Broken home's blog: "stuff on 2pac you may want to read"

When Ice Cube recorded his song "Dead Homiez" in the early nineties, the Rap audience felt him, but we mostly felt him because we had friends close to us who had passed on. Everyone does. It was a horrible event in the early stages of West Coast Rap when MC Trouble passed away at the precipice of her career. But she was brand new and her impression was not as deep as it could have been had she survived and added to her body of work. There was an almost silent hush when Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins slipped away. And few even blinked by the time we lost Sugarshaft from the revolutionary group X Clan. But when stars who fell while they were still shining ever so brightly began to fall, we blinked. It was 1994, when we would all get a wake up call that the horrors of the world around our art would smash right through the door to surround the art itself. Eric "Eazy-E" Wright fell ill and passed away so quickly that we could barely catch our breath from hearing that he was ill. Hearing that he died of AIDS made it even more surreal. For many in the Hip Hop generation, that disease just didn¹t touch us. And with the strangeness surrounding his death, some of us still refuse to believe that it had. But death did come knocking. And a few of our own answered the call. The death of Tupac Amaru Shakur hit us as though we had never dealt with the death of an artist before. Somehow the rationalizations we used for Eazy¹s death would not work for Tupac. In the prime of his life and of his career, Tupac was gunned down taken away to death much like the manner in which he Rapped in life. And somehow we tried to rationalize his death as well. The rationalization stopped one year later when The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down--also in the prime of his life and of his career. Did we get too numb by the time we lost Freaky Tah and Big L? Did we really feel the impact of lost potential when Big Pun left us? All of these lives were lost unnecessarily. Are there too many of us still believing that the artists we bang in our whips are immortal? Those beliefs are foolish. Early Black music felt the impact of life lost with Billie Holiday¹s tragic end. Early Rock felt it with the loss of Richie Valens, Big Bopper and Buddy Holly. R&B felt it with Marvin Gaye¹s horrific death in the early eighties. And Rock was feeling it again in the nineties with the suicide of Kurt Cobain of Nirvana and the hedonism-induced death of Grateful Dead¹s Jerry Garcia. My point here, is that Rap music and it¹s audience are subject to the same events of life that the rest of the world endures. There are two certainties of life--death and taxes. Ask artists like Kool Moe Dee about taxes and they will tell you how real that is. Take a look at the fallen homies of Rap music and you can see how real death is. The artists eulogized in this piece are not old, nor were all of them sick. But the death of each and every one of them is tragic, and should give each and every one of us cause to pause and evaluate our own lifestyles. Pour out your liquor...for your Dead Homiez. Eazy-E--Compton¹s Favorite Son The first major artist to be taken away from the Hip Hop generation was Eric "Eazy-E" Wright. His death was the first of three in as many years of powerful Rap Stars who would leave this world and leave a legacy of artistry behind. Even though it is still disputed in certain circles, the official cause of death for Eazy-E was complications from Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. As death approached, Eazy attempted to do what he had not done in the midst of his life. From his hospital bed, he wrote words that he hoped would enlighten and warn people so that those within reach could learn from his misfortune about the reality of AIDS. "I¹m not saying this because I¹m looking for a soft cushion wherever I¹m heading. I just feel that I¹ve got thousands of young fans that have to learn about what¹s real when it comes to AIDS. Like the others before me, I would like to turn my own problem into something good that will reach out to all my homeboys and their kin because I want to save their asses before it¹s too late. I¹m not looking to blame anyone but myself. I¹ve learned...that this thing is real and it doesn¹t discriminate. It affects everyone." --final public words of Eric "Eazy-E" Wright Eazy was neither an intravenous drug user nor homosexual, two of the groups commonly thought to be exclusive prey to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) As a young, otherwise healthy heterosexual male, Eric Wright left us with words of warning that he had never placed in his music during the ten years of his career. His hope was that perhaps in the wake of his sorrowful death of AIDS, the Hip Hop generation would become more conscious of the dangers of an irresponsible sexual lifestyle. Yet, five years after Eazy-E¹s tragic death, the Hip Hop content has not missed a beat on sexual irresponsibility. Questions that were crucial then, are crucial now. As Rap artists deliver messages of sexual recklessness, did the music lull the Hip Hop generation to sleep in the age of AIDS? Does young America realize yet the danger of irresponsible sex? Did Eazy¹s death serve as a wake up call? Perhaps his death of AIDS had much less impact as his life and activities in the music industry. The impact of Eazy¹s activities in the music industry is still felt. From NWA, he created a musical empire that would give birth to Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Ren, Above The Law, Michel¹le, Bone: Thugs N Harmony, The DOC, JJ Fad, and more who were influenced by he or his groups. Eazy-E, as a record label executive, stood as a giant in the music industry, head to head with the likes of Barry Gordy or Russel Simmons. As an artist, he and NWA stand as legends in the company of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. When Eazy passed away, he was on a comeback trail with his own album, a platinum Bone: Thugs N Harmony record and legitimate hopes of an NWA reunion. He never got to see his visions come full circle, because at the age of 31, he left this world and everything he loved. Darryl James A Tupac¹s Divided Soul On Friday, September 13, 1996, yet another young star¹s light was diminished. Tupac Amaru Shakur, 25, died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds. This divided soul had many who loved him. Perhaps more than those who hated him. Love or hate Tupac, it is always sorrowful when one so talented and so young passes from this world. If you loved him, it is easy to recognize the loss when one so young faces death. Most of those who hated Tupac did not even know him. If they knew him, they would know that there was another side of him that was vastly different from the Tupac who embraced Thug Life and the gangster lifestyle he proclaimed as "the way of Death Row," his musical home. In 1991, I met Tupac while he was traveling with Digital Underground. I was writing the Hip Hop Countdown & Report, a syndicated radio show, but our conversation was not an interview, so it was not taped. It also wasn¹t very long. But that 15 minute conversation with him sticks with me now as if it occurred yesterday, and burns in my memory deeper than any other encounter in later years as he grew and matured into the Tupac he chose to be. Then, he talked of his hopes and dreams, speaking with the wild enthusiasm of a youth who seeks to accomplish everything at once, because life had yet to teach him that only so much is possible. He spoke of a deep love for his people, and a desire to dedicate his life to uplifting them and leading them out of their darkness, much in the way Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X did. Tupac wanted to use his Rap talents to become a pro-Black revolutionary. He wasn¹t a gangster. Or a thug. Not yet. The Tupac who stood in front of me then was just a cool kid who was funny as hell and just wanted people to like him. And it was hard not to. But he was deeply affected by what he was seeing around him, and showed a darker side which reflected on the condition of his people. Perhaps he reflected too deeply. Before he released even his first album, he said: "I never had shit growing up, so I had nothing to lose. Now I want to show what I¹ve been through to other people who¹ve been through the same thing to show how narrowly I escaped. I stand up for something: I want to take the bad and turn it to good." In those 15 minutes, his demeanor changed from light to dark as Tupac compared himself to Marvin Gaye, having a "Divided Soul." I didn¹t really think much about his comparison then, until recent years, when I saw what the world believed was a metamorphosis from street-reality Rapper to gangster Rapper as he embraced the "Thug life." Only Tupac knew that what he would become to the world was already a part of him. It was as much a part of him as the laughing Tupac the world saw in the early days with Digital Underground. Alongside the thug life that he lived, was the pro-Black revolutionary that Tupac knew he could be. And both were struggling for dominance over his divided soul. The division was manifest in songs like "Keep Your Head Up," a powerfully positive anthem for sisters in the hood, juxtaposed to "I Get Around," a song that admonishes "I only got one night in town/ Break out or be clowned," and allegedly participating in a gang rape, actions which caught him more heat in the press than in the courtroom, arguably making his court case moot, since he was convicted publicly by the media. And for the Tupac who wanted to be a pro-Black revolutionary, there was the Tupac who fought with a film director he believed had dissed him and allegedly sought to shoot another Rapper who he believed had a hand in his 1994 shooting. This was the Tupac who embraced the life of a thug and gangster. Perhaps because he simply believed it was his unavoidable destiny. Tupac seemed to constantly struggle with the two sides of his soul, swinging the pendulum of his psyche back and forth between the life of the thug, and the way of the revolutionary. While incarcerated in 1995, Tupac told Vibe Magazine that "I¹m going to save these young ni--gas, because nobody else wants to save them. Nobody ever came to save me. They just watch what happen to you. That¹s why Thug Life to me is dead. If it¹s real, then let somebody else represent it, because I¹m tired of it." But once released from prison on bail, pending an appeal on his rape charge, Tupac once again embraced the "bad boy" persona he knew he could also be so well. On Friday, September 13, 1996, Tupac slid out of this world and on to face his judgment. Whatever judgment he received is final and is larger than any judgment fallible mortals who are still stumbling through this world can ever give him. No living mortals know the answer to the question Tupac posed on "If I Die 2Nite," when he wondered if "heaven got a ghetto for thug ni--gas." When his body ceased to take in breath, Tupac¹s soul was divided from his body. In his rest, perhaps Tupac can resolve the division of his soul. Darryl James Requiem for Biggie While many emcees live in their own little fantasy worlds when they record tracks, Notorious B.I.G. aka Biggie Smalls, actually lived his alias; he was the Black Frank White. That¹s the King of New York for those of you who¹re uninformed in matters of crucial gangster flicks. He might not have had the longest career in the rap game, but he made, pun intended, a BIG impact on the brief time he graced the mic. He changed how New York Hip Hop was perceived in the mid to late Œ90s, and his influence is still inescapable now, three years after his tragic end. Biggie is one of the few contemporary emcees who got put on due to his sheer lyrical ability, nothing else. His "demo," if you could call it that, was just him dropping fat ass lyrics over EPMD instrumentals and "Blind Alley" by the Emotions (The "Ain¹t No Half Steppin¹" beat). This tape started to circulate around the NYC, and eventually ended up the right sets of hands. One set of hands belonged to Matt Life, who ran the "Unsigned Hype" section of The Source. After featuring B.I.G. as one of the primo unsigned artists back in ¹92, Matt let his friend Sean "Puffy" Combs hear the tape. I really don¹t need to explain the rest. Biggie¹s first appearance on wax was the obscure posse cut, "A Bunch of N--gas," the last track form Heavy D¹s Blue Funk album in 1993. His first single was "Party & Bullshit," the opening track of the Who¹s the Man soundtrack. That single alone proved he was going to be something B.I.G. Between stashing two .22 in his shoes and trying to some hottie pissy-drunk off of Dom Perignon so he can put hickeys on her chest like Little Shawn, he revels in late night NYC house party debauchery. He then proclaims "Ain¹t no stopping Big Poppa, I¹m a Bad Boy!!!!!!" That line inspired his label¹s name. The rest is self-evident. Biggie went on to record the classic Ready to Die, the post-humously-released and decidedly uneven Life After Death, and did a whole slew of guest appearances. Not only did both of his albums go multi-platinum, they also showed that New York could sell lots of records in the gangsta rap era. Though the Pop scene remembers him for tracks like "Big Poppa," "Hypnotize," and "Mo¹ Money, Mo¹ Problems," Biggie Smalls the Savage really shined when he got down and dirty. Just check the lyrics that he flipped on braggadocio tracks like "Kick in the Door" and "Unbelievable." His wicked imagery of "lights get dimmer down Biggie¹s hallway," is damn near incomparable. Or even his house party/fuck-the-world anthem "The What," a back and forth verse flip with Method Man. He could also change up his lyrical flows, like on "What¹s Beef," a talent that the seemingly infinite Biggie imitators are lacking. Biggie was also an extremely visual emcee, writing some of the most detailed story rhymes ever inscribed on vinyl. Take the intricate plot of "N--ga¹s Bleed," flawless in its inclusion of his enemy¹s car getting towed for parking in front of a hydrant. Or the haunting revenge fantasy of "Warning," where those who plot his downfall are hunted down like scared deer. Tragically, Biggie was killed in drive-by shooting in March of ¹97, while he was doing promo appearances to begin hyping Life After Death. He was killed in a drive-by shooting was has yet to be solved. Though rumors abound about what lead to his death, the general public may never know. Regardless of what happened, Hip Hop lost one of its brightest stars when all was said and done. The cobbled together recently released Born Again couldn¹t recapture his magic or do justice to his memory. True honoring of B.I.G. is only possible with true appreciation of the man¹s music and what he meant to Hip Hop.. Biggie was a true lyrical force, a dominating presence whenever his touched the mic. There was no way getting around him on track. There¹ll never be another like him. He truly was the illest. Jesse Ducker Freaky Tah of The Lost Boyz--The Good Die Young As early as 1995, The Lost Boyz were making their presence felt on the undergound hip hop scene. ŒLifestyles of the Rich and Shameless¹ was getting major airplay on mix-tapes and late night mix shows. There was a brief bidding war for their services between Uptown Records and Bad Boy Entertainment. Uptown eventually won out and put out the first commercial single on the group, ŒJeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz.¹ It was an instant hit and propelled the group to stardom. With the success of the next single, ŒRenee¹ the group was moved directly to the parent label, Universal. The debut album Legal Drug Money was certified gold. The Lost Boyz were established as the kings of party records. Any deejay that wanted to get the party jumping would play any of the aforementioned singles or ŒMusic Makes High¹ . Subsequently ŒMusic Makes Me High¹ was remixed with additional vocals from the Dogg Pound and Canibus. The stakes were high as the group returned with an equally intense sophomore LP, Love Peace & Nappiness. Fueled by underground favorites like ŒBeast of the East¹ featuring Redman, A+ and Canibus and ŒMe and My Crazy World¹, the LP quickly went gold. The group unlike many of it¹s peers had not fallen victim to the sophomore jinx. As the Lost Boyz were recording their highly anticipated third album, tragedy struck. Freaky Tah, born Raymond Rogers was shot and killed outside of a party in the same Queens neighborhood that the group was from and so strongly represented. Later, the death would be linked to an ongoing distribute with a rival click. Unlike the deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious BIG, the gunman Kelvin Jones and his driver Raheem Fletcher were apprehended by police within a month. Although not the lead vocalist of the group, Freaky Tah was the heart and soul of the group. Functioning primarily as a hype man, Tah was the driving force behind the bounce effect that was key to the group¹s success. Tah¹s gruffy voice was the perfect compliment to Cheek¹s straightforward rhyming technique. "If Cheeks was the right nostril, Tah was the left. They were like brothers," explains Canibus. Canibus continues, "They could make records that would have the club rocking. As much as I try I can¹t make music like that. I can only do my thing." With a bleek outlook, the group continued recording the third Lost Boyz¹ LP, LB IV Life. Freaky Tah is on the intro, outro and four cuts on the album. The first single ŒGhetto Jiggy¹ was vintage Lost Boyz, as Tah provided the backdrop for Cheeks vocals. Unfortunately, the album which was released exactly six months after Freaky Tah¹s death was a commercial failure. The three remaining members of the group have remained close but Mr. Cheeks is currently working on a solo album. Tah¹s wife has given birth to their third child which she was carrying at the time of his death and the whole LB family continues to grieve silently for their fallen brother. Yves Erwin Salomon Big Pun--RIP Big Player "I¹m not a player, I just crush a lot." Those words ushered in what was to be a new era in Latin Rap. Mellow Man Ace was the first to take it to nationwide commercial success, followed, of course by Cypress Hill, the group that contained his brother, Sen Dogg. Fat Joe got his styles in as well, and after he laid his claim to Rap fame, he introduced us to a man close enough to him to be called his brother. That Rapper, was Christopher Rios, aka Big Punisher. Big Pun, as he was called, wasn¹t the first Latin act to go platinum, but he was the first solo Latin act to do so. There are many big Rappers who have come and gone in this game. The Fat Boys made it almost cool, in a clown sort of way to be fat, and Heavy D made it nearly suave to be an "overweight lover" in his heyday. But the kind of large that was Big Pun was anything but cool. That largeness cost him his life. I remember seeing the photo of him in The Source, where he was a fly, svelte man of just under two hundred pounds. The transformation was incredible. We all heard the stories of how he no longer cared to fly after being stuck in the bathroom on an airplane. That should have been a signal that his weight was a serious thing. But we wanted the entertainment, and he gave it to us. Any of us who had seen the big man perform knew that sometimes he was so exhausted from carrying the burden that was a part of him, that he was too winded to fully deliver the powerful lines he was able to record in the studio. But his fans loved him anyway. And so did his wife and kids. Pun¹s wife and friend of thirteen years, Liza, vows to be strong without her man, and promises to never re-marry. She says that his eating problem was emotional, that he would eat whenever he got happy or sad. Food was what he went to no matter what the occasion. Both Liza Rios and Fat Joe tried to get Big Pun to understand the danger of his weight, but there was a serious problem. A problem that, while never talked about in any Rapper¹s rhymes, affects throngs in the Hip Hop generation. Eating disorder. It¹s a dirty word like AIDS is a dirty word and no one wants to deal with it, but, again, the Hip Hop generation is affected by all of the realities and ironies of life. On "It¹s So Hard," the first single from Pun¹s posthumously-released album, Yeeeeah Baby!, he sounds off "I just lost a hundred pounds! I¹m trying to live!" Those words met much confusion from fans who wondered how he could have just begun to lose weight, but still die from being overweight. The summer before his death, Big Pun placed himself in a weight-loss program at Duke University in North Carolina. He did lose one hundred pounds, but once he returned to New York, he gained nearly twice the amount right back. At his death, Big Pun weighed six hundred and ninety-eight pounds. On February 7 of this year, Christopher Rios, aka Big Pun slipped away as the result of a heart attack and respiratory failure. James Mosley There have been many more than we could cover here. During the preparation of this piece, we lost two more--tktk of The Nonce and Q-Don of NAAM. Just before he began seriously recording his latest album, DJ Quik had to mourn the loss of Topp Dogg, one of his closest friends. New York still mourns the death of Big L and Los Angeles still mourns the death of DJ Rob One, who lost his battle to cancer this past March. Sadly, there will be many more to come, some from living life too fast and some from simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Death and taxes are a simple fact of life. Hip Hop is a living, breathing art form that will be affected by the joy, the pain, the sadness...the same sadness that all human beings must deal with. Will the art form change? No. Will all of those who bring us the art change their lifestyles? I doubt it. We can hope and pray that we don¹t lose one more player in the game, but the best we can do is accept it when it happens.

In the parking lot of a west side Detroit school, there's one corner where, residents say, drug deals go down daily. At the opposite end of the lot, so-called gang bangers have been said to gather, flashing the telltale finger signs of the Bloods and the Crips. The center of the lot is where the cheerleaders sometimes hold impromptu rehearsals and the Girl Scouts wait to board buses for field trips. The contradictory uses for this parking lot make it an all-the-more appropriate place to serve as a memorial for Tupac Shakur, the rapper who promoted thug life yet condemned violence, who insulted women but said he loved his mother. It is here that a group of young African-American men stand about 20 deep, ranging in age from 15 to 47. Shakur's "If I Die Tonight" pounds from the speakers. They play it over. And over. And over again. "I'll live eternal/Who shall I fear/Don't shed a tear for me nigga/ I ain't happy here. I hope they bury me and send me to my rest/ Headlines readin' murdered to death." Meet Shakur's newest fans. They are among those across the country who, while hearing of Shakur's antics in life, never discovered his music until his death a little more than a month ago. These men are now drawn to Shakur's music, they say, because he prophesied so often about his own demise. And with good reason. Shakur, who at 25 had several skirmishes with the law and a prison term for sexual assault under his belt, barely survived a 1994 attempt on his life. So as the lyrics bounce off the walls of the school building, the words come back to haunt this group of black men, who know others who "went out the same way" as Shakur, says Maurice Lipscomb, who owns the boom box but not the compact disc that's playing in it. "The same way: In a hail of gun fire," says Lipscomb, 29. "And for no good reason." And it's that similarly violent way Shakur died -- less than a week after he was ambushed in Las Vegas while riding with Marion "Suge" Knight of Death Row Records -- that has drawn this group and other new converts to the rapper's music. It is a morbid curiosity, but it is nonetheless fueling business. Sales of Shakur's most recent album, All Eyez on Me, tripled within a week of his shooting. Within two weeks, the album jumped from No. 69 to No. 6 on the Billboard pop chart. Album sales peaked the week of Sept. 22 at 76,000. The week ending Oct. 6, the album sold 62,000 copies, according to Soundscan, the Hartsdale, N.Y., firm that monitors music sales. Shakur's death also is expected to propel his Nov. 5 posthumous release, Makaveli the Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory, to debut at No. 1 on the charts. Shakur also filmed two movies, Gang Related and Gridlock, before his death. They are scheduled to be released in January. Increased record sales after the death of a singer are nothing new in the industry, but there are those who are willing to bet Shakur's afterlife success will be long lasting, due in part to those who are not fans. "They're going to gravitate to it," says Dr. Dre, disc jockey on New York's HOT 97-FM and former host of Yo! MTV Raps. Dr. Dre (not to be confused with Dr. Dre, former head of Death Row Records) attended the Nation of Islam's recent Rap Day of Atonement in New York, a memorial of sorts for Shakur and the violent urban culture in which he lived and died. Requests for Shakur's music have "laid back a little bit" at the station, says Dr. Dre. "But it's always going to be more popular. He was Tupac. And more people are coming to know just who Tupac really, really was." Local record stores report that it's those who never purchased and seldom heard the rapper's music who caused the sell-out stampede after his death. Now the stores are restocked, and the albums are selling briskly, again to those just discovering Shakur's rap renditions of thug life. "I just can't explain it, but I've just had a need to buy his music," says Sharron Clark, a 32-year-old accountant, as she prepared to purchase the album in a downtown record store. "I've never supported that kind of music, but there was something so tragic about the way he died, something so weird about the way he always said he would die, just like that, that made me buy it. It's almost like I'm looking for answers." Chico "The Quiet Storm" Hicks, a local nightclub disc jockey, agrees. "The way he was struck down will pretty much guarantee sales for a long time to come. People liked him, but they didn't talk about him as much as they do now. He didn't seem to affect people with the drive he does now." The sure-to-come hype for the new album release, the movies and any yet-to-be released videos Death Row Records has on hand will ensure Shakur -- or at least his label -- sales for what could be years to come, says Mike Bernacchi, professor of marketing at the University of Detroit-Mercy. "His death was a lot like his life: controversial, attention-getting," says Bernacchi. "The song lives beyond the singer. He may make more money in the hereafter." For some, the question isn't how long he will be remembered, but which side of the multifaceted rapper people will remember. Just days after his death, Death Row released his single and video, "I Ain't Mad At Cha," which showed the rapper dying in a drive-by shooting. Once in heaven, Shakur sings to a friend who abandoned thug life, supporting his decision. Had Death Row allowed "I Ain't Mad at Cha" to be his final release, "the last Tupac would have been the angelic Tupac," says Kevin Taylor, music researcher for Black Entertainment Television (BET). "Unfortunately that's not where the label is going to leave it," says Taylor, " 'I Ain't Mad At Cha' won't be the last image. He's going to come back with this gansta knucklehead stuff." Taylor describes the upcoming album as "gruff" and says it revisits the East Coast-West Coast rap division and insults rappers Sean Puffy Combs and Dr. Dre, the former head of Death Row. "Five years from now, he will be a reference point," says Taylor. "The question, and perhaps the problem is, what will he refer to, the glamor of thug life or the nonsense of it?"

If you listen closely to the first three seconds of Makaveli 7 Day theory you can hear "Suge shot me". It's hard to say how, by who, and when it was put there. It remains a mystery. When Tupac was sent to prison in 1994 he was planning on spending atleast 3 years there. He hated prison and would have done anything to get himself out of there. Suge had previously asked him to join Deathrow, but he said "he just wasn't ready." The reality of it is that Tupac didn't want to join Deathrow, but changed his mind when faced with prison. Suge said he'd get Tupac out, in exchange Tupac had to do 3 albums for Deathrow. They worked out a contract in which Tupac would receive an advance of $1 million for the first album, in addition to $125,000 for a car, a $120,000 expense allowance for one year, a $250,000 legal fund to be spent as Tupac desired, and David's legal services. Tupac would be paid a royalty of 18 points for sales of the first album, plus a bonus of 1% if it went Gold, and another 1% if it went Platinum. For the second and third, Tupac would be paid an advance of no less than $1 million, or $1 million for every million copies of the prior album which was sold, and he would be paid a royalty of 18% of sales, plus a bonus of l% if it went Gold, and another 1% if it went Platinum. Tupac said at the time he signed the contract "I know I'm selling my soul." But he couldn't stand another few years in prison. Tupac agreed and Deathrow lawyer David Kenner went about bailing Tupac out of jail. The New York Court of Appeals granted him leave to post bail. $850,000 was raised by Atlantic Records, which was posted in a corporate guarantee. The rest was put up with a $300,000 bail bond and $250,000 in cash from Suge or Interscope. Tupac immediately began and released the album All Eyez on Me, a double CD which covered the first 2 cd's of the contract. While on Deathrow Tupac really seemed to change, influenced by Suge in the mob lifestyle and obviously bitter for the setup in the rape case and being shot 5 times. While on Deathrow he was jacked by Suge Knight repeatedly. He was charged rent on a Wilshire apartment that other Deathrow artists lived in on 9 seperate occasions. He was charged $23,857 for repairs to a porche owned by Steve Cantrock and Suge. Suge and another Death Row representative, who were in California at the time, on the phone told him that he had spent $2 million more than he was entitled to receive. He was charged $115,507 for three pieces of jewelry from B.L. Diamonds, Suge said that the jewelry was a gift to Tupac from Suge, but the bills were never paid. On May 2nd, Tupac was charged $14,500 rent for a house in Malibu which David Kenner lived in. He was then charged $100,000 rent for David Kenner, then $12,000 more. He paid $2700 for Nate Dogg's child support and charged $5,845 for jewelry that Suge bought from XIV Karats Ltd. Sept 3rd he was charged with expenses associated with Michel'le Toussa's Range Rover for $1,453.51. He was also charged over $28,000 for a Chevy Suburban Title. It was taken in Tupac's name initially, but was given to Suge's brother-in-law, Norris Anderson. Tupac was charged $51,425 in connection with the cost of transferring the car to Norris. In August Tupac was charged $2,965, for an American Express bill from Suge's wife. Tupac was charged with expenses that he never agreed to pay which were attendant to the production of albums released by Death Row. He was charged $3,421,842 in video production costs and $663,012 in audio production costs. When Tupac died he had no mutual funds, IRA, or real estate. He owned no stocks or bonds, and had a checking account that had less than $105,000. He also didn't own his Woodland Hills house in San Fernando Valley that he had recently thought he had bought. There was a five-figure life insurance policy, the beneficiary was Sekyiwa, a $61,000 Jaguar that Suge got for Tupac's appearance in a commercial, and a Hummer. His apartment, Rolls-Royce, and Mercedes were listed in Death Row's name. There's no question Deathrow was run corruptly, and they owed Tupac a lot of money, which is reason enough to kill Tupac. With Tupac's last CD, Makaveli The 7 Day theory, Tupac was poised to leave the row as he'd filled his contract agreement. He was ready to setup Makaveli Records and Euphanasia, a production company from which he wanted to make movies. He was going to be the first artist on the label, One Nation was the second and he had plans to sign Greg Nice and Smooth, another group at quest and Ghetto Starz which is an offshoot of The Outlaws. He also had another company called 24/7, for his music and video work, the scripts he was writing, and the books he would begin as soon as he finished the plans he was doing with Leila to reform the educational system. On August 26th, 12 days before Tupac was shot, he was on the set all day and at the studio all night. On the 27th, Tupac sent Yaasmyn Fula, who managed his business affairs, to the studio to get tapes of what he had done because he wanted to listen to them. Deathrow said no, David Kenner wouldn't allow it. Tupac fired him. Yaasmyn wrote a letter saying that Tupac had finished his last album and he wanted to leave Death Row. Tupac gave Yaasmyn permission to hire another lawyer. On september 7th, Tupac went back to L.A. He decided he wasn't going to go to Las Vegas, but to Atlanta to settle problems with some relatives instead. Suge got him to change his plans because weeks before he'd promised Suge he'd go to the Tyson/Seldon fight with him. He said he didn't want to go, but he'd given Suge his word. At the MGM Grand Tupac was mad because Suge showed up at the last minute. He sat in section 4, row E, seat 2. After the fight they got into a fight and beat Orlando Anderson, a crip who snatched a deathrow chain from Travis Lane. They went back to Suge's place and got ready to go to club 662 owned by Suge. Tupac had wanted to drive his Hummer, but Suge said that they had things to discuss and got Tupac to ride with him. They drove first in a caravan of cars towards club 662. A white cadillac pulled up beside them and opened fire. Tupac tried to get into the backseat, but Suge pulled him down, and a bullet bounced off of his right hip bone and hit is lung. He was also hit in his right hand and chest. Suge was grazed by a bullet, and suffered a minor head wound. Immediately after the shooting, the Cadillac went south on Koval. Suge made a U-turn from the left lane of Flamingo and sped West toward Las Vegas Blvd., away from the nearest hospital. Yafeu Fula (Khadafi) had been in the car behind the BMW with bodyguards and said he could identify the shooter. He was later found dead in New Jersey with one shot to the back of his head. What reason would Suge have to kill Tupac ? Well Tupac had over 200 master tapes, tapes which would leave Deathrow if Tupac left, if dead they would own rights to the tapes and they wouldn't have to pay the enormous amount of money they owed him. Perhaps Tupac had knowledge of the Row that Suge didn't want him to have if he left. Whoever it was that shot Tupac, didn't seem to want to kill Suge. 13 shots were fired at the car and Suge was grazed by one. Orlando Anderson, who was rumored to have been part of the shooting was a crip, and Suge was a blood. Anderson originally testified that Suge had participated in the beating in the MGM theater, a violation of Suge's parole. He later changed his statement. It was rumored that Anderson was paid off.

On Friday, September 13, 1996 the successful rapper and actor Tupac Shakur died at a Las Vegas hospital. Tupac died of gunshot wounds. He was shot on the night of Saturday, September 7 after watching a boxing main event match between Mike Tyson and Bruce Seldon. After the fight, he went 4 miles north to his friend and Death Row Records producer Marrion "Suge" Knight's house. When he arrived, the two headed to go to a nightclub in a black BMW. The nightclub they were going to was to be the place where they were gonna celebrate the Tyson fight win with fellow rapper Run DMC. But they never made it to the nightclub, when a white 1996 Cadillac pulled up to their car and fired 14 bullets into their BMW. Tupac was hit 4 times- twice in the chest, once in the shoulder, and once in the right thigh. Suge Knight was hit once slightly in the head. Suge still had some power left in him, so he swerved the car around, made a perfect U turn, and fleed out of there. One minute later they were pulled over by cops. The cops opened the door and saw what has happened. They immediately radioed for an ambulance. When they arrived at the hospital, Tupac was in critical condition and Suge was released from the hospital a day after. Later Tupac had to go into surgery and have a lung transplant. He remained in critical condition for a few days until Friday when he died. Police are still looking for suspects of the shooting. A lot of people think it may have been Biggie Smalls (The Notorious BIG) who fired at the BMW, because of his past feuds with Tupac. Tupac and Biggie always argued about which coast is better, East or West. Tupac also claims to have slept with Biggie's wife. So there's no love lost between Tupac and Biggie. Some also think it may have been Sean Puffy Combs, since Puffy and Suge Knight have their differences. Puffy's East coast rap label Bad Boy Entertainment always got into fight's with Knight's West coast label Death Row Records. Others think it was just a gang related drive-by shooting.

A year has passed since rap and film star Tupac Shakur was shot to death near the Las Vegas Strip. The murder has yet to be solved, and, according to investigators, it may never be. "We're at a standstill," said Metro Police homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning, who is heading the investigation. Still, detectives receive "information constantly" about the murder, he said. The information, however, hasn't moved the case forward. In addition to bona fide tips, police have received many false tips from people claiming to know who did it. Police say the case slowed early in the investigation as few new clues came in and witnesses clammed up. The murder weapon has not been found, and no one has fingered a suspect. The Shakur slaying is one of the biggest murder cases in Las Vegas history. The case attracted national media attention, and has been featured on television shows such as "America's Most Wanted," "Unsolved Mysteries," "Prime Time Live" and "Hard Copy." Before his death, Shakur, 25, was a music icon for many who saw him as a voice for young people rebelling against their lot in life. Since his death and the release of the critically acclaimed film "Gridlock'd" and his last album, "Don Killuminati -- The 7-Day Theory," he's been likened to a prince. But he also was heavily criticized, before and after his death, for his violent lyrics and negative depictions of women. Fateful night On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur and Death Row Records owner Marion "Suge" Knight were driving to a nightclub with an entourage behind them on East Flamingo Road. They were in town for the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight championship boxing match. Tyson was to meet them later at Club 662, where Shakur and other rap artists were scheduled to perform. They never made it. A light-colored late-model Cadillac pulled up next to Knight's rented BMW 750 and a gunman in the back seat opened fire on the passenger side. Shakur was hit three times. He died six days later at University Medical Center. So the question remains: Who killed Tupac Shakur? Was it as simple as jealousy over women and money? Was it related to street gangs, namely the Crips and Bloods? Was it because of an East Coast-West Coast rap music rivalry? On Nov. 13, two months after Shakur's death, 19-year-old Yafeu Fula, a backup singer in Shakur's group Outlaw Immortalz, was shot gangland-style in the hallway of a housing project in Orange, N.J. The 19-year-old was part of Shakur's entourage in Las Vegas and was a passenger in a car directly behind Shakur's when Shakur was shot. Police say Fula's murder was unrelated to the Shakur case, even though Fula was the only witness who told Metro investigators that night that he could possibly identify Shakur's assailant. Fula was killed before police could question him at length. Then five months later, on March 9, Christopher Wallace, who also went by the name Biggie Smalls and performed under the name The Notorious B.I.G., was killed in Los Angeles in a shooting similar to Shakur's. There was bad blood between the rappers. Wallace, on the East Coast, and Shakur, on the West Coast, had been involved in what has been termed a "bi-coastal rivalry" about who was the best rapper. Wallace, like Shakur, was a platinum-selling recording artist. Metro's Manning said at the time of Wallace's death that it resembled "about 90 percent of drive-by shootings." The 24-year-old drug dealer-turned-rap artist was killed as he sat in the passenger seat of his GMC Suburban while leaving a crowded party following the 11th annual Soul Train Music Awards. Los Angeles Police have yet to solve Smalls' murder. Lawsuits galore Shakur's estate has been hit with a slew of lawsuits since his death. And his mother, Afeni Shakur, has been fighting to gain some control and benefit from his record sales as well as from as-yet-unreleased records. Afeni Shakur filed a suit against Death Row Records and its owner and chief executive officer, Marion "Suge" Knight. Her New York attorney, Richard Fischbein, said he was close to reaching a settlement that would give his client a share of Shakur's earnings. In another suit, Jacquelyn McNealey, now a paraplegic after being shot during one of Shakur's concerts, was awarded an undisclosed judgment in November against the late rapper's estate. She claimed Shakur "taunted and challenged" rival gang members in the audience, which caused a frenzy ending in her being shot, the lawsuit alleges. And in yet another legal action, C. Delores Tucker, who in 1994 formed an anti-rap campaign with former U.S. drug czar William Bennett and is mentioned derogatorily in one of Shakur's songs, filed a lawsuit for damages against Shakur's estate. She claimed that her sex life with her husband was adversely affected because of some of Shakur's lyrics. The latest suit was filed by Shakur's estranged father, Billy Garland of New Jersey. He's trying to share control of the estate with Afeni Shakur, even though he left the family when Shakur was 4 and remained absent until visiting Shakur in 1994 at a New York hospital. Estimates of Shakur's worth vary because Death Row Records, the label under which Shakur recorded his last two albums, has claimed that Shakur was given hundreds of thousands of dollars in jewelry, cars, homes and cash that have been deducted from his platinum-selling records. Death Row Records wants millions of dollars in reimbursement it claims was advanced to Shakur. The 32-year-old Knight has been imprisoned since November for violating a 1995 parole. He was sentenced to nine years in the California state prison system. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge said Knight violated his probation by taking part in a fight at the MGM Grand hotel-casino on Sept. 7 following the Tyson-Seldon bout. About three hours later, Shakur was shot and Knight was grazed in the drive-by shooting on East Flamingo Road. Police later identified the person beaten in the fight as Orlando Anderson of Compton, Calif. He was held for questioning by Compton and Las Vegas police, but later released. He has contended, through his attorney Edi O. Faal, that he had nothing to do with Shakur's killing. Knight's downfall Since the Shakur murder, more information has been learned about Knight's activities in Las Vegas, including a 1987 arrest at the Rancho Sahara Apartments at 1655 E. Sahara Ave., where Knight lived at the time. He was arrested on charges of attempted murder and grand larceny on Halloween night after Knight shot a man in the wrist and leg during an argument. Knight pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. On Nov. 3, 1989, Knight and Sharitha Lee Golden were married in Las Vegas. Then, on June 6, 1990, Knight was charged with assault after he broke a man's jaw outside a house in West Las Vegas. Knight later pleaded guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon. Knight had attended UNLV and played on the Rebel football team in 1985 and 1986 but dropped out shortly before graduation, according to his teammates. In May, several months after his parole violation conviction, Knight was transferred to the California Men's Colony East in San Luis Obispo, where he is serving out his nine-year sentence. Since Knight's incarceration, his now-estranged wife, Sharitha Knight, has been taking care of the day-to-day operations of Death Row Records

The original source of this article is unknown Metro Police homicide detectives have left messages with two men who claim they can identify the assailants who murdered rap and film star Tupac Shakur near the Las Vegas Strip. It could lead to a break in the case, said homicide Sgt. Kevin Manning. At the same time, Manning said the pair have changed their stories told to detectives on Sept. 7. Shakur, 25, was shot three times that night on East Flamingo Road at Koval Lane. He died six days later at University Medical Center. Because Shakur lapsed into a coma, police were not able to interview him. Marion "Suge" Knight, chief executive officer of Death Row Records and the driver of a BMW in which Shakur was a passenger, was grazed in the temple. The 31-year-old Knight made a U-turn and drove to the Strip at Harmon Avenue, where he was stopped by bicycle patrol officers. Malcolm Greenridge, a rap singer in Shakur's backup group, and Frank Alexander, a former bodyguard for Shakur and a one-time reservist for the Orange County sheriff's department, told the Los Angeles Times they could identify the shooters. But they told police otherwise, Manning said. When asked if he could identify the shooters, Alexander told detectives the night of the shooting, "Absolutely not," Manning said, describing Alexander's interview as 13 pages long after it was transcribed. Greenridge's interview was 11 pages long. Greenridge, he said, answered "Nope" to the same question. "They never said they could identify a shooter," Manning said. "Nowhere during the taped interview did they say they could recognize or identify anyone in the vehicle, the shooter or otherwise." Manning said it's curious that the pair complained to a Los Angeles Times reporter that they were harassed by police while also saying they were never contacted by detectives. "So which is it?" Manning asked. Alexander, Greenridge and rapper Tufau Fula were in a car behind Tupac when the shooting broke out. Alexander, who was driving, followed Knight's rented BMW to the Strip and Harmon. When police arrived, officers ordered some members of Shakur's entourage to drop to the ground until they could assess the situation. In November, Fula was murdered in New Jersey. "The L.A. Times is not going to help them find the killer," Manning said. He said detectives left a message at Alexander's home Thursday. Greenridge's number has been disconnected, but detectives left word through a third party to call Metro homicide detectives. As of today, Manning said, the two have not called detectives. Homicide Lt. Wayne Petersen said even if the two were to identify a shooter, defense attorneys would ask them, "How does your recollection of what happened get better six months after the event? There are inconsistencies."

LAS VEGAS (AP) Tupac Shakur, the rapper whose raw lyrics drew on the rage of a coarse urban existence and seemed a blueprint of his own violent life, died Friday from wounds suffered in a drive-by shooting. He was 25. Shakur, whose right lung was removed after he was shot Saturday in Las Vegas, was pronounced dead at 4:03 p.m. at the University Medical Center. Known as 2Pac, he was one of the most successful -- and scorned - "gangsta" rappers. Fans bought millions of records; others denounced him and his lyrics for glorifying violence and drugs and degrading women. Shakur was hit by four bullets Sept. 7 as he rode near the Las Vegas Strip in a car driven by the head of Death Row Records, Marion "Suge" Knight, who was slightly wounded. Although there was trouble earlier that night -- Shakur and associates were in a fight inside a hotel before the shooting - there have been no arrests. It was the second time Shakur had been gunned down in less than two years. In November 1994 he was shot five times during an apparent robbery in the lobby of a Manhattan recording studio, and on his latest album he even bragged about it -- "Five shots and they still couldn't kill me." Arrested repeatedly in recent years, he was released last year on bail pending appeal after serving eight months in a New York prison for sex abuse. But he had support from black leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who visited him in the hospital, and the Rev. Al Sharpton, who counseled him in prison. "I found him a very warm, sensitive and intelligent, person, very unlike his public image," Sharpton said late Friday. "I hope in the midst of this tragedy, we can put together an aggressive and strong drive against violence among young people and dedicate it to Tupac's memory." Said rapper Heavy D: "I hope this is a wake up call for a lot of us." Shakur was up-front about his troubled life in the 1995 release "Me Against The World," a multimillion-selling album that contained the ominously titled tracks "If I Die 2Nite" and "Death Around The Corner." "It ain't easy being me -- will I see the penitentiary, or will I stay free?" Shakur rapped on the album, which produced the Grammy-nominated "Dear Mama" and standout singles "So Many Tears" and "Temptations." Yet Shakur was not just the fury, expletives and anger of songs like "F--- the World." He could be poignant ("It was hell hugging on my mama from a jail cell") and both sympathetic and critical of young black men trying to become "gangstas." A fledgling actor, Shakur had recently completed filming a role as a detective for the picture "Gang Related." He previously appeared with Janet Jackson in the 1993 release "Poetic Justice," and in the 1992 film "Juice." The Las Vegas shooting occurred as Shakur's fourth solo album, "All Eyez on Me," remained on the charts, with some 5 million copies sold. The song "How Do You Want It -- California Love" was a top 20 single on Billboard magazine's charts. While in prison last year, he indicated he was rethinking his gangsta rap image, typified by his photo on an album with the group Thug Life that showed his face framed by two extended middle fingers. "Thug Life to me is dead," Shakur told Vibe magazine. "If it's real, let somebody else represent it, because I'm tired of it. I represented it too much. I was Thug Life."

This article comes from an unknown source shortly before Tupac was declared dead. Rap star Tupac Shakur's condition has improved slightly, officials said, and doctors have given him a better prognosis for survival. Shakur was shot by an unknown assailant Saturday night after leaving the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand. Marion "Suge" Knight, chairman of Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, was driving Shakur on East Flamingo Road when a gunman pulled up along side them and emptied a semiautomatic pistol into the passenger side. Shakur was hit four times in the chest and abdomen. Police believe he was the target. Shakur, 25, was still in critical condition today at University Medical Center, but the head of the hospital's trauma unit said he had passed one critical phase. Doctors treating the rapper did not return telephone calls. Dr. John Fildes, medical director of UMC's trauma unit, gave a general observation on Shakur's chances of survival. "Overall, all comers with a gunshot wound in the chest that passes through the blood vessels connecting the heart and lungs, only one in five survive," Fildes said. "The majority die in the first 24 to 48 hours, from shock and bleeding. ..." Fildes said patients with wounds similar to Shakur's also "die during the second major risk period, after five or seven days, when difficulties in oxygenation or the presence of infections or other complications arise." It's been six days since Shakur was shot. He underwent surgery twice on Sunday and once on Monday, and his right lung was removed

This article was written by Cathy Scott and originally appeared in the Las Vegas Sun on September 11, 1996 A security videotape shows rapper Tupac Shakur, his professional bodyguards and members of his entourage "beating and stomping" an unidentified black man inside the MGM Grand a few hours before Shakur was shot on a Las Vegas street, anonymous police sources said. "They kicked the s--- out of him," said a source who viewed surveillance videotape provided by the MGM. "A whole bunch of his entourage was involved." Shakur, 25, was in critical condition today in a medicinally induced coma and on life support after having a lung removed at University Medical Center. So far, he's had three surgeries, which included removing his right lung to stop internal bleeding, officials said. He may undergo a fourth surgery, hospital spokesman Dale Pugh said. The New York Times today quoted UMC surgeon Dr. John Fildes as saying Shakur's injury "carries a very high mortality rate." Is isn't clear why Metro Police officers who worked the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon heavyweight boxing match Saturday night told homicide investigators that Shakur and his group were not involved in a fight before the shooting. Homicide investigators earlier said they interviewed officers who worked the fight and "completely ruled that out," Sgt. Kevin Manning told reporters at a Monday news conference. Even though the videotape depicts a "pretty bad beating," Metro officers did not file a police report, the source said. Manning said, "We're not making any comments on the tape yet." Police were "aware of at least four incidents at the MGM Grand that had absolutely nothing to do with this shooting," he said. As for the incident involving Shakur and his group, he said, "Metro didn't take a report, no." Police are not commenting on the internal investigation, other than to say the matter "is being looked into." Marion "Suge" Knight, who was driving a BMW on East Flamingo Road when a gunman in a white late-model Cadillac pulled up next to them and emptied a semiautomatic pistol into the passenger side, hitting Shakur four times in the chest and lower abdomen. Knight was slightly injured in the head from bullet fragments. Knight, 31, who runs the Los Angeles-based Death Row Records, which represents Shakur and rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg, still has not been interviewed by police, even though his three attorneys -- two from Las Vegas and one from Los Angeles -- promised to bring him in. "His attorneys are telling us they're bringing him in," Manning said today. The gunman's Cadillac, with California or Nevada plates and three or four men inside, sped south on Koval Lane after the shooting. Knight made a U-turn on Flamingo and, with two flat tires, headed for the Strip, where police stopped him at Harmon Avenue. Paramedics arrived and took both men to UMC. Knight and Shakur, followed by a caravan of cars, had left the fight and had driven to a house Knight owns in the southeast valley where several people changed clothes, police said. They were headed east on Flamingo Road and were stopped at the intersection at Koval when the gunman opened fire. At least 13 rounds were fired into the passenger side of the car, police said. Homicide investigators have been in contact with Los Angeles Sheriff and New York Police departments to investigate a possible East Coast-West Coast rap music rivalry, Manning said. Shakur, who starred opposite Janet Jackson in the film "Poetic Justice," has a history of violence and arrests. He also has been shot before, in November 1994, by robbers in the lobby of a New York City recording studio, and lost $40,000 worth of gold jewelry.

First, let me put some ridiculous rumors aside. Tupac is not alive and Suge Knight did not set him up. It's true that Tupac was going to leave Death Row Records but Suge wouldn't kill him for crying out loud-after all, former Death Row founder, "Dr. Dre," is still breathing without any war scars. It is also rumored that Tupac had Dre pushed off the label but that is probably just another Tupac strategy against his enemies. It all started about three months before the shooting in a Southern California mall, just near Long Beach. Three members of The Mob Piru Bloods (Most of Death Row Records is allegedly maintained and ran by the Mob Piru Bloods aka M.O.B., including the infamous and shaddy CEO Suge Knight.), went into a Foot Locker to purchase some shoes. One of the blood gangmember's allegedly worked for Death Row Records and was wearing the infamous diamond cut medallion (worn by Death Row staff and artists). Just after leaving Foot Locker, they headed back to thier 1996 Lexus, about 8-10 rival Southside Crips rushed the three blood gangmember's and one of the crips manage to get the Death Row medallion. The person who stole it was allegedly Orlando "Baby Lando" Anderson. Now this is the blossoming of Tupac's early demise. Three months later we enter The MGM Grand and Tupac is with his Death Row entourage among many is the same Mob Piru Blood that was jumped by the Southside Crips in Lakewood, California. He [the blood] spot's Orlando Anderson and Tupac heads over to start what appears to be a royal ass beating on one Anderson. (See rare footage from the MGM Grand security video.) After Tupac's entourage beats Anderson repeatedly, they make their way out before the police show. Anderson get's up and talks to the police, then leaves and allegedly joins his entourage of Southside Crips as they look for Tupac. It wouldn't be hard to find Mr. Shakur on that night because he was going to Suge Knight's Club 662 (Which spells out M.O.B. on a telephone pad). The rest is only self-explanatory. A couple weeks after Tupac's murder, Metro Police arrested Orlando Anderson. Anderson's family released a statement denying he is connected to Shakur's killing in Las Vegas: "Tupac Shakur, the talented musical genius, fell at the hands of a violent cruel drive-by shooter or shooters in Las Vegas. That's a fact. That person, however, is not Orlando," the statement said. Metro Lt. Larry Spinosa said Anderson was arrested on a 1994 murder warrant out of California. Well that sorta kicks Anderson's innocent's in the ass.