Originally published by J. H. Cromwell on February 26th, 2019
You may have seen the movie, or read an article or two on the mysterious death of Tupac Shakur, but now we will try to answer all of the questions that surround his “death”. The first thing to look at is a list of Pac’s closest friends/enemies that could have had a part in the incident: 1) Orlando Anderson 2) Suge Knight 3) Kidada Jones 4) Notorious B.I.G. 5) The White Cadillac 6) Law Enforcement/FBI 7) Machiavelli. The timeline goes something like this, and it starts on September 7th, 1996 in Las Vegas, NV. After the Mike Tyson fight night, Tupac is told by his crew about Orlando Anderson (who is a Compton gang member accused of robbing Pac’s crew earlier that year). Tupac confronts Orlando in the casino lobby of the MGM Grand. Tupac and his crew beat up Orlando right in the lobby. Tupac then decides to change and get ready to go to Club 662 which was owned by Suge Knight. Pac goes to his room with his alleged fiancé, Kidada Jones. I believe this is a very important moment in Pac’s night. For one, he decides to not wear his bullet-proof vest that he usually wore because of past incidents (not to mention he just had been in a fight and it was a large-scaled fight night). Two, he makes Kidada Jones stay at the hotel instead of traveling with him. Three, Tupac decides to ride with Suge Knight in a BMW with no one else to the club.
Tupac and Suge drive to the club around 11 pm that night, with Suge in the driver’s seat. At around 11:15 pm a white Cadillac 4-door pulls up next to Pac’s BMW on the passenger side, rolls down the window, and shoots Tupac 4 times. Suge is surprisingly only hit by a bullet fragmentation in the face and would basically get through the drive-by unscathed. Suge then drives 1 mile to where paramedics and police officers take over and get Tupac into the hospital. Tupac suffers in the hospital for nearly a week until he dies on September 13, 1996.
So who shot Pac? No one knows. Police never charged anyone for the murder.
Who wanted him dead? Orlando Anderson and many others like Orlando who were rivals and had personal accounts of issues with Tupac or any of his crew members. This category also includes Notorious B.I.G. who had a nationally recognized beef with Tupac. Suge Knight also had a reason to want Pac killed, as he was the label-head for Death Row Records, and Tupac had plans on doing his own thing. Tupac and Suge had many known differences on their futures. Lastly, the government. Tupac was vocal and actively supported reforms and changes in the culture. He was becoming a very powerful force, and many of his ideas were thought to be radical. Tupac was not the easy-going type, and the government knew that. Getting rid of him would have been an easy way to mute his opinions.
Why would he be alive? Tupac’s last album was released under Tupac’s stage name, Makaveli. This name was made to show homage to Machiavelli, who was a Renaissance philosopher that Tupac looked up to (the philosopher advocated for the idea of faking one’s death). People assume that Tupac’s version of Machiavelli was spelled his way because it rearranged the letters into AM ALIVE K. Tupac went through many threats and dangerous situations in his time of fame. A simple life in Cuba or Malaysia would be much easier than continuing on in his celebrity life. Important people close to Pac such as Suge Knight, his son, Treach, and Kendrick Lamar have hinted into the fact that he is alive and in hiding.
We have many more questions which will be discussed in later parts…
