Why Was Tupac Shakur Killed?
Tupac Shakur lost his life after being shot on the night of September 7, 1996, while he was with Marion Knight, the owner of Death Row Records. Perhaps it was fate, but ultimately, an artist became the target of the mafia’s ruthless bullets, igniting unprecedented mourning in America’s black neighborhoods. This sparked a debate: Was Tupac’s death just another assassination in the world of gangsta rap?
The Protagonist: Tupac Amaru Shakur
The story of Tupac Amaru Shakur begins in the Bronx, New York. Tupac, who based his life on the concept of ‘Thug Life,’ was born in New York in 1971. Later, his family moved to Baltimore. Starting his music career with Digital Underground, Tupac significantly contributed to their EP “Same Song.” Not satisfied with this, Tupac, who wanted to carve his own path in the successful world of rap, made his first significant debut with the 1991 album “2Pacalypse Now.” Songs like ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’ and ‘Trapped’ became hits in their own right and heralded a new breath in the rap world, the Tupac school.
With his 1993 album “Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z.,” he won a platinum record. In November 1994, while recording the album “Me Against the World,” he survived a gun attack in a Manhattan studio, wounded in five places. He spent eight months of 1995 in a New York prison for a rape charge. Tupac could only return to the stage on January 6, 1996, at a tribute concert organized in memory of his comrade Eazy E, who died of AIDS in New Orleans. His fourth album, “All Eyez on Me,” released while he was still in prison and marked as the first double-format rap album in history, sold an additional half-million copies shortly after his release. Its globally hit single “California Love,” thanks to its Mad Max-esque superb video, stayed on top of the Billboard charts for four weeks, giving Tupac a taste of royalty in the charts.
California Love
Not shying away from the silver screen, Tupac appeared in Ernest Dickinson’s “Juice” in 1992, “Poetic Justice” with Janet Jackson in 1993, portrayed a detective in “Gang Related,” and acted in “Above the Rim” in 1994, “Bullet” in 1995, “Gridlock’d,” and “Gang Related” in 1996. In all his endeavors, Tupac advocated for black supremacy rather than black-white equality, and he supported the notion that violence should be used to fight against the racist American government and whites. Eventually, he gave his life for this cause, albeit senselessly.
Tupac @ Gang Related
Before explaining how the incident occurred, it’s essential to delve a bit into the past, as Tupac’s death was essentially a misdirected assassination attempt not on him, but on Death Row Records and its owner Marion “Suge” Knight. Knight, the father of the West Coast rap mafia and the owner of Death Row Records, had recently risen to power and signed several dark rap stars, including Dr. Dre, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, and rap’s then-father figure, Hammer. Thus, he established a rap empire on the West Coast, with California as its base. Knight’s rival, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, was the boss of New York’s Bad Boy Record and, as you might guess, the East Coast’s godfather. So yes, these two giant companies, Bad Boy Records (now Puff Daddy Records) and Death Row, have been in a hot war for about a year.
The Reason for the War
The conflict ignited when Marion “Suge” Knight, weighing a whopping 143 kilos and in his 30s, took the stage at an award ceremony in New York in 1995 and hurled profanity-laden insults at Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, with whom he was already competing for market share. Combs, already in a not-so-bright situation against Death Row, quickly contracted with three separate groups of hired killers and handed over the dirty work to armed men. It seemed as if Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs wanted revenge for the insults, but his real goal was to surpass Death Row and propel Bad Boy back into the attack. Two months later, Marion Knight’s closest associate was shot dead. As a response and somewhat recklessly, Marion Knight and his favorite, Tupac Shakur, decided to open a branch of their record company in New York, which was based in Los Angeles. This was crossing the line and encroaching on the territory of the East Coast rap mafia. The incident, adding insult to injury, made hot clashes inevitable.
So far, that’s the situation. Now, let’s see what happened on that night when guns spoke:
On the evening of Saturday, September 7, when the incident took place, Tupac Shakur and Marion Knight were in Las Vegas watching Mike Tyson regain his title. After the match, Tupac got into his black BMW with Knight.
Tupac’s Last Photo Before Death
In the other nine cars that came with them were highly professional guards responsible for protecting both him and his boss. Just as they were about to set off, a Cadillac cut off the convoy, and four people jumped out of the car and opened fire. At 23:15, the area turned into hell. Marion “Suge” Knight, the real target, who had three separate groups of hired killers contracted to end his life, miraculously escaped the incident with minor injuries. Tupac Shakur, not as innocent as a passing civilian but somewhat “unlucky,” was severely wounded. He was taken to the University Medical Center in Las Vegas, where his lung was removed immediately. Despite undergoing two surgeries, the rapper could not be saved due to severe gunshot wounds and significant blood loss. According to doctors, his mother was at his bedside when he died.
In the end, 25-year-old Tupac Shakur died in the $100 million market reckoning of the black mafia. But the wanted man, Marion “Suge” Knight, is still alive and clearly won’t rest until he takes his revenge. It seems that from now on, it’s not the garrulous mouths but the guns that will speak in the rap world…
