Today, I'm writing about the rapper, Tupac and his shortened life. I do this research for many reasons, one of which is story ideas, and secondly, to entertain you. Although, none of my current mysteries are about a celebrity, don't be surprised if I use something like this in the future. I hope you find this week's post as interesting as I did.
Tupac
1971-1996
In 1971, Tupac Amaru Shakur (whose birth name was Lesane Parish
Crooks), was born in East Harlem, New York to Afeni Shakur and Billy Garland.
Here are two pictures of his parents. The reason I'm showing you these is because they were members of the Black Panther Party, a violent group formed in the 70's when the Black Liberation Army (BLA) would not take a more direct-and violent-approach against our government.
Dad
While
the BPP was no stranger to violence, it’s speculated that much of their
reputation was fabricated by the FBI and other government agencies--but that's never been proven either way. They had no qualms about committing murder, robberies, prison breaks of several members and were also implicated in bombings. The BPP loved knowing everyone was frightened of them.
Despite his background, it appeared as though Tupac's life was turning around for the better and that he'd escaped the stigma from this violent
lifestyle when his family moved to Baltimore in 1986. It was here that Tupac
attended The Baltimore School For the Arts, where he acted in everything from
Shakespeare plays to The Nutcracker. He also showed a keen interest in
poetry and acting, two subjects that would serve him well in his rapping
career. While at the school, Tupac and friend Dana “Mouse”
Smith won many rap competitions. Tupac was known to have a great sense
of humor and was one of the most popular students.
At 17, Tupac moved to California (near San Francisco).
He continued to perform in several school plays, and music productions. He was also known for writing
powerful and insightful English papers. He even attended poetry classes.
Eventually, Tupac’s love of rap was too strong to
resist, and he became a backup dancer for the group named Digital Underground.
Digital Underground
In the early 90’s, Tupac began to come into his own as
a rapper and took on more of a prominent role in Digital Underground. Doing so
garnered so much attention that Tupac was able to release his first solo album,
2Pacalypse Now. While not as popular as later albums, it gained notoriety when
a Texas man claimed that its themes of police brutality and oppression
influenced him to shoot a state trooper. Even Vice President Dan Quayle publicly
denounced the record as “having no place in our society.”
Tupac, however, claimed that he had no intention of causing any
violence.
But then, Tupac’s childhood came
back to haunt him, and he began to engage in violent criminal behaviors.
Sadly for this bright young man, he was arrested five times, mostly for assault. One
of these incidents, however, resulted in a sexual assault claim. Initially
found guilty, Tupac served 120 days in jail before the case was overturned on
appeal. Tupac insisted he was innocent of the charge his entire life.
Over the years, many assault charges resulted from the East Coast-West Coast
battle, which killed hundreds of promising rappers (and members of their
entourages). Two of the biggest names in the conflict were Tupac and The
Notorious B.I.G. (also known as Biggie); the two waged a public war of words, although the two never
came to blows. Tupac, however, wasn't immune to the effects of the conflict,
and in 1994 Tupac was shot five times outside Manhattan’s Quad Recording
Studios. When the police arrived, they immediately thought it was a robbery, but when they noticed Tupac's Rolex still on his wrist, it was ruled out.
Upon recovering, Tupac accused Sean Combs, Jimmy Henchman (a
friend of Combs), and Biggie of the shooting.
Sean Combs
Biggie Smalls
Jimmy Henchman
Although no charges were filed,
Biggie had an alibi that he and his entourage were in the studio at the time of the attack, and Sean Combs was never charged, but in 2011, Dexter Isaac, a career criminal
currently serving a life sentence on unrelated charges, claimed that Jimmy
Henchman paid him $2,500 to murder Tupac.
Dexter Isaac
On September 7th, 1996, Tupac and his entourage had been watching the Bruce
Sheldon vs Mike Tyson boxing match and he was attacked by Orlando “Baby Lane”
Anderson in the lobby of the MGM Grand hotel. Anderson, a member of the Crips
gang. After the assault, Tupac and
his entourage left the MGM and headed to Club 662 in a “convoy”
made up of several cars.
Later, while parked at a stoplight, a white Oldsmobile pulled up next to
Tupac’s car and opened fire gangland style hitting him in the chest, pelvis,
right hand, and thigh, and one piercing his lung. Rushed to The University
Medical Center of Southern Nevada, Tupac was placed on life support.
Although his family and friends hoped that surviving the initial shooting would
lead to a recovery, Tupac succumbed to internal bleeding on September 13th at the young age of 25.
Being involved with the Cripps, a feared violent gang, the most obvious suspect was Anderson. It’s possible that he decided to exact
revenge upon Tupac. Despite this obvious motive, police only interviewed
Anderson once before releasing him. Anderson was never charged, and was shot to
death two years later.
Orlando Tive "Baby Lane" Anderson
Several other events on the night of the shooting raise eyebrows.
Knight, a passenger in the car wasn’t directly struck by any of the
bullets, despite the fact that 14 shots were fired at the car. While this could
be the result of mere luck, it could also be that Tupac’s death was faked
and Knight was given superficial injuries to cover it up.
No one outside the rapper’s immediate entourage witnessed the
shooting, because the street was relatively empty--a very unusual
occurrence in Las Vegas, where the streets are usually packed with cars and
entertainers-especially after a large fight like Tyson vs Sheldon. Could
this have been related to Tupac’s death? Did a rapper, even a famous
rapper like Tupac, have enough pull to empty out a street in Las Vegas?
Several pieces of evidence after the shooting don’t
add up either sending the speculation force to come out in droves to prove he's still alive. While in the hospital, the only people allowed to see Tupac were
medical staff and his mother, which raises the question of whether Tupac was
actually in an intensive care unit at all. After his death, the coroner’s
report listed Tupac as being 6’0, 215 lbs. According to Tupac’s
driver’s license, he was 5’10, 168 lbs. In addition to this,
after Tupac was cremated, the person that cremated him retired shortly
thereafter, which theorists believe is related to a large payoff from Tupac.
Why would Tupac choose to turn away from a life of stardom and begin
living anonymously? Several reasons. First, there was the issue of his safety.
The East Coast-West Coast battle was still raging at the time of the shooting,
and as one of the public faces of West Coast rap, it was only a matter of time
before Tupac was attacked again. After coming so close to dying in
Manhattan, it’s possible that Tupac realized his own mortality and decided
to disappear before his luck ran out?
My belief is that this bright young man didn't stand a chance, and the loss of his life ended dramatically.
There’s the lifestyle he was living.
Although he was rich and famous, he was constantly involved in violent
activities and had huge entourages that followed him everywhere. Being
constantly followed and having to defend himself could have quickly exhausted
Tupac. When combined with the way he was raised, Tupac may have just been in search
of some long awaited peace and quiet.
At the end of the day, Tupac was a rapper and a poet, and like
most artists, it was an integral part of Tupac’s personality; he
literally couldn't live without producing art, which means even after faking
his death, Tupac would most likely continue to make music. Unbelievably, he has
done exactly that-since his death, Tupac has released 7 albums. While it’s
likely that he was working on an album when he died, and therefore had enough
tracks to release one album, this still begs the question of where the rest of
the recordings came from. Producers claim that the recordings were lost, but
the existence of enough recordings to produce seven posthumous albums is
difficult to believe.
To some, the thought of Tupac living a
peaceful life somewhere in relative anonymity and releasing an album every few
years to sate his creative side helps them deal with his death. Some even believe he's in Cuba. If that was the case, he certainly had the financial means to bribe his way through, but none of this has ever been substantiated.
It’s far more likely that Tupac
really did die. Tupac lived a violent life, and many of the people he was
associated with-both friends and enemies-met violent ends. Tupac was the face
of West Coast rap at a time where being a West Coast rapper was deadly. Tupac
had a lot of enemies, and seemed to make more every day. Thus, while it’s
possible Tupac escaped the hazardous world of gang allegiances, posturing, and
conflict, it’s far more likely that he was the victim of his own lifestyle.
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