake your own death. Shakur was heavily influenced by this author, and possibly took that advice.  Maybe the most convincing evidence  for his faked death is a line from his song “Ain’t Hard to Find,” in which  Tupac raps that “I heard rumors that I died murdered in cold blood, traumatized pictures of me in my final states — you know mama cried. But that was fiction, some coward got the story twisted.” This is eerily reminiscent of the state of the internet and news after Tupac’s death, when pictures of his dead body were posted.

Tupac Shakur will always be known as one of the most infamous celebrity deaths. While his untimely end isn’t uncommon for a gang member, his fame and power seemed to make him invincible in the face of death. His assassination sparked numerous conspiracy theories, of which three seemed most likely.

1.      Did The Notorious B.I.G. kill Tupac as a result of their rap battling history?

2.      Was P. Diddy responsible for the death of Tupac due to gang affiliations?

3.      Is Tupac still alive to this day, escaping his fame?

While the theories all seem plausible, we may never know the true explanation behind the assassination of the most famous rapper to ever live.

Works Cited

Philips, Chuck. "Who Killed Tupac Shakur?" Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 06 Sept. 2002. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Moss, Corey. "Biggie Paid Gang To Kill Tupac, Report Says." News. N.p., 06 Sept. 2002. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.

Dailymail.com, Hannah Parry For. "Former LAPD Detective Claims P Diddy Was behind Fatal Drive-by Shooting of Legendary Rapper Tupac Shakur in 1996." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 2016. Web. 17 Nov. 2016.

Roa, Shoba. "Tupac's Death." NewsComAu. N.p., 14 Sept. 2016. Web. 06 Dec. 2016.

Stone, Rolling. "100 Greatest Artists." Rolling Stone. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.

"Tupac Shakur Biography." The Biography.com Website. N.p., 16 May 2016. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.