Tupac Shakur
One of the best-selling and
most influential rap artists of all time, Tupac Shakur, has been missed by many
since his death in 1996. Although seen by his fans as an egalitarian poet, he
was also a controversial figure who served eleven months in prison and was
involved in several lawsuits over the course of his life. A figure loved and
loathed in equal measure, he was the victim of two shootings, the second of
which prematurely ended his life. Although it was claimed that rival Biggie
Smalls and Los Angeles
gang the Southside Crips were involved, the culprits have never been found.
The path of events that lead to Tupac’s death began with the first incident, which took place on 30th November 1994, the day before the verdict of his trial for sexual assault. On entering the lobby of Quad Recording studios in Manhattan, Tupac was shot five times by two armed men. Tupac suspected that his friend Randy ‘Stretch’ Walker, Bad Boy Records founder Sean Combs, Andre Harrell, and rapper Biggie Smalls were involved. The next day, a wheelchair-bound Shakur was found guilty of three counts of molestation, and was later sentenced to a maximum of four and a half years in prison.
In October 1995, while appealing his case Shakur could not afford to pay his $1.4 million bail. In rode Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, who in exchange for a three album deal, posted Tupac’s bail. The next month, exactly one year on from the day of the Manhattan shooting, Randy Walker was murdered in Queens.
In the following year, Tupac began a new group under Death Row, called the Outlaw Immortalz. During this time, the East Coast – West Coast rivalry between Death Row and Bad Boy gathered pace. Tupac still suspected that Bad Boy associates knew something about his shooting though they may not have been directly involved. This theory was stoked by Knight, who was already at loggerheads with Combs over a fight at the Platinum Club in Georgia the previous year which had resulted in the death of his bodyguard, Jake Robles. Accordingly, Shakur and Outlawz took numerous pot-shots at Bad Boy Records, attempting to undermine their credibility.
The conflict continued up until 7th September 1996, the last night of Tupac’s life. After attending a Tyson fight in Las Vegas, Knight, Shakur and other Death Row associates assaulted Orlando ‘Baby Lane’ Anderson, a member of the Crips, in retaliation for a robbery on a Death Row member committed by the Crips earlier in the year. While on his way to Club 662 after the fight, a white Cadillac pulled up alongside Shakur’s car, and shot him four times. He died in hospital of internal bleeding, six days later. Biggie Smalls, alleged to have ties to the Crips, was accused of involvement, which he denied. Six months later, he was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. So ended one of the bloodiest sagas in the history of rap, and with it, the lives of two of its brightest stars.
